17 hours ago, f93d said:Posting this now as I'm getting filler soon. I'm not fully healed; these are the last I plan to post specific to the chemabrasion. Plan now is to level the scars and then do one more resurfacing. I have light foundation on for color for first picture, shouldn't impact scars.
Week 10 back lighting.
Week 10 bright white lighting. Took this shot to emphasize the scars I want filled. Also it's the harshest lighting I know of.
Week 10 front view bright white lighting. This shows the front wavy texture I want evened out.
As permanent as collagen is.
Volbella doesn't last long. You can see in my above shot some of the scars that were filled in the past are no longer filled.
Hey man I see that you got good results from HA fillers and then RF. How soon can I RF after filler? Do you have to wait until it settles? And my second question is, did you see any filler get "eaten away" by RF (this seems to be a common thing every doctor says happens but from your pics it didn't happen)
I'm glad you are thinking cautiously about your next procedures. I think you are at a point where you have achieved very good results and it's not worth taking on really risky procedures. That's just my opinion though, and only you know your skin best. Like I stated before, I was able to achieve really good results as well after years of treatment, but I got a bit too greedy and wanted to get as close to perfect as possible. I had one dermabrasion that turned out great, so I went ahead and did another and that was a complete disaster. I should have stopped, and moved on but when you have severe scars your objectivity becomes distorted. There is a point of diminishing returns with aggressive procedures.
But again, you know your skin best.
On 9/6/2019 at 9:43 PM, tryinghard123 said:hi did chemabrasion work on your ice pick and boxcar scars? i have plenty and would like to see? the phenol peel? looks like it did little for ice picks and boxcars?
No, just textural issues. Do cross for ice picks and subcision/infini or related for boxcars.
On 9/6/2019 at 11:03 PM, dodgerguy18 said:Looking good brah. Skin appears to still be healing so give it time to heal the rest of the year and do whatever treatments you want to do when you're 100% healed next year. Funny how my left side is the worst but yours is the best ha. Besides filler, you thinking about doing something like CROSS?
No, really just filler and I'm done. Maybe a resurfacing in 6 months - 1 year.
On 9/7/2019 at 8:30 AM, joeysk said:Hey man I see that you got good results from HA fillers and then RF. How soon can I RF after filler? Do you have to wait until it settles? And my second question is, did you see any filler get "eaten away" by RF (this seems to be a common thing every doctor says happens but from your pics it didn't happen)
I don't know, I'm no expert. Let's say 4 weeks. RF doesn't affect filler.
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@dazzedwill keep that in mind.
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Talked with @beautifulambitionover PM, some things I thought were important:
- those last shots were taken when I had food poisoning and was very dehydrated. I didn't use moisturizerdue to not having it while traveling, so my skin was also very dehydrated.
- the chemabrasion appears to have wiped away the volbella filler placed, so a lot of pits that were once filled are no longer filled, thus it does look worse in some parts. You can compare the new shots to the previous shots and see for yourself.
- those last shots do not show the true condition of my skin - it is white, reddish, demarcation lines are still there, PIH, and patches of bruises. The one day I didn't wear foundation I got routine prolonged stares at an airport. The hostel manager asked if I was okay when I arrived. If you do this procedure, wear foundation so people stop worrying about you.
Hello. I've been following this thread for a few weeks. Thanks for all the posts. I am currently doing canula subcision with a doctor, and at home microneedling for my scars. I want to eventually do a phenol peel w/ possible chemabrasion when I feel my scars are as even as I can get them from the subcision/microneedling. I have had the best results on my last cycle when I aggressively dermastamped the scars on the 6th day post subcision. I used a 2.5 mm dermapenand applied "mym advanced derma rolling serum"before the stamping. I then apply "skin apeel collagen" after the stamp. After stamping i let the blood scab over the scars and gently massage in the collagen serum. I DID NOT wash my face and let the blood and serum mixture dry on my face to form scabs over the individual scars. I would continue to apply both serums on the scabs over the next 3-4 days, not washing of the crusty blood. I washed the scabs off the 5th day or so, and found the skin continued to flake off the following days. Think "Austin Powers 3 goldmember" when the dude picks off his sunburnt skin. I Have done microneedling and subcision before, though I feel doing the AGGRESSIVE needling (dermastamping) 6/7 days after the subcision, and using thetechnique /w the blood and serums,has givenme the best results yet. I'm in your boat trying to level out the scars as much as possible B4 doing a phenol peel, and thought I would give my 2 cents what has worked for me recently. BTW check out this video I found on youtube. It looks like it was filmed in the late 80's, but is rather interesting. .... Quick question. Did Dr. Rullan use a similar automated device for the abrasion part of your chemabrasion, or did he use some kind of sandpaper manually? I've done a subcision with Dr. Rullan in 2016, and respect his work. Thanks again F93D for your posts.
Week 12 post - raw skin
Just getting filler and I'm done; first session in 2 days (Voluma), then another session following week for Volbella for the superficial scarring. Going to a local med spa for this one.
I don't think the pictures show it, but skin texture has dramatically improved from the chemabrasion. Chemabrasion did nothing for the pits except smooth the edges. It helped enlarged pores significantly. No regrets on this treatment, just annoying it wiped out filler placed prior. This concludes the chemabrasion documentation and will finish with documenting the filler.
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15 hours ago, McPoopy Scoopies said:Quick question. Did Dr. Rullan use a similar automated device for the abrasion part of your chemabrasion, or did he use some kind of sandpaper manually? I've done a subcision with Dr. Rullan in 2016, and respect his work. Thanks again F93D for your posts.
I don't know what he used, I was knocked out. I think more of a manual metal scraping tool.
Thanks for the quick response to my question. I think you arebeing modest when yousay "I don't thinkthe pictures show it, but skin texture has dramatically improved from the chemabrasion," because I SEEa HUGEimprovement in your skin texture in yourmost recent pictures. Also, the fact that the chemabrasion "smoothed out the edges" of your pitted scarring makes the individual scars SOOOmuch harder to see. The difference between your very first original pictures and your most recent pictures is NIGHT and DAY. The scarring on your temples and cheeks looks a TON better.I know we are our own worst critics, but brah, you have made SUBSTANTIALprogress. I have bad scarring too, spent probably around 18k easily over the last 7 years trying to fix (improve) them, and I understand the psychological trauma that severe facial pitted scarring can cause.I also think it takes a certain MINDSET and TENACITY (which you obviously have), to get this level of improvement. I would like to think I have made substantial improvement on my own scars as well. People on here say how you cannot get "100% improvement" or "fix" these kinds of scars, but I would like to think that you canDANGNEARLY make themdisappear with the right mindset/procedures/doctors/patience. I can't thank you enough forthe thorough documentation of your journey. I am totally ROOTIN' for ya brah, good luck on your next filler procedure.
F93d : Can you and only you personally answer this question?
I have similar scars to you ice pick boxcar and rolling moderate to severe....with what did the phenol peel and chemabrasion help with the most? I too am thinking of seeing dr rullan
i have done subcision, needling, excisions, punch grafts, lasers the lot etc with just about no results at all..thanks
tryhing hard
also how come you dont get bellafill or silicone for filler as dr rullan suggested this for me from my photos and as it is semi permanent?
I know you probably don't want to do this but it would be great to see your scars with the direct overhead lighting to really see and compare with your first set of pictures from the beginning of your journey.
IF you obviously still upload any, if not it's still visible how much your scars have improved and you might think the texture difference is not visible to us but I think your skin quality looks extremely good now. Also, thank you so much for documenting the whole process for everybody who will and try to go through this. Extremely helpful!
Best of luck!
2 hours ago, SaraTheGerman said:I know you probably don't want to do this but it would be great to see your scars with the direct overhead lighting to really see and compare with your first set of pictures from the beginning of your journey.
IF you obviously still upload any, if not it's still visible how much your scars have improved and you might think the texture difference is not visible to us but I think your skin quality looks extremely good now. Also, thank you so much for documenting the whole process for everybody who will and try to go through this. Extremely helpful!
Best of luck!
f93dposted on Sept. 6th (page 8) pictures with the back light if you really want to see the scars in that view. I think it's a little too much for requesting things like pictures when f93d has already done so much work with putting this journal together.
6 hours ago, tryinghard123 said:F93d : Can you and only you personally answer this question?
I have similar scars to you ice pick boxcar and rolling moderate to severe....with what did the phenol peel and chemabrasion help with the most? I too am thinking of seeing dr rullan
i have done subcision, needling, excisions, punch grafts, lasers the lot etc with just about no results at all..thanks
tryhing hard
also how come you dont get bellafill or silicone for filler as dr rullan suggested this for me from my photos and as it is semi permanent?
Boxcars, Rolling -> Subcision/Suction, Filler, Sculptra, Infini
Icepicks ->Cross
Surface level textural issues -> Chemabrasion
I wouldn't do the chemabrasion if you had no success with the other stuff. I did the chemabrasion b/c I had lots of textural issues. Ask Dr. Rullan's office for before/afters, some aren't impressive. You'll be regretting the $7k - $8k spent andthe 3months of awful downtime, this isn't magic.
Not interested in permanent filler for the same reason I'm not interested in Lasik - every treatment has risk, some more than others.
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5 hours ago, tryinghard123 said:yes with direct overheard lighting and harshest lighting pics would be great
I don't plan to retake pictures in the same lighting asthe first set of pictures; Idon't have access to that lighting.
On 9/19/2019 at 12:37 AM, tryinghard123 said:so u mean for 3 months you cant leave home and show the public ure face?
and is sculptra a good filler? does it last a long time? even if you do strenuous activity?
did tca cross help ice picks got plenty of them?
and overall how much % improvement? thanks
No, please see opening post of this thread for downtime log. After 2 weeks you can cover up with make up. I got strange looks up until the 11week mark w/o cover.
Sculptra is a collagen booster, not a filler.
You can't accurately predict how much collagen Sculptra will build. Sculptra helps create actualcollagen, collagen doesn't just vanish after strenuous activity.
I never had a lot of ice picks. After I saw DIY TCA cross enlarged my ice picks, I never touched TCA again. Phenol gets the benefits of TCA without the widening side effect. Do phenol cross.
I don't know % improvement. But if I'm pulling numbers from thin air, 85%.
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Had Voluma placed yesterday, so far it looks good, it was a deep injection so minimal swelling, was told these were more-or-less the results. Apparently I got what looks like a cheek and templeaugmentation.
Voluma seems like it's stretching and adding volume to the skin.I have Volbella in 2 weeks to fill the surface level stuff. Volbella has a much longer downtime, surface injections seem to cause the bruising.
5 hours ago, tryinghard123 said:wow 85 percent improvement that is massive man
thats like u dont have acne scars anymore....maybe i should see dr rullan as i am from australia?
Not quite, acne scar suffererswill have scars forever, its just how visible and what lighting.
Curious to see how f93d looks in good lighting. I would think it's nearly invisible.
19 hours ago, charisma786 said:Would you say a phenol peel isn't worth it then? I have textural issues along with some major scarring, as well.
https://www.drrullan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/3431158a99250d951e124f497a9197c2.pdf
Figure 6, phenol peel on its own isn't that great.
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The chemabrasion is good, just don't expect it to fix anything beyond very shallow pits.
On 9/21/2019 at 7:44 AM, tryinghard123 said:wow 85 percent improvement that is massive man
thats like u dont have acne scars anymore....maybe i should see dr rullan as i am from australia?
I read a bit of your thread history, I think it's still better to do it local, find someone you trust.. unless you're loaded with money, time, or just want to do the phenol chemabrasion, which is unique to Dr. Rullan. Whatever your history is with Dr. Lim, it's unlikely Dr. Rullan will producebetter results, they're both talented doctors who have seen and worked many cases. All good doctors have bad reviews, Dr. Rullan included. Ultimately it's up to you.
Did the chemabrasion leave you with a weird texture of the skin? I dont know how to explain it,but Ive seen some photos of people after the phenol peel and its odd. Its only on areas he used the scraping tool.Not sure if it goes away with time, as they stopped updating.Did any topical specifically help with that? Thank you very much for your time and updates
9 hours ago, tryinghard123 said:do u think the phenol chemabrasion can remove or at least vastly improve ice pick and boxcar type scars? can it make them much much smaller?
No, texture only
5 hours ago, Smile7 said:Did the chemabrasion leave you with a weird texture of the skin?
Yes, especially noticeable up to the 8 week mark.
14 hours ago, charisma786 said:So you would say the phenol peel gives waxy skin texture then? I'm doubting I want to do it anymore. Sounds too invasive with little results.
The healing phase the skin has a strange texture. My skin isn't waxy now, maybe just a little, it's looking better each week. Yes it is invasive.
10 hours ago, dazzed said:Rullan is a good doctor, but even then some of those photos are misleading. The lighting in some are very different, ie using overhead lighting for before and flat lighting like flash in the afters.
Agree, it was hard to gauge improvement from some of theirbefore/afters.
Although my pictures are the same way. I know looking at the mirror it improved a ton.
9 hours ago, tryinghard123 said:what do you mean by texture?
The scars you need to zoom in to see. No volume loss, almost leveled scars. I had a ton of these that reacted to no other treatment.
Dr. Rullan has some before/afters of some acne scar patients who did the chemabrasion first without other work done. The picture they showed me was of an Asian male with full face pitted scarring. It'll show you the limitations of this treatment.