Congrats! Your skin has come a long ways and is looking great.
The phenol chemabrasion + subcision should work pretty well from here. Itll wipe out the textural issues but the pits shouldntimprove.
After I would suggest going to a Juvederm filler expert and fill in the remaining scars one by one. Have them locally subcize each one and then inject. Dr Emery in Westlake Village, CA injected mine and Ive never had temp filler last beyond a few months; mine are still holding nicely.She is phenomenal.
On 6/24/2021 at 5:20 PM, Catharsis2018 said:Because it™s annoying for me to still be dealing with texture issues. And lol I also used to weigh 100+ lbs heavier. My acne scars don™t fit in with my current identity. So I™ll do what it takes til I™m happy.
I am quite relentless.
tbh. I think the 3000 I spent on Infini RF was a waste. I think some of my subcisions have been a waste. I think profractional was a waste. Sculptra, with that past derm who I deeply regret going to, I think was a waste.
punch excision was useful. Tca cross was useful. Fully ablative CO2 and Erbium were useful - but only semi. I™m tired of seeing acne scar sufferers get the wrong idea about lasers.
Radiesse was useful. Skinboosters was useful
Mind you, I might not get phenol after the mixed messages I™ve been reading on how effective it is.
but whatever that can improve my scars, I™m probably going to do it.
maybe the road is another fully ablative¦ I™m still debating.
and I may have gotten a bit obsessive about it. I don™t deny that.
How come the co2 and erbium was only semi useful for you? Did you notice any significant improvement from them?
On 6/29/2021 at 7:07 AM, can i get a new life please said:So after phenol shallowest scars still remain as a scar?
The skin texture won't exactly match the surrounding skin. When you push into the skin, you can see the skin cave in rather than plump outwards. From 2 feet away it's not noticeable, you'll need to be right up against the mirror.
On 6/29/2021 at 5:08 PM, JaysonC said:Which treatment(s) are you most happy with mate? The phenol peel or something else?
Copy pasting something I wrote in the past, no such thing as the best treatment:
Tethered scars (rolling, boxcar scars)Ice picksWidespread volume loss from moderate/severe scarringIsolatedvolume lossBad skin texture, very shallow scarring (no volume loss),large pores, scarred pores:phenol chemabrasionif significant widespread scarring, otherwise an ablative laser
25 minutes ago, f93d said:
Bad skin texture, very shallow scarring (no volume loss),large pores, scarred pores:phenol chemabrasionif significant widespread scarring, otherwise an ablative laser
If the best the phenol chemabrasion can do is correct bad skin texture and very shallow scarring and dilated pores, then there are other less aggressive (less downtime) treatments for this.
4 hours ago, f93d said:The skin texture won't exactly match the surrounding skin. When you push into the skin, you can see the skin cave in rather than plump outwards. From 2 feet away it's not noticeable, you'll need to be right up against the mirror.
Copy pasting something I wrote in the past, no such thing as the best treatment:
Tethered scars (rolling, boxcar scars)Ice picksWidespread volume loss from moderate/severe scarringIsolatedvolume lossBad skin texture, very shallow scarring (no volume loss),large pores, scarred pores:phenol chemabrasionif significant widespread scarring, otherwise an ablative laser
Thanks mate. Did the peel remove all your large and scarred pores completely? Or did they just diminish in size?
4 hours ago, JaysonC said:Thanks mate. Did the peel remove all your large and scarred pores completely? Or did they just diminish in size?
Completely gone, they look like normal pores now.
@versefiftyi agree to an extent, but you need a fully ablative laser to compare, and those are no joke either.I got my treatment strategyfrom beautifulambition while he was around and he suggested laser also to finish off the textural issues, but I went with the peel. It didnt matter too much, but Ive had bad experiences with laser (i.e. Mixto laser couldnt even fix super minor textural issues), most of this forum hated lasers at the time due to many negative testimonies from permanent damage and lack of results,so I went with chemabrasion.
5 minutes ago, f93d said:Completely gone, they look like normal pores now.
@versefiftyi agree to an extent, but you need a fully ablative laser to compare, and those are no joke either.I got my treatment strategyfrom beautifulambition while he was around and he suggested laser also to finish off the textural issues, but I went with the peel. It didnt matter too much, but Ive had bad experiences with laser (i.e. Mixto laser couldnt even fix super minor textural issues), most of this forum hated lasers at the time due to many negative testimonies from permanent damage and lack of results,so I went with chemabrasion.
Is this the best phenol chemobrasion can do? How much of your phenol results you held?
1 hour ago, f93d said:Completely gone, they look like normal pores now.
@versefiftyi agree to an extent, but you need a fully ablative laser to compare, and those are no joke either.I got my treatment strategyfrom beautifulambition while he was around and he suggested laser also to finish off the textural issues, but I went with the peel. It didnt matter too much, but Ive had bad experiences with laser (i.e. Mixto laser couldnt even fix super minor textural issues), most of this forum hated lasers at the time due to many negative testimonies from permanent damage and lack of results,so I went with chemabrasion.
I am not questioning the decision at all. Many would love to get the phenol peel done and get ridof even minor textural issues which most have completely. It's just disappointing that this invasive procedure with months of downtime can't seem to improve more than very shallow scarring without volume loss and scarred pores. And if it's all it does, other resurfacing treatments couldbe tried first.
10 hours ago, f93d said:Completely gone, they look like normal pores now.
@versefiftyi agree to an extent, but you need a fully ablative laser to compare, and those are no joke either.I got my treatment strategyfrom beautifulambition while he was around and he suggested laser also to finish off the textural issues, but I went with the peel. It didnt matter too much, but Ive had bad experiences with laser (i.e. Mixto laser couldnt even fix super minor textural issues), most of this forum hated lasers at the time due to many negative testimonies from permanent damage and lack of results,so I went with chemabrasion.
I agree mate. It's a brutal treatment but it delivers results.You can have n lasers for texture without knowing if they will help or ruin your texture.
12 hours ago, getsmart121 said:Is this the best phenol chemobrasion can do? How much of your phenol results you held?
Phenol chemabrasion isn't like other treatments where there is microswelling and the results disappear after a few weeks to months. The skin is raw, red, uncomfortable, and tight for many months, up close the skin doesn't look particularly normal, and the skin continues to improve up until the 1 year mark.
Phenol chemabrasion also eliminated the most stubborn of hyperpigmentation and red marks. I was planning multiple sessions of picosure laser after the peel but was so happy when these problems all disappeared and never came back; I had it pretty bad.
So yeah, superficial skin problems -chemabrasion is amazing for.
Unfortunately phenol chemabrasion isalso marketed for atrophic scarring, which is a mistake and leads to negative testimonies.
I really wish there were more up close before and afters (phenol peel) to see the texture improvements for scarred skin. I found photos of phenol peel for wrinkles and they are also only from afar.
I read that 40% tca in-office peel can also improve shallow scarring and textural issues like scarred pores and discoloration.
On 6/27/2021 at 9:07 AM, f93d said:Congrats! Your skin has come a long ways and is looking great.
The phenol chemabrasion + subcision should work pretty well from here. Itll wipe out the textural issues but the pits shouldntimprove.
After I would suggest going to a Juvederm filler expert and fill in the remaining scars one by one. Have them locally subcize each one and then inject. Dr Emery in Westlake Village, CA injected mine and Ive never had temp filler last beyond a few months; mine are still holding nicely.She is phenomenal.
Awesome thank you so much for your contribution @f93d- I find it extremely helpful. My pits are quite shallow at this point, but at the same time Im not sure how much the filler is concealing the pits Ive booked my consult with Rullan and going to take it a step at a time. Im hoping the phenol can also help with my excision spots.
thank you for the doc recommendation, Im in Canada haha but if Im ever in California, im definitely going to keep that in mind.
On 7/3/2021 at 7:36 PM, f93d said:Phenol chemabrasion isn't like other treatments where there is microswelling and the results disappear after a few weeks to months. The skin is raw, red, uncomfortable, and tight for many months, up close the skin doesn't look particularly normal, and the skin continues to improve up until the 1 year mark.
Phenol chemabrasion also eliminated the most stubborn of hyperpigmentation and red marks. I was planning multiple sessions of picosure laser after the peel but was so happy when these problems all disappeared and never came back; I had it pretty bad.
So yeah, superficial skin problems -chemabrasion is amazing for.
Unfortunately phenol chemabrasion isalso marketed for atrophic scarring, which is a mistake and leads to negative testimonies.
At what month did you feel your skin started to look normal? I plan on getting this done in November. Would makeup hide that not looking like normal skin part? Is it a waxy skin texture appearance that happens?
On 7/2/2021 at 8:26 PM, f93d said:The skin texture won't exactly match the surrounding skin. When you push into the skin, you can see the skin cave in rather than plump outwards. From 2 feet away it's not noticeable, you'll need to be right up against the mirror.
Copy pasting something I wrote in the past, no such thing as the best treatment:
Tethered scars (rolling, boxcar scars)Ice picksWidespread volume loss from moderate/severe scarringIsolatedvolume lossBad skin texture, very shallow scarring (no volume loss),large pores, scarred pores:phenol chemabrasionif significant widespread scarring, otherwise an ablative laser
This is great. Its hard to tell if scars are still tethered aftergetting filler. Is the only treatment for untethered scars filler and maybe dermastamping?
Im weighing the pros n cons for phenol peel as well. Areyou supposed to evaluate your scars without any fillers to really gauge if you have super shallow scarring?
Hi catharis, don't know if you have done any treatments recently. But going through your pictures made me realize you dont have much scar depth issues. you have harsh scar borders that is making your scars appear. Have you considered under going full ablation co2 or dermabrasion to fix this. Interesting treatment to try would be also as to what miscamay did which is tca plus abrasion using sandpaper. Anything that is physical scraping is bound to make the canvas smoother as you are physically abrading the healthy skin to abnormal skin. So it is best to do it when your scar are at surface level which they are and hence not needed to go deep with these harsh procedures. By design this should not be a first step as the scars will be deep in the starting and to correct the defect one would need to go more deep which could cause complications.