12 minutes ago, LivingWithFaith said:

Lasers should have never been marketed so heavily for acne scars...

I disagree but it shouldnt be a first treatment for acne scars.

I saw the most improvement from lasers. I think people should stop saying that if an treatment works or not, because all treatment works by damaging scars strategically to make it less noticeable and then it depends on how our body heals it. And I also use to believe that laser is just going standard but this is also highly operator dependent for instance when done by a doctor especially with angled resurfacing using fully ablative mode for instance the way the doctor went over the edges of boxcars really blended the surface.But subcision helped with lifting and its weird the way our body heals. The way to see most improvement to take an effective treatment and do atleast 3 sessions to see if it is working.

8 minutes ago, getsmart121 said:

I disagree but it shouldnt be a first treatment for acne scars.

I saw the most improvement from lasers. I think people should stop saying that if an treatment works or not, because all treatment works by damaging scars strategically to make it less noticeable. And I also use to believe that laser is just going standard but this is also highly operator dependent for instance when done by a doctor especially with angled resurfacing using fully ablative mode for instance the way the doctor went over the edges of boxcars really blended the surface.But subcision helped with lifting and its weird the way our body heals. The way to see most improvement to take an effective treatment and do atleast 3 sessions to see if it is working.

I don't doubt your experience and I'm sure you're right, I think I'm just in a pessimistic mood right now. I've combed over the entire internet multiple times and as big as this world is and as long as lasers have been in existence, you will be HARD PRESSED to find even a good handful of legitimate photos or videos documenting substantial improvement from any one of these lasers, including the 'gold standard' co2. And I don't mean photos published to these doctor's websites, I mean real, documented results from real people. Granted, there is a lot of work that needs to be done to be ready for laser resurfacing such as cross, subcision, etc., but even people with really shallow scars don't get much of any improvement, at least none that I've seen. Those that claim to conveniently never have any photos. I just... I'm at a loss and I feel like I'm running out of options. I plan to do an ablative laser in the near future and I'm so terrified that it won't work. I'm going to someone who is primarily dedicated to scar revision and everything but I'm so afraid that all her documented 'results' are all a lie and that I'd once again be solda bunch of false promises.

I didn't mean to unload all that on y'all, but I'm just so frustrated by these scars and how there's an entire market built on giving us false hope. These doctors don't truly care about improving our scars otherwise it would be a lot easier to find doctors who took the time to do manual methods. Why do I have to fly across the country to find someone who reguarly practices tca, subcision while local derms own five different lasers that equally do nothing?

I think it depends on the scar severity and the choice of the appropriate treatment for the different types of scars at different stages of the process. A singular treatment alone is less likely to deliver good results, often a combination is needed. Lasers should not be a go to or the first choice treatments but they do have their place in the treatment of severe fibrotic scarring. The success stories I'veread about on this forum lately all involve a couple of co2 or erbium lasers at least, let's not forget that. I'm not a proponent of lasers just think that they also have their place, be it only as a finishingtreatment for texture.

For me microdermabrasion, glycolic peels and theFraxel laser turned out to be useless. Looking into better treatments now

It depends on your scar types. Subcision is not for ice pick scars. TCA Cross is not for wide rolling scars.

Generally, peels will not do anything for deep scars. Don't waste your time on glycolic peels. These were the first things I did when I saw a dermatologist many years ago.

I'm not sold onnon-ablative lasers but some of the before and after photos look good. I wish I could do non-ablative treatment every month just to see if I could get results but I'd lose my entire life savings. It's one of those treatments that sound good in theory but how many people actually get results from this? A laser treatment with barely any downtime, almost no side effects, and can improve your scars? Yeahhhhh, no. I had it down a few times and didn't see any improvement. But you might need many, many treatments for the right scar type.

9 hours ago, LivingWithFaith said:

I don't doubt your experience and I'm sure you're right, I think I'm just in a pessimistic mood right now. I've combed over the entire internet multiple times and as big as this world is and as long as lasers have been in existence, you will be HARD PRESSED to find even a good handful of legitimate photos or videos documenting substantial improvement from any one of these lasers, including the 'gold standard' co2. And I don't mean photos published to these doctor's websites, I mean real, documented results from real people. Granted, there is a lot of work that needs to be done to be ready for laser resurfacing such as cross, subcision, etc., but even people with really shallow scars don't get much of any improvement, at least none that I've seen. Those that claim to conveniently never have any photos. I just... I'm at a loss and I feel like I'm running out of options. I plan to do an ablative laser in the near future and I'm so terrified that it won't work. I'm going to someone who is primarily dedicated to scar revision and everything but I'm so afraid that all her documented 'results' are all a lie and that I'd once again be solda bunch of false promises.

I didn't mean to unload all that on y'all, but I'm just so frustrated by these scars and how there's an entire market built on giving us false hope. These doctors don't truly care about improving our scars otherwise it would be a lot easier to find doctors who took the time to do manual methods. Why do I have to fly across the country to find someone who reguarly practices tca, subcision while local derms own five different lasers that equally do nothing?

Skeptesim is not going to heal your scars, first of all the scar treatments should have one focus match the right effective treatment i.e not do the wrong treatment and get meager results. I remember in 2008 when I was teenager still suffering with acne there was a guy who had deep icepick scars and wide. I though man how would he ever recover and after 2 years he had improvement of 90 percent or more thats at that time I dont know why I didnt ask him as I was shy but my theory was simple the doctor should have cut the scar and Suture it and did several laser sessions maybe he dermabrasion after.but it did worked for him and he was a real example in front of my eyes at that time I understood if I am not seeing results that that is due to wrong treatment. Again the goal of treating scaris raising and smoothing scars as much as possible and your body should respond to it. Here is my advice to remove this negative mindset, go to a plastic surgeon and point out the worst deep scar on your face and get it excised and you will start believing in science again.
also I hate it when people say laser dont work that shows their knowledge.I cantake a turned off laser and go over your face, does this mean you had laser which did not work?
more than laser the energy settings are very important you are not going to see results if its not done at the right settings. And in darker patients they risk hypopigmentation if they go aggressive so by design. Because they need to manage risk at the same time give you results. In any treatment the doctors primary concern is risk first and then results. If you dont get results thats fine you can do the treatment again.But if theyerror then theycould destroy patients life.

the question to ask is are you willing to take that risk to improve your scars because by default all doctors wont take risk. Ask them to go aggressive they will decline because they cant tarnish their image if things go wrong.