Hello and greetings to whoever reads this. I have been struggling with deep cystic acne on my shoulders for years, and last year I decided to bite the bullet and to take accutane. I put off getting on accutane for so long because I was terrified of the side effects I™d heard rumors about, suicidal ideation, psychosis, chronic IBS et cetera et cetera. It worked like a charm, I had almost no side effects. My acne disappeared, but it was too late. I™m left with debilitating scars covering my entire upper-trunk area. They vary in size, but most of them are these slightly raised white papular scars (Follicular macular atrophy I think is the correct terminology) From what I™ve read on the internet, there is nothing that can be done about this type of scarring. When I compress the skin they look wrinkly and disgusting. Apparently body scars are impossible to perceivably remove. Thinking about living the rest of my life with these scars absolutely terrifies me. This whole scarring thing has absolutely destroyed my life, I don™t eat, I don™t work, I don™t go out, I don™t sleep, I just cry all the time, wishing I had taken accutane sooner. When I look at myself in the mirror I retch, it looks absolutely foul. If anyone else has any experience with this kind of scarring, and any treatment options whatsoever, I would love to hear from you. I just feel so alone.
I don't know, I think you have really pretty skin. You have a handful of white dots, hey are barely if at all raised, and to be honest they look like hypopigmented tiny little level dots. Maybe if I had to look at them everyday I'd think differently, but that's just my view.
If you want my honest opinion, I wouldn't flinch and I call it how I see it most of the time. Probably because I don't even view those as scars, more like just pigmented dots at this point. I totally get how it bothers you, and I it'll affect how your are with others or for example going to the beach and so on I get that, but at least you can cover it with clothing if it bothers you.
I don't know anything raise white papular scars or follicular atrophy. I guess that's a fancy way of saying sensitive areas have been permanently damaged. Atrophy is when your skin loses connective tissue or fat or whatever else in between. For example aging or steroid use can cause atrophy. Hopefully someone else knows about this particular stuff.
Yeah you may have heard this before, but I don't think your shoulders look that bad at all. In my opinion, and I think most would agree, acne scars look much worse when they're like typical acne scars, indented and atrophic. As the user above me said, it's questionable if they would even count as scars.
Seeing your shoulders makes me think of steroid injections. I say this because hypopigmentation (white or light spots) are said to be a somewhat common side effect. You didn't have shots though? I'm wondering if it was the result of accutane, or if it's just how your skin heals.
Do you have any scars on your face? If not I'd say you're pretty lucky--not trying to invalidate you, but trust me when I sayit could be worse. I think I'd feel a lot better if my acne healed as white spots as opposed to indentations.