An Introduction!
Hello, I'm a relatively old visitor and lurker on this site but this would be my first post and I'm kind of a newbie and making logs and things. If this is not in the right place, please let me know-- there didn't seem to be a forum for logging efforts to be rid of red marks or PIH, but I could be wrong. Like I said, I'm new 
My skin:
My skin isn't terrible, but it isn't good. For the most part, my acne has cleared up (phew) although I will still occasionally get a pimple or two on my cheeks when my diet goes south or when it's that time of the month. In any case, for the most part my face is clear, with a maximum of 2 or 3 small spots on it at a time. When I don't pick these, they take a while to go away, but I've recently just gotten the picking problem under control (although it does get exacerbated when I'm under a lot of stress). All in all, my skin isn't /that/ bad, it just looks worse than it is because there are a lot of red marks from old acne that has since gone, and my old picking habit which I have done my utmost to stop.
My plan:
What I hope to achieve is to get these red marks to fade faster. I have crept through the forums quite a bit (heh) and found some interesting information. According to many on the boards, red marks and scars go away faster with regular exfoliation, good sunscreen to avoid making them worse, and some people have found success with different products. There are many different things people seem to be trying to fade redmarks faster, and one of the most controversial claims is that vaseline will help with redmarks. So I'm going to try vaseline first! I have some relatively recent marks that I will be using the vaseline on and seeing if it helps at all.
I think what many people have said about vaseline is that the reason it works is that it creates a barrier between the skin and the outside, not so much healing it in itself but allowing the skin time to heal without being affected by the outside environment. According to the threads, people have found that vaseline can be comedogenic or that it can be beneficial, depending on individual skin sensitivity. Today, I did a skin test with the vaseline and found that I don't appear to be allergic to it, so I am going to try applying it to the marks starting today.
People have found the most success applying the vaseline up to 6 times a day in order to keep the skin moist throughout the day and allow the scars to heal. I will try this method (although unfortunately it seems to involve staying home or just going in public with a greased up face!) and see if I notice any differences with this method.
I currently wash with just cetaphil and towel dry, and occasionally will use an AHA lotion that I think has been long discontinued (Sally Hansen's Skin Recovery Oil-Free Lotion) and a couple times I week I will use REN glycolactic radiance renewal mask [Removed]
I've attached a couple pictures of my starting point. I was wearing some vaseline on my marks in these so pardon the greasiness/shiny appearance, but this is just so you can have an idea of the severity of my current acne/red mark situation.
my cheek
(The same picture as above, but with worse lighting.... yucky red marks!)
other cheek!
So this is day 1, my starting point in testing out the theory that vaseline fades red marks. Also, I guess it's worth noting that I'm using
And not just Vaseline brand petroleum jelly.
post if you have any questions about what I'm doing, or with any comments on what I should try! Thanks.
Red marks were my worst enemy for quite a while! My skin cleared up quite quickly, and then I was left with atrocious red marks that looked nearly as bad as the blemishes had, yet they took weeks or months to go away rather than just a few days. Tanning helped, though only temporarily. Tanning can disguise the red marks by darkening the surrounding skin and reducing contrast. Something that did work wonders for my red marks, however, was prescription Atralin (basically a milder form of retin-a). After 6-8 weeks, my face got SUPER dry, I mean like crazy dry for about 2-3 weeks. It was like a desert on my face, and even moisturizer would burn like hell-fire, so I used vitamin E oil instead. Anyways, the Atralin rid my face of the first few layers of skin (hence the dryness) and took all my old red marks with it! So, now that my skin is returning to its former suppleness (pure vitamin E oil is a lifesaver, you might try using that instead of vaseline), its amazingly mark-free. Which is saying a lot, if you could see how it looked a few months ago. Anyways, if you're willing to put up with a few weeks of dry skin, I'd definitely recommend some form of retin-a, it really does make a difference.
Thanks for the reply! I want to experiment with the Vaseline first, as a lot of people have had success with it and it is (supposedly) non-comedogenic. There seems to be a lot of debate over whether or not it actually works, so I figured since I'm newly rid of my acne that I'd be the one to test it out once and for all.
I used to use Vit E oil on my face from the capsules (is that what you did?) but I never saw any difference at the time. It could have been that I also had active acne which was becoming aggravated/suffocated under the oil, who knows. Either way, I stopped usage, but maybe it's worth looking into if my vaseline experiment fails.
I think that while that sounds wonderful to finally be rid of red marks once and for all (and a huge congratulations to you for accomplishing it, I'm admittedly pretty jealous :3) I'm going to see if less extreme measures work first. It is summer after all and I'd rather not be peeling all summer long! Maybe I'll look into getting slightly tanner (with a good sunscreen of course) to see if that helps. All in all, thanks for all the advice and recommendations! I will ask a derm about Atralin if all else fails.
I thought it might be a good time to update this! Four days into this experiment and I seem to be seeing some results. Nothing is definite yet, but I think my skin tone seems to be evening out a little. It seems that newer acne marks are fading faster when kept moist under the petroleum jelly.
I was thinking of taking pictures at this update, but I might wait until a week has passed to post more pictures, as (oops!) I got my "time of the month" during this week and a couple of hormonal pimples cropped up and left new marks, and I didn't want to be discouraged by those pictures. However, it seems some of the marks along the sides of my cheeks are fading faster, but it could be my imagination-- I'll see when I take the new pictures, haha.
On the other hand, it doesn't seem to be breaking me out that badly. I've switched from having the jelly on all day to rubbing a small amount into the scarred or marked areas a couple times a day when I'm home, or not planning on going out. I also rub a little in, not too much that it's gloopy but just enough that there's definitely a small barrier between the outside and the skin, right before bed. I don't wear it 24/7, because I think that that might suffocate the skin and not allow it time to breathe. Also, I think the occasional AHA masks that I do are doing a great job of exfoliating, while the jelly does a wonderful job of keeping moisture in after, allowing skin to heal better.
I will update in another few days!
keep us updated
