The cheeks will probably see the most results because they are shallower. CO2 laser needs to be done a little aggressively to get noticeable results though.

@amanda-hall thank you for your reply! Well I got co2 ablative done today. My face is burning, it felt like she didnt do very agressive over the temples (which needs it the most) as they do not look red at all and i think she only did one pass over them. Does that seem normal?

I'm too late! lol. Looks like you already got it. But I was going to say, yes, laser might be helpful. Did you get fractional or non-fractional? I'm really curious to follow along. Post pics if you have them, or at least an "after" pic after a few months.

And yeah, temples probably will need some more care there to get that improved to where you are satisfied I'm guessing.

I'm in the same case with how the temples look and I think you need more subcision there since it looks tied down! Also how much did the co2 ablative hurt? Curious if I get that myself

Unless you have really shallow scars (I'm guessing most people on this forum do not), you are probably wasting your money doing non-ablative laser treatment. This is just my opinion having done Affirm laser and another one from some dermatologist. Don't let doctors tell you that the heat from non-ablative lasers will do this and that to collagen. The science makes sense but reality doesn't prove it. CO2 fractional treatment helped me the most but I would say the majority of doctors are not trained to go aggressively.

Your temple scars are pretty deep and I don't know if you'll be satisfied with laser treatments there. You've already done subcision so I'm not sure if you'll get additional benefit from another one of those treatments.

Scar excision is a possibility but it has its risks. You can read my other posts regarding this.

@amanda-hall Hey there! The laser I did was actually co2 ablative laser performed by a plastic surgeon. I had her just spot treat only the scars. She got my cheek scars pretty well, I am a tad disappointed because I feel like she completely missed doing my temples and a surgical scar I have on my cheek as well. Unless she did a lighter setting so there was no redness or swelling at all I'm not sure. I will have to discuss with her at my follow up next week. It was pretty expensive (775$) for just spot treating the scars tbh, but maybe because it was done by the plastic surgeon herself. 75$ of that was BBL laser under my nose and chin to help with redness. I'm hoping for some improvements on the cheek scars. So far I'm pretty swollen still, and red, and swelling makes the face/scars look completely smooth and perfect. If only it stayed that way lol, but I know I won't see final results until the swelling is down and probably a month or more. From what I see online, some people scab up and look pretty frightening for a week after ablative. I'm pretty swollen on the areas she treated and was oozing as well, but I didn't scab yet or look too crazy tbh, which makes me wonder how agressive the treatment was done. I guess we will see!

Yeah, honestly, I wonder if subcision did anything to help my scars at all. There's so much mixed info about subcision, whether blunt cannual works, if you need filler after, etc. Mine was done with a blunt cannula, no filler after, and she took a lot of time doing it. and It appeared to help for a while, it was completely smoothed out, but slowly went back to how it looked before. but I think mostly it was micro-swelling after. When I compare old pics I maaaybe see 25-30% improvement..? That may be pushing it even. On the cheek I posted a pic of, those scars seem to be less deep after the subcision. She did some TCA cross also. So maybe it wasn't a complete waste of money. But sometimes I convince myself there is no difference at all.

The doctor I went to for the subcision actually initially mentioned excision of the temple scars, her thoughts on the temple scars were they will likely not see improvement from any treatments as they are too deep and not enough fat in that area under neath and she recommended excising them, but I chickened out and was looking at that as a very last attempt at getting rid of them. Just have a fear I will somehow end up with a way worse scar, but they already look pretty bad so I'm not sure how that could possibly happen, as I think even a longer but linear scar would look better than the huge craters there.

@acknee4life Hi there! I am considering doing more subcision next plus filler especially on the temples. Or excising them, as a last attempt. Honestly, I only got spot treatments on my acne scars which I don't have a lot wide spread just a few that really bother me. So it was done in about 5-10 minutes, and I don't think the pain was that bad. I was pretty scared at first because alot of people online talked about how unbearable and horrific the pain is, but after experiencing it myself.. I think thats a bit exaggerated. But, I also have a high pain tolerance. I think it felt like getting hit in the face with a rubber band over and over, or being zapped/stung, and yes it burns like a really bad sunburn after for a couple hours but nothing unbearable tbh. She only put numbing cream on 45 minutes before and that was enough for me. the BBL laser she used under my nose and chin hurt more as there was no numbing cream there, but still nothing horrible. I say it isn't that bad pain wise personally. BUT I think I'm in the minority with that opinion. If you have really bad scars and really want to see a difference, id say go for it and don't let pain be a factor that holds you back.

@dan-4 Hey there! I got co2 ablative, I am honestly not sure if that is fractional or non-fractional, but it was an ablative laser done by a plastic surgeon. I just got my acne scars spot treated. I will definitely update once I am all healed up, still swollen and red, of course the skin looks perfect and smooth currently because of swelling, if only it stayed that way lol. I will update with final results once all the swelling goes down. She missed doing my temples during the laser I think! As that area is not red or swollen at all which is upsetting a bit. But I guess we will see how the cheeks turned out.

This is what my face currently looks like after laser but obviously its swollen so the scars are completely smooth besides my temples because i think she missed that area

@cccmeow $775 is a lot for spot treatment. The doctor who got me the most improvement was expensive as well and her rates changed. She must give quotes based on how she's feeling that day. I got half of my face done for about $2,200 (after negotiating with the office manager) the first time. Then she asked for $350 per spot when I asked for spot treatment. Sooooo if I wanted 7 spots done, it would be the same as half my face?? That doesn't make sense! Laser costs should be based on time spent. It would take her less time to do 7 spots than half of my face. Anyway, I just wanted to vent.

Excision means trading in a scar with a scar. If you have a bigger scar, the resulting linear scar might be worth the trade off. I got three excisions done. One took many laser treatments to get smoothed out. The second is almost invisible - this one is below my ear and has less tension and lots of fat. I'm so glad I got this done. I have one on my temple which will always be visible - lasers, TCA, and microneedling did not improve it that much. But I've learned to deal with it and the linear scar looks better than the rounded scar after all of the headaches, so I've come to accept the fact that it will always be visible. If you're going to spend lots of money on lasers, maybe consider excision, and then lasering.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do!

It's like an illusion. You see scars on the forehead or temples and it looks deeper than it should be because there's not enough fat or collagen to warrant that deep of a scar. In theory, it shouldn't take a lot of collagen to level scars in those areas. You would think.

In any case. I like the theory of breaking up the scar tissue via subcision and using a filler as a spacer to prevent retethering. In addition, get 1.5mm dermapen treatments to promote collagen growth all the while using good serums and of course sunscreen religiously. Vitamin c helps promote collagen remodeling, hyaluronic acid helps with fibroblast proliferation and it's good to use both in the morning along with good sunscreen. No sunscreen, no hope. UV rays will just kill off collagen growth and then you're wasting time and money..... then maybe use a retinoid at night like tretinoin if you can tolerate it. Laser sounds good when you have leveled the skin as best you can and want to smoothen everything off to blend in the scar.

You're probably looking at several sessions of subcision/filler/microneedling. Of course this advice doesn't replace advice given by your provider. If you see fit, you may want to get another opinion from a local doctor and bring up sucision/filler/dermapen combo.

I get a feeling you can get really good improvement. Your scars are soft and your overall texture is really good. Unfortunately, it takes time.....and money.