I have atrophic, rolling and ice pick acne scars mostly on my cheeks that I'd like to improve. Years ago I tried full ablative CO2 laser resurfacing which, although effective in improving my texture and coloration, did not significantly reduce my acne scars other than softening their appearance somewhat. I also had the non-ablative "smoothbeam" laser, which seemed to give no results whatsoever. Presently I am considering the fractionated CO2 laser called Fraxel Re:pair, as this is supposed to have less downtime/redness than full ablative CO2 laser, and is also supposed to go deeper than most lasers available.
I have read, and have been told by a few prominent physicians, that dermabrasion remains the procedure with the greatest chance to improve the appearance of scarring. Unfortunately, it seems many doctors no longer perform the procedure due to difficulty and risk involved. I have read that Dr. John Yarborough in New Orleans, Louisiana (USA) is a dermabrasion expert who some people have received good results from.
Has anyone here recently been to Dr. Yarborough in New Orleans for a dermabrasion procedure? Are there any other dermabrasion experts that people here can recommend?
By the way, I am male and caucasian with fair skin complexion. Thank you very much in advance for any information!
Does these "prominent" physicians have first hand experience treating patient suffering from bad dermabrasion results?
Here is an example: read this thread.. This member flew from Italy to the US to have dermbrasion, not sure who he went to or what his original skin tone was. Like a lot of ppl he suffered from altered texture and pigment from the dermabrasion.
I talked to a fair skined caucasian member who had full dermabrasion, as a result suffers serious rosacea like symptoms and nerve damage in addition to the issues high-lighted above.
Another cacausian StatA (link under my sig) also had full dermabraion and suffered.
the people that have had good results far outweigh the people that havent. its just that the people who had bad experiences linger around to warn/complain. my sister has fairly dark skin (gets very tan in the summer) and she had amazing results. she was pink for a few months but now 2 years later she looks great and has no signs of ever having it done. if you are fair skinned then your chances of complications are greatly reduced. you should just talk to a surgeon that does it and ask for before/after pictures.
I am scheduled for spot dermabrasion and have no idea if I am "once again" going into something that will either do nothing or leave me with more problems. Dermabrasion does seem to be the best bet for all of us with atrophic scars, but the bad stories are scary. I so wish people who have done this would post photos. It is so hard to find any online, because laser is all the rage. I do not see much improvement from the photos of laser.
