Acne.org Products
Hi Everyone,
I'm just coming off of my 6 month course of Accutane at 60mg/mth and don't have any more active acne. Unfortunately left with what appears to be moderate atrophic scarring (mostly boxcar, fewer ice pick, and a bit of rolling) and a decent amount of PIE which I am eager to fight.
There seems to be a lot of controversy in terms of acne scar treatments for people who have recently taken or are currently taking Accutane, and the 3 consultations with Docs/Derms seem to support that. As I understand, for the past several decades it has been standard practice for patients to wait 6-12 months after Accutane cessation to begin scar revision treatments based on limited and older research. However, newer research (within the last 5ish years?) says that most procedures are ok so long as they don't go too deep? So with that said, here are the recommendations I have received from my consultations.
(1) Doc suggested I do fractional ablative erbium:YAG laser with her after 1 month post-Accutane for 3 sessions.
(2) A second did not even want to discuss scar treatments with me until 6 months post-Accutane, but did write me a prescription for Tretinoin to use.
(3) Finally, a third doc suggested Halo Laser Treatment 2 months post-Accutane.
So, what does everyone here think about scar revision treatments shortly after or during Accutane treatment?
Does anyone have any personal experience doing treatments shortly after/during their course?
I would not risk anything for at least 6 months and I still think it's standard practice to wait 6-12 months after accutane. This is because extensive healing requires various mechanisms which accutane suppresses (like oil as you know).
I don't think fractional laser is something you should jump into because other more full ablative treatments may be better and ablative may be more of a solution depending.
Not sure what PIE is but if you mean pigmentation then I do think tretinoin could help and tretinoin generally used a few times a week with moisturizer is an okay thing. At the least, it should tighten the skin or churn some cells faster.
Also don't know anything about Halo laser. Doctors are fast to push laser but it's had a hit or miss history. I think the best outcomes with lasers are usually experienced providers with multiple sort of techniques that include a laser.