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I agree that the peel helped even if you didn't see as much peeling as you expected. This could be due to over diluting or the super moisturized environment you created for your skin.
But hey just think, if you over diluted it this time, think about the great results you will get when you peel at your desired strength!!
What are we,something like 10 days after the peel?
You will need 3-4 peels at strong % to achieve anything noticable.i done longer days on a single scar that had 3 layers of 40%+,after doing 8 25-35% multi layer peels and even i am waiting for change in this 1 scar.
your skin tends to swell fir first 7-14 days,it kinda puffs up more in morning and sags late in day before bed.so you need to get past the 2 week mark.
then your skin is about the same in appearance when you did it,maybe a little change but nothing drastic or that realy gets your attention.it would have to be strong peel with impact to notice any morphing,lets call it morphing?
its at end of week 3 that you should start to notice change more than at week 2,then end of week 4 your skin is normal but it should heal for weeks,maybe 8-12 weeks.i am currently ending week 6 soon of 8th peel.
i notice slight change at day 11 on my test scar of 40%+ but it at least 10 days to go for end of week 3.i read a lot of posts past and present and week3 is the golden week of healing,its when collagen starts to realy get into gear maybe?
but seriously,you will have to do loads of strong peels and wait at least 6 weeks for healing benefits to achieve change.
@Quadboy i get what youre saying, im just reporting what im seeing
And obviously all scars are still there they just feel and look more shallow (to me anyway) i cant put anything down to swelling because my peel was hardly a peel haha. There was some flaking but thats it! Even though my scars are stubborn i dont believe my skin would be as thick as yours (ive seen some of your posts) and i dont think im going to need to be as aggressive as you, i know for sure ill need some deep(er) peels but the things youre doing that your skin can cope with, mine wouldnt be able to unfortunately. Well thats what i think.. maybe im just scared though haha!
how long are you indoors for with each peel you do if you dont mind me asking? My biggest problem is not being able to apply makeup. Its not the actual application of the makeup, its the removal of the makeup that concerns me. When i take my makeup off it would definitely interfere with peeling skin and thats whats the hardest part about all of this for me! Otherwise id be doing way deeper peels right now!
I am not currently working so some days i am not even out.
maybe you got collagen growth from the subs you had,your skin is still healing from that.the best thing with people is,time moves forwards and a month gos by and then,you just forget your skin sometimes and then pow! It hits you and you realise a month went by and you look in mirror at that scar and its more shallow.
Yea i work from home which helps but its bloody hard not leaving the house for days on end!
yea once the filler has gone im going to continue with subcision even though my scars arent tethered. For collagen growth. And then work on the surface with peels Just gotta get through the xmas period and ill be back on track with everything!
There is certainly some sacrifice when deciding to get a chemical peel, especially one that requires you to stay indoors for a week or more. However, you have to look at it like its one week out of your life to hopefully get you on the right track to better skin. When I do my chemical peels, I try to give myself a task/(s) to keep my mind off the healing process. For one of my peels I made I photo album of the trip my husband and I took overseas, another time I worked on an interior design project for my house. I purposely try to invest my time in things I know that take a while so Im not consumed with the fact that Im stuck indoors. I actually have learned to enjoy the solitudeand the chance to get things done. When I think about the total amount of time I have had to spend inside healing because of the total number of peels I have done, it is a bit depressing but its all about adapting your mindset.
@91baby
so sorry to hear that for you, Honey
On 12/21/2017 at 1:24 AM, 91baby said:Ok so this might sound a little strange but i actually feel as though the peel helped even though i didnt physically peel? Mostly the right side, everything is feeling a lot more shallow? I dunno!
might just be my mind playing tricks on me.. will be attempting another peel soon
(ps the peel must have broke me out my left side is a mess at the moment! It may be taking away from me seeing any inprovement like i have with the right side hence why no pics lol)
I experienced the same thing at 10 and 15% peels. The scars flatten even without major peeling. It even continues to improve as the weeks pass, which is why you don't want to overdo it by applying TCA every couple of weeks.
My scars look almost exactly like yours. Rolling with few textural issue (on cheeks only). For what it's worth, i definately do not think it takes away from your overall looks, it just adds uniqueness.
I just read the whole thread to follow your scar revision journey, to me it seems as though filler improved your scars the most - absolutely. I'll do filler as well once my horrible redness disappears from subcision (been already two weeks and the subcised spots are still tender to the touch and red/purple)
Hello everyone! I'm aware it's been MONTHS since I've been active on here but just wanted to give everyone the run down..
so basically I stopped visiting this site as i believe it was honestly worsening my obsession with my face. I met someone earlier in the year (after a horrible break up) who really took my mind off my scars and who is now my boyfriend. Because of the distraction and how absolutely beautiful he makes me feel I got extremely slack with any scar treatments. I went in for one more subsicion but the derm adv I really need to focus on surface treatments now as the subcision yas done all it can really do. She prescribed me .5 retin a which I have been applying religiously since and I believe has helped slowly and slightly.
Afew weeks back I started doing 50% glycolic peels at home, this Monday just gone was my third one. I have been doing one per week for the last 3 weeks (completely stopped retin a of course) and if I'm being completely honest I think I should have started doing this a long time ago as I believe even in 3 short weeks my skin is improving.
My plan is to do one more next week and see where I'm at, then start bi weekly to give my skin a break, then once every month etc if it gives me the results I'm after.
I won't post any results yet as I believe the results aren't that noticable in photos but once I start to see significant improvement I will definitely be back to share photos etc.
Fingers crossed!
On 24/02/2018 at 7:34 PM, incepticon said:My scars look almost exactly like yours. Rolling with few textural issue (on cheeks only). For what it's worth, i definately do not think it takes away from your overall looks, it just adds uniqueness.
I just read the whole thread to follow your scar revision journey, to me it seems as though filler improved your scars the most - absolutely. I'll do filler as well once my horrible redness disappears from subcision (been already two weeks and the subcised spots are still tender to the touch and red/purple)
thanks for the kind words can i just say i think filler did absolutely nothing, if the pictures show otherwise it would have been swelling. My scars are just too widespread for filler to work. I wont ever be getting filler again as in my case it was a waste of money. Subcision and peeling is what im all about now
14 hours ago, 91baby said:thanks for the kind words
Hmm. I guess its the temporary swelling that faults the eyes then. However i think subcision for depth and peeling for surface is a sound strategy.
Regardless you look cute. The scars shouldn't make you any less confident.
On 09/09/2018 at 12:33 AM, incepticon said:Hmm. I guess its the temporary swelling that faults the eyes then. However i think subcision for depth and peeling for surface is a sound strategy.
Regardless you look cute. The scars shouldn't make you any less confident.
yes i think so, im not saying they dont work but in my case they're just not worth it. Most my scarring is shallow and widespread. Yes im starting to think its been the way to go for me the whole time. Wish i started peeling earlier. I actually wanted to peel with tca but the downtime is just not do-able for me at the moment so glycolic it is! Thank you that means a lot, hopefully cuter soon haha!
I'm on my 5th glycolic peel in 5 weeks so im thinking later on this week ill post some pictures to show my progress
On 09/09/2018 at 7:27 PM, 91baby said:yes i think so, im not saying they dont work but in my case they're just not worth it. Most my scarring is shallow and widespread. Yes im starting to think its been the way to go for me the whole time. Wish i started peeling earlier. I actually wanted to peel with tca but the downtime is just not do-able for me at the moment so glycolic it is! Thank you that means a lot, hopefully cuter soon haha!I'm on my 5th glycolic peel in 5 weeks so im thinking later on this week ill post some pictures to show my progress
I would like to see your results in the coming months with your scar treatments.
I also suffered from cystic acne when I was a teenager and in my 20s. My face had many scabs, redness that took years to resolve and hundreds of cysts. Girls would often refuse to kiss me probably fearing of touching those cysts. My face hopefully cleared but now I have a few small pits on my cheeks, what we call ice picks.
I would like to try TCA cross. The biggest ones are 1-2 mm wide, particularly my left cheek has about 7 of them clustered together and they are quite visible. If I can at least improve these, then I believe I can tackle the other 3 clustered together on my right cheek. There are a few others scattered around my cheeks but are smaller than 1 mm, looking like large pores. I don't really care about those because my skin has very visible pores. Let's face it, nobody has perfect skin.
The worse of my acne was mostly on my thighs, sides of my back, shoulders, upper arms, upper buttocks and jawline. I have a lot of raised hypertrophic scarring, white pigmentation and small soft raised white spots on those body parts. I am conscious of taking off my shirt in public. My sides of my back, upper arms and shoulders are littered with these disgusting white raised scars as if I was burned by tiny acid droplets. In some places it looks like chicken skin. My jawline also has white raised spots which are prominent after shaving. There's not much right now to fix my scars.
My cystic body acne came and went in 3 phases. The first phase was when I was a teenager, very red tender nodules that healed with prominent scarring. The second phase began when I entered adulthood around 18, worse nodules that scabbed over. The last phase was in my early to late twenties, mostly smaller pustules that would come to a head. I believe it was all related to stress from school and very bad sleeping patterns. Lots of pain both physical and emotional from these stupid things.
I was prescribed a ton of medications but never went on Accutane for fears of going impotent and bald. I tried home treatments, different diets and a lot of different washes. I had mixed results. I just entered my thirties now, I can say my skin has almost cleared on my body but I have extensive scarring. I also have recurrent folliculitis from shaving or friction which makes everything a whole lot worse.
I hate acne and it took a lot from me. As a completely healthy individual, the last you want is to have a battle with your skin and enjoy life to the fullest. I only hope that someday acne will no longer affect us with its disfiguring scarring and disgusting pimples. I wear my scars with pride.
I can finally say I won the battle with my skin. I am starting to tackle the folliculitis as well.
On 9/9/2018 at 7:27 PM, 91baby said:yes i think so, im not saying they dont work but in my case they're just not worth it. Most my scarring is shallow and widespread. Yes im starting to think its been the way to go for me the whole time. Wish i started peeling earlier. I actually wanted to peel with tca but the downtime is just not do-able for me at the moment so glycolic it is! Thank you that means a lot, hopefully cuter soon haha!I'm on my 5th glycolic peel in 5 weeks so im thinking later on this week ill post some pictures to show my progress
Hi. Thanks for sharing your skin care journey in such an informative and honest way.
I™m getting into peels as well. I had TCA cross on a couple forehead scars (I have a post about it which I will update). I was very nervous of the healing time, and since you mentioned that, I wanted to tell you it healed in 2 weeks, and I could wear makeup to cover the redness. It wasn™t anywhere near as bad as I thought. My dermatologist did 30%, and said we would do it a few more times. I see an ever so slight improvement (no miracle though sadly). If you want to try TCA, my opinion is to go light and the healing timeline will probably won™t be as bad as you think.
Best wishes to you!
@91babyI have checked this post so many times for updates over the last several months! You and i have similar scarring and id love to know more about your experience with the glycolic acid peels! What is the peeling experience like? It sounds like its not as extreme as TCA? Do you experience hyper-pigmentation? Is there an actual peeling process?Breakouts? Enlarged pores? I remember years ago ( before my scarring, i just had some bad skin texture that i thought was the end of the world lol) i stupidly used, i think it was 60% lactic acid?... that or a high percentage of saliycic acid on my skin, and i tested it on an area of skin without acne/textural issues (forehead) to avoid a bad breakout, and it permanently enlarged all my pores. I havent really tried peels much since lol. Anyway, id love to hear any info youre willing to share! Cant wait for pictures. So glad youre happy and found someone worthy of your time!
On 15/09/2018 at 1:22 AM, okmichelle said:Hi. Thanks for sharing your skin care journey in such an informative and honest way.
I™m getting into peels as well. I had TCA cross on a couple forehead scars (I have a post about it which I will update). I was very nervous of the healing time, and since you mentioned that, I wanted to tell you it healed in 2 weeks, and I could wear makeup to cover the redness. It wasn™t anywhere near as bad as I thought. My dermatologist did 30%, and said we would do it a few more times. I see an ever so slight improvement (no miracle though sadly). If you want to try TCA, my opinion is to go light and the healing timeline will probably won™t be as bad as you think.
Best wishes to you!
thanks for your information on tca! Its definitely what i wanted to do for a long time but im one of those 'cant leave the house without makeup' type people so downtime is such a hard thing for me. The good thing with the glyoclic peels is that theyre a lighter peel (so less downtime) but im doing them so frequently that im hoping they have the same end result. Plus as my partner and i are having the baby-talk i started reading up on peels whilst pregnant and tca is a no no whilst glyoclic peels are fine!
On 15/09/2018 at 3:48 PM, seattlegal90 said:@91babyI have checked this post so many times for updates over the last several months! You and i have similar scarring and id love to know more about your experience with the glycolic acid peels! What is the peeling experience like? It sounds like its not as extreme as TCA? Do you experience hyper-pigmentation? Is there an actual peeling process?Breakouts? Enlarged pores? I remember years ago ( before my scarring, i just had some bad skin texture that i thought was the end of the world lol) i stupidly used, i think it was 60% lactic acid?... that or a high percentage of saliycic acid on my skin, and i tested it on an area of skin without acne/textural issues (forehead) to avoid a bad breakout, and it permanently enlarged all my pores. I havent really tried peels much since lol. Anyway, id love to hear any info youre willing to share! Cant wait for pictures. So glad youre happy and found someone worthy of your time!
im pretty sure i mostly came back for you haha! If im ever confident in a procedure im having/doing ill always ALWAYS come back to share. The peeling is next to none with glycolic, you can think of it as almost a really good exfoliation, i think the frequency has been key. For me and my lifestyle it is more convenient to do lighter peels more frequently than deep peels with months in between. I dont peel at all, sometimes i flake and my skin may feel a bit dry or rough but nothing i cant handle or cover with makeup. I dont use anything to moisturize with either and have had no bad side effects. I did have a breakout but cant put it down to the peel as my diet has been bad lately and i get hormonal acne all the time (nothing that scars atrophically anymore.. only red scarring as you'll see in the pictures) i can't say much about my pores as i have never paid much attention to be honest. But all in all my makeup goes on much better, my skin feels softer, the scars are softening and i do believe theyre getting shallower also but that comes hand in hand with widening of scars which im not fussed about as widening and shallowing is a good thing to get the skin surface as level as possible i reckon! I am super pale and have some anxiety issues so my face goes red all the time anyway i dont believe any hyperpigmentation has occurred or ever will, my skin handles peels so well.
so heres some pictures i dont know if you guys will see much difference!
Ps - i always ALWAYS try to get the worst lighting possible. If my skin looks too good ill find another angle to take the pictures. This was the worst angle i could get. Even though my scarring looks better in most lighting now it still looks practically the same in public toilet mirrors/car windows etc. I dont know why this is but once the appearance of my scarring looks different in these things then i will know theres significant improvement!
@91baby Woohoo, finally, an update! Girllll, theres definitely a noticeable improvement! Even better than i was expecting from that type of peel! They look much softer, and filled in.. if thats how they look in the worst lighting, you must be feeling pretty good in normal lighting! Ive already started looking up 50% peels on amazon now, haha. I know what you mean about bathroom lighting and window reflections, its the worst..i always check them to see how bad my skin is today, because my scarring is less noticeable some days compared to others, Im not sure why, other than hydration,maybe. Anyway, Im so happy for you! Thanks for coming back for me, haha. It gives people like me some hope and new things to try! Keep us updated with any more improvement, and good luck to you guys on the baby plans!
2 hours ago, seattlegal90 said:@91baby Woohoo, finally, an update! Girllll, theres definitely a noticeable improvement! Even better than i was expecting from that type of peel! They look much softer, and filled in.. if thats how they look in the worst lighting, you must be feeling pretty good in normal lighting! Ive already started looking up 50% peels on amazon now, haha. I know what you mean about bathroom lighting and window reflections, its the worst..i always check them to see how bad my skin is today, because my scarring is less noticeable some days compared to others, Im not sure why, other than hydration,maybe. Anyway, Im so happy for you! Thanks for coming back for me, haha. It gives people like me some hope and new things to try! Keep us updated with any more improvement, and good luck to you guys on the baby plans!
oh yea, im definitely surprised by how much such a light peel is doing for me. And in more ways than just scarring. My overall skin to touch and feel and look at seems much better to me. This is all trial and error though, like who knows, doing a peel this frequently may be doing damage in some other way? I was meant to back off from weekly and start doing biweekly etc but i cant seem to stop..! Silly, i know. But my skin is naturally so oily that it doesn't feel overly dry even after frequent peels and no moisturiser. And the sun sensitivity after this type of peel isnt that bad either. Sunscreen under my makeup is enough for the sun not to bother me. 100% give the 50% glycolic peel a go. I do one first thing every monday morning; 1 layer and leave it on for 5-6 minutes then neutralize and keep my skin damp until that arvo when ill apply makeup (it would be ideal to wait until at least the next day to apply makeup but im impatient) - i bought a bottle the acid for about $34 AU$ and have already gotten 5 peels out of it and imagine ill get at least 10 to 15 more. I use a mediswab to prep and then a cottonball as i believe thats what gets an even peel. It is not painful for me at all.. but it is.. uncomfortable. An itchy stinging feeling thats made bearable by blasting my face with the cold setting on the hairdryer while i wait. I have no experience with peels whatsoever and i havent burnt, blistered, been in any pain or discomfort etc so i would give it a go!
wearing makeup definitely accentuates my scarring in places like public toilets and car windows etc. Im yet to find a makeup that doesnt sink in (am looking into airbrush makeup as ive read thats good for keeping everything 'level')
No problems! Theres so many different things to try that its important that everyone documents their experiences, good OR bad. If i can help anyone here in any way, i will xx
2 hours ago, FromScarredtoFree said:You're scars look so much better. I'm actually very impressed. I think most people here neglect to appreciate that time can truly help acne scars. Honestly if I saw your picture online it wouldn't even register as acne scarred to me.
oh time definitely helps.. but no one wants to wait. And i don't blame them! Not even i want to wait hence my weekly peels haha! Thanks for the kind words. I just wish i started doing peels YEARS ago!!
@91babyThats what i noticed in your pics right away as well, not only is the scarring greatly improved, your skin overall looks much smoother! Thanks for all the info and tips, im definitely going to give it a shot and look back on these steps when it comes in the mail.
I did some research after reading your post, and after ordering glycolic acid, i found this type of peel that is supposed to be better than using glycolic acid. Its called the 'fade' peel. Its a combination ofglycolic acid 30%, lactic acid 20%, kojic acid 2%, malic acid 3% along with some other beneficialingredients such asbearberry exract, and licorice root extract. Based on the reviews i read from people who are experienced with peels its supposed to work better than using any specific peel alone. They offer a sample for only $2.50+ shipping ( not sure what it would be sent to AU) and most reviewers said they got 3-5 peels out of it. Just thought id mention it, If its any good ill let you know!
Thats why i gave up on wearing makeup, it just made my skin texture and scarring look like crap lol. It helped my blotchy skin though. I recently read up on a primer that supposedly worked really well on acne scars. I even saw some guys on makeupalley who signed up just to share how well it helped fill in their pitted scars lol. It got discontinued, I think mainly because it was too thick for people just looking to minimize pores, but i found it on ebay. ItsSmashbox Photo Finish Targeted Pore & Line Primer. If its any good for scarring ill let you know! Let me know if the air brushing is any better as ive considered that in the past too.
Hello everyoneee just dropping past to show some pics, still doing my glycolic peels (biweekly now) and on the off week using my retin a the only other product i use is qv day moisturiser with spf 30. Im going to start dermastamping once every 4 weeks with a 1.5 dermastamp just to combine the peels. And i will up the peels to 75% very soon and keep you all updated! 
