Ok here is my situation
im 15 year old male. I have had acne for 2 years and it has cleared up my back and my face although my face was not bad at all. My back has little to no acne anymore thank god, BUT when i was 13 i used Dove for Men (strong scented) body wash. I had an allergic reaction from the smell/ingredients that led to tender, raw skin on my back that eventually turned into multiple hypertrophic raised scars. Only on my shoulder blades there are probably 12 all together. Summer is approaching and i workout all year round but i still cant take off my shirt at the pool. I am strongly considering Co2 laser treatments or ANY other suggestions that will reduce the thickness of these scars. Thanks!
Have they improved by themselves over the two years? If so, it may be best to just let them fade on their own.
From my research, CO2 lasers are not the first step treatment in treating hypertrophic scars. Doctors love to start with steroid injections. Through my personal experiences, steroids flattened my keloids but didn't do much for the redness. Medical literature seems to love pulsed dye lasers, such as the vbeam laser. Everything you read about PDL says it flattenes hypertrophic scars and improved redness. PDL hasn't done jack shit for me FWIW.
So my advice is to see a dermatologist and get some steroid injections.
CO2 lasers? Not a good first step.
Step 1: See a dermatologist who has experience with keloids and hypertrophic scars.
If your scars are normal skin color, then steroid injections should work out great to flatten them and that should be all you need. If your scars are red, treatment may be a bitch. The redness of the scar is just very hard to treat. As another poster noted, pulsed dye lasers such as the vbeam are touted as great for reducing size and redness, but also for me, they haven't gone jack shit.
Hi, I also have hypertrophic scarring on my chest. It is so embarrasing for me. I had gotten the cortisone injection on a couple and they are completely gone now. I had stressed and tried every treatment for years! Mine were raised and irritated too but that didn't last too long. I do have a question, do you know of any types of places or perhaps a chain med spa that does those injections and about how much they are? I had insurance last time I had one and have called a few places here in Austin, TX but they say they don't do them.