Throughout my life I've battled with acne, and been to multiple dermatologists. After countless times being on Accutane, Doxycycline, Tetracycline, countless creams, Benzoyl, etc etc I have got my skin in a managable state. However, I have a few areas of hyperpigmentation, and very very slight scarring (on my face). Now on my back I have severe hypertrophic scarring from the acne. I avoid taking my shirt off at all costs. Since my face is in decent condition, there was no need for scar treatments. I reguarly did glycolic peels every once in a while to get a "healthy glow". Very recently I got a yeast infection on my face. I went to my dermatologist and he identified it as a yeast infection and prescribed the necessaries, and it went away. However, it left behind an akward area of discolored, slightly caved in skin. I did some research online and stumbled across TCA cross. It seemed risky but I thought if I was carful about it that it would overal be a benefit. I ordered a kit and read the instructions carefully. I was ignorant when I had my brother apply the 100% acid to my hypertrophic scars on my back. The acid was left on for ten seconds and then neutralized. It automatically frosted. The same day i decided to do my face. I applied the acid only in a few areas. I had maybe a total of 6 very unoticable scars that I wanted to vanish. The main scarring was from the yeast infection. I used a toothpick, with light pressure, and pressed into the skin. I left it on for less than ten seconds and then neutralized. I then used a diluted solution on the rest of my face (About 15% TCA) for a full face peel (avoiding reapplying to the tca crossed areas). The skin was frosted, and everything seemed normal. I then applied a Copper Peptide Serum, antibiotic ointment, and petrolium jelly on my face and left things alone. For a few days the TCA areas sort of just turned dark, and the rest of my face was peeling. My overal face wasn't scabbing because I used a light percentage for the full facial peel, it was only the crossed areas that seemed to be dark red, almost brown. This seemed normal. I was continueing to used the Copper peptieds, antibiotic ointment, and petrolium jelly on my face and back. Nearing the end of the weak I was noticing that certain areas were starting to hurt, and if I touched the areas it felt as if I had a deep infection in the area. By this time, all the areas that I had applied the acid to on my back had become infected lesions. My face was continuing to peel, but not the crossed areas. They all just began turning into lesions. I didn't understand how I could be getting an infection, considering I take doxycycline regularly to avoid breaking out with acne. That, plus the anit-biotic ointment should of been preventing an infection. One of the scabs on my face easily came off and I was horrifed at what I saw. There was a humungous crater in the skin, and the area was red, and bleeding. I went to my dermatologist, and he told me that I shouldn't of done it myself. He told me to continue the doxycycline and he gave me a prescription for even stronger antibiotic ointment. He then advised me to use a sillicone scar gel (which I don't have) I'd have to order that online. So now I'd say it's been about a two weeks, and a majority of the scabs on my face have fallen off. The result is very crated, red, hideous skin. I still have some scabs that I don't want to pick off. My back is still very infected and I expect the scarring to be much worse there. However, I'm content with that. What I'm not content with is the scarring on my face. I always take extra good care of my skin, and after many years of battling with acne, my persistence paid off because I was left with virtually no facial scarring. HOWEVER, due to this TCA cross I've just administered to my face, I now how, I'd say about a total of 7 craters, all scattered on my face. This is absolutely devistating. My doctor also said he will prescribe hydroquinone for discolored areas if I need it, but that's not ultimately the issue. I've been left with craters in my face. TCA cross was one of the most awful decisions I've ever made. I will post pictures soon. Anyone's feedback, advice, or personal experience would be super appreciated. Thank you.
-Guy
re-edit: the middle picture is a before picture. I don't really have a great example of the before because I don't really take pictures specifically of that angle of my face...but it's the best I could come up with, the other two are the aftermath pictures.
Can u show us some pics... I would never do this procedure myself, its too risky.... I went to a dr and she wouldnt do it on my nose, I have lots of blackheads and pores from squeezing those blackheads...she said I have too many pores and that they arent deep enough....she said TCA is way too risky....
If I were U I would leave ur skin alone for awhile, let it heal and dont put anything on it at all...then go see a derm and see what they suggest.
As far as I know tca cross should really only be used on deep but small scars ("icepick"). Don't panic too much though.. it'll definitely look much better after some time passes. Just be gentle on your skin now - no picking and it might be a good idea to keep the trouble areas moist. Silicone products work only on raised scars - not on depressed scars. You could try some sheet type silicone things on your raised scars on back... There the bandage like sheets don't show so you should be able to use them pretty much all the time without much trouble.. results take months to start showing though and they can be a bit pricy (not if you compare to treatments like lasers ofc).
As for craters on face.. I once did a tca peel that resulted in a major crater on my face on one spot where I had applied too much acid. It was deep and nasty red.. but as months passed it fortunately disappeared completely. The whole healing process from crater to normal skin took something like half a year though.
So I believe yours will get greatly better too if not competely heal - but it'll take time.
Sorry about what happened. 100% is very dangerous and I suspect putting the copper peptides on it and perhaps even the antibiotic ointment just irritated it. I once got a fungal type infection on my face from too much neosporin, it can cause bad reactions. So if you were having yeast problems, antibiotic ointments are not the way to go as it kills all bacteria and can make yeast problems worse. I don't think silicone pads are good either for it now, let it breathe some and then I find, putting egg yolk on really helps heal delicate areas, just keep it on for awhile and do the treatment at least every day. You just don't want to irritate it, sometime something can look infected but it is really just really inflamed. It will eventually calm down, try not to stress too much as this will make it worse. Hard, but give your mind a break and just let it heal for awhile.
I appreciate the responses! However, I'm not patient with healing..... I'm pretty devestated about this. I have asked my dermatologist to send a referral to a local plastic surgeons office... I want a second opinion....
Oh, and I've also re-edited and posted pictures of the burns.
Can u show us some pics... I would never do this procedure myself, its too risky.... I went to a dr and she wouldnt do it on my nose, I have lots of blackheads and pores from squeezing those blackheads...she said I have too many pores and that they arent deep enough....she said TCA is way too risky....
If I were U I would leave ur skin alone for awhile, let it heal and dont put anything on it at all...then go see a derm and see what they suggest.
yeahh really destroyed your face eh... seriously...
Yes, in my eyes it's destroyed. I've gone from having nearly no facial scarring (visible to others) to these craters in my face. I'd call that destroyed.
very much over the top dude... chill, its not bad at all... like nothing, count yourself lucky.
yeahh really destroyed your face eh... seriously...
We're all here for support, not to be mocked.
Thank you! I appreciate the support.
Update: I have an appointment with a cosmetic surgeon tomorrow so he can fully tell me if the damge is even considerable damage, and to discuss other scar treatments. I will update with what we discuss, and I will keep more updates on if I go through, and from there, my results. 
I think you already know that your first mistake was attempting to treat the scars yourself. Never a good idea. Then piling all the other stuff on top probably didn't help. Live and learn.
For now, try to relax and give it some time to heal. In the meantime, remember that we are often our own worst critics. To many of us, it doesn't look very bad at all, although to you it's devastating. Different perspectives is all. Adam has been here for years dealing with his scars, so I can see how yours do not look so bad to him.
Yes, we're all here for support, but it does help sometimes to get other perspectives.
Good luck!
don't do anything more to your skin... doing cross at 100% for the first time by yourself was not the brightest idea... you should have done in depth research... and normally those are used for little pin pricks and are very quickly removed... 10 seconds seems a long time... at any rate your skin was VERY good before hand and it will be good again. I hope you learned your lesson and won't play with fire again.
Moving forward I saw the "craters" the pics prob don't do it justice but honestly... I think you just need to give your skin a solid 3-6 months to heal and you may not be as you were before but you'll be very close...
also you are using an intensive amount of products... copper peptides, petroleum jelly... and others... all these things are too much for your skin now... manage your acne... moisturize and do nothing else.
good luck to you sir
Don't put anything else on your face right now.
Take vitamin C and zinc to help build collagen.
Depending how they heal, you may need excision to 'fix' them. It will leave another scar but it will be less noticeable if done correctly. Ironically, TCA cross may actually help the new scars if they turn out to be boxscars, but I'm not sure TCAx helps BS's, it's used for ice picks mostly. Of course don't do anything yourself from here on out.
Update: I'm sorry I didn't reply on this sooner... My appointment with the surgeon got pushed back due to the holidays. I walked in the P.S's office, and he told me that it really was just redness, and it would likely take half a year to a full year to return to normal skin color, and that there really will only be one possibility for a scar...and he said he'd "cut it out"...... He also looked at the scarring on my back and told me that because it was in such a difficult area for scarring, there was nothing that he could really do. He said he could cut those scars out also, but ultimately it might just look worse, and form a bigger scar..... So....he really didn't give advice on anything to do. In general, it looks much better than it did, but the spots are still a neon red color... Seriously bright red... it's weird. So I think I'm going to but some sillicone scar gel. I read online that will help with redness.... I will continue to have light peels done by a licensed aesthetician as well. Booo :/
look into those silicone gel sheets to speed the healing/repair of the damage you did. You could cut up a large on and wear little squares of it on your face at night or something. It seems to really help some people's scarring in terms of both color and indents or raised scarring.
