On 2017-08-10 at 6:46 PM, EvidentNancy said:@keving100any chance you could take a look at my only post and tell me how many scars yout think I have? I feel like i may have 10 pretty big ones on my cheeks, and then may 5 or so small ones scattered throughout. thats such a crazy method because scars vary so much in size
Yes i would agree with you. I think subcision with fat tranfer would work great for you. have you shown yours pics to beautifulambition?
40 minutes ago, keving100 said:Yes i would agree with you. I think subcision with fat tranfer would work great for you. have you shown yours pics to beautifulambition?
Yes I have, @beautifulambitionsaid subcision and filler are my best bets. Recommended I see Novick, which I am going to do. I'm just trying to round up some money first haha
So I called Dr. Ringpfiel to ask about subcision. The receptionist had never heard of it and asked if it is a laser. She proceeded to offer me a consult with the "aesthetic assistant". I told her that I was not interested unless I could have the treatment done the same day, because of work commitments. She told me "well she could try."
I told her to get more info about subcision and call me back. She finally told me to just email pictures.
I know shes just a receptionist, but that was the worst first impression imaginable and I'm not sure if I should proceed. It would be nice to save the money but I don't want to get butchered trying to save a thousand bucks. Probably gonna go back to Novick.
I took a video of my skin in my bathroomand compared it to one from before my first Novick visit in april. Definitely a noticeable difference. I'll share pics when I can.
Sorry for any typos, my phone is garbage.
How much was it for the fillers + subcision with Dr Novick? Right now I'm sort of stuck between him and Rullan out in California. Seems like him and Novick have the best reputation minus maybe like Lim out in Sydney (as much as I'd love to go there).
I'm sort of at the point where all I want are results. Price is obviously a factor but at this point i'm willing to spend just about anything for at least some guaranteed improvement. My brother lives about a mile from his office so I figure it's either him or maybe rullan out in California. I'm from Boston but have no issues travelling even if I'm guaranteed small results. NYC might be easiest just based off the fact that I can crash at my brothers for a few nights.
3 hours ago, ChildhoodDreams said:How many many more operations of subcision would you like to do; can you envision a point where you will stop doing treatments?
Probably 2-3 subcisions for my worst scars, then maybe 1-2 on my shallow, small ones. Going to space them 4-6 months apart at this point. Id consider maintaining fillers later but I'll need to reevaluate at that time.
I don't think I'll do any more professional treatments after that, but I'll probably be exfoliating, peels, and doing some light needling at home for a long time.
I follow Novick and IMO I believe he is a great doctor. He answers a lot of questions with authority and places more emphasis on the scar type, than a device. He is one of a few doctors that actually manually targets the scars with subcision and TCA- proven methods to treat tethered, anchored and rolling scars, as well as ice pick scars. He does not rely on his nurses to perform 'Fraxel' or generic laser packages but revises scars by eye and hand co-ordination. I think this gentleman has skill and has a desire to get the job done correctly and not sell packages...
58 minutes ago, Obi wan said:I follow Novick and IMO I believe he is a great doctor. He answers a lot of questions with authority and places more emphasis on the scar type, than a device. He is one of a few doctors that actually manually targets the scars with subcision and TCA- proven methods to treat tethered, anchored and rolling scars, as well as ice pick scars. He does not rely on his nurses to perform 'Fraxel' or generic laser packages but revises scars by eye and hand co-ordination. I think this gentleman has skill and has a desire to get the job done correctly and not sell packages...
you are lucky to live in USA and you can find good doctors. In balkan(kosova) where I live there are no good doctors, is poor country and these things are very expensive 
and the mos of these procedures for acne scars are not here.
@AlbanesoYou know he has a office in Israel right? That's a cheap Ryan Air flight away.
6 hours ago, Obi wan said:I follow Novick and IMO I believe he is a great doctor. He answers a lot of questions with authority and places more emphasis on the scar type, than a device. He is one of a few doctors that actually manually targets the scars with subcision and TCA- proven methods to treat tethered, anchored and rolling scars, as well as ice pick scars. He does not rely on his nurses to perform 'Fraxel' or generic laser packages but revises scars by eye and hand co-ordination. I think this gentleman has skill and has a desire to get the job done correctly and not sell packages...
The fact that doing a proper job is worthy of some sort of special award is a testament of how greedy some of these dermatologists and doctors are when it comes to acne scar patients; pushing products that do not work and doing a sloppy job.
I saw Dr. Novick for the first time yesterday. I know he is very knowledgeable and one of the best acne scar specialists in the Northeast, because I've been following him and his answers on real self, and reading these posts on acne.org for quite some time now... but I have a bit of mixed feelings about him. I went in with the intentions of having subcision. He didn't even want to touch my face at all and said my scars are all healing and will eventually lift on their own. I respect his opinion, but I guess I was just disappointed. Ive had these scars for 8 months now from a cystic outbreak and the depth hasn't lifted or changed (maybe they've gotten lighter but not shallower). I also wasn't a fan that he didn't useangledlighting when looking at scars. Yes he has this big bright light that he shines on your face that he says is the absolute worst type of lighting when it comes to scars but I don't agree I think angled lighting is the absolute worst for scars. Finally we decided that we would leave the acne scars alone and he said he would inject a tiny amount of filler in this childhood line scar that I've had for 10 years thats also always bothered me. Its only the second day, but the scar kind of looks longer now? Maybe from the redness from the injection site? the top half of the scar looks filled and perfect but the bottom half actually looks lengthened and darker!? Idk maybe I'm inspecting it too much. Ive never had fillers before or taken ANY action for scars so this is all new and scary to me.
In conclusion: Idolike Dr. Novick. I think he's extremely intelligent and overall a nice guy. I really respect that he didn't push anything on me, and I probably will go back in the future months. If you have old acne scars that are deep, he will probably perform subcision on you and do a damn good job at it since he's known for that. But if your like me with "very shallow" (<-- his words) acne scars that are rather new (less then a year old), then he probably won't be able to help you.
If anyone has experience with filler though can you please tell me if its supposed to look worse before it looks better? Im trying not to make myself crazy over this but I almost wish I didnt touch it and I also don't want to go back and say "it looks worse" because I feel like he's just gonna say "well i told you we shouldn't have touched your face"... idk!
@love4biology728Yes filler can look worse with swelling, give it a week or two, massage it if it'd too raiseddaily or into place.
He can dissolveif need be in several weeks.
Get a tca peel, sounds like you don't need subcision. He does these or several med spas in NYC. You can lessen those shallow scars.
Thank you! As an update: I think its just post inflammatory hyper pigmentation from the injection site, hopefully it fades soon. Yesterday I went out and put a tiny bit of make up on it and it actually looked AWESOME! No indent or shadow AT ALL! It was very shallow to begin with and he said he put the TINIEST drop of filler in it , but wow that tiny drop completely took away the depth of the scar! I don't have any bruising or swelling, no bump either. I take back what I said about having "mixed feelings" about Novick. It seems like he really is amazing with filler placement because this was an awkward very thin line scar to begin with and the way he placed the filler to stay exactly inside the tiny thin line, AND have it level up perfectly is actually incredible. I asked him what he used and he said Restalyn Lyft and it should last 8-10 months. I feel like thats a STRETCH.. if it lasts that long thats awesome but anyone with experience with this filler how long does it really last lol ?
Also I was put on retin-a a few months ago and although I hate the flaky annoying peeling-ness... it does do a damn good job at lightening hyper pigmentation. This may be a stupid question but anyone know if it's okay to use the tret on skin over the filler? I don't want it to mess with the filler but Id like to use it for the hyperpigmentation I have in that area. Similarly: would TCA peels mess with filler? Thanks in advance!
TL;DR: Im definitely going to go back to Novick in the future and I do recommend him!
If anything, I think he seems more ethical because he said NO. The doctors who are yes men and will do whatever you want to make a buck are the ones you should be avoiding. As someone who's been in this scar revision game for a long time, be very wary of the doctors who always say yes. He is correct, injecting tiny shallow scars will just give you a bump that may have to be dissolved. If the scars are relatively shallow and new they may improve on their own. No point in treating something that has not yet matured.
Great news, angled lights just highlights the scar types very quickly, but if someone as experienced as Novick.. he just knows. Probably being doing subscision since it was invented in the 80s and bovine fillers in the 90s. Respect to him. His answers on real self are very down to earth and he has no problems telling it like it is. I think lasers and energy devices help, but good acne scar doctors seem to do things manually rather than rely on one method using or pushing one machine.
@QuanHenryAny picture update?
On 10/19/2017 at 5:34 PM, QuanHenry said:Sitting in traffic on my way home from Novicks..
It was actually difficult to point out the scars today because there's been so much improvement. I took some pictures this week that I'll post, I know I've been slacking on that.
Honestly, thank you so so so much for this thread.
I believe I have much of the similar scarring type as you did prior to your treatment (simply based on the picture of course) and honestly, I didn't even believe improvement was possible prior to seeing your post.
It's sort of been holding me back from the things I've wanted to pursue in life, but hope is so much more tangible now, and again I'm really grateful that you're sharing. I hope you keep us updated.
I am currently trying to keep some minor acne flare ups under control through last minute antibiotic before I decide to go ahead and make an appointment with Dr.Novick. Hoping for the best.
Do you mind if I send you a picture via message & you could sort of vaguely gauge for me how realistic my chances of improvement are through subcision/filler? I realize this might be an annoying request, please feel free to ignore.
Sorry for the wait, but here is a picture one month after my second subcion with Novick. The scars have lifted A LOT. Not sure how to put a percentage on it, but my cheeks are definitely smoother, though the coloration remains on the surface. My only concern is whether or not the scars will re attach after a certain period of time. If they more or less remain like this, I'll be set.
