First off I would like to start off by saying I have been visiting acne.org for close to a decade now and this is my first time posting. I am a 29year old asian male living in the United States who has been battling acne since I was around 13 years old. I have seen the photos of the people who post on here and I could tell you my acne was extremely severe compared to most people. If I was to explain all the products I have used in this post you guys would either not believe me or take forever to list. I have invested thousands of dollars on products, treatments, visiting dermatologists and even went out of state to get treatments done. Most of my teens and throughout my twenties I was staring obsessively or avoiding mirrors when it came to my acne/scars. To be honest with you all it seriously affected my self confidence, mood, and outlook on life. Im not sure if this makes sense but I felt like I was becoming bipolar sometimes because I would be in a horrible mood sometimes due to acne breakouts or scars looking worse. It really affected me psychologically at many stages of my life. The stupid comments people made thinking they were helping you. "You should wash your face"...."Have you tried Pro-Activ?" ..."Do you have chicken pox?" I have heard all these ridiculous comments and it used to really affect me before.
I am writing everyone this email today because the last couple years I have finally saw some decent results. I wouldnt say my face is even close to being perfect but definitely improving. I would like to share with you guys exactly how I was able to achieve this. First off the last couple years I decided to completely change my life. I have lost close to 40 lbs in weight with proper exercise and diet. I go to the gym 5 days a week, eat healthy for the most part(and yes I do cheat occasionally because I'm human), take my vitamins and keep the stuff I put on my face simple. I have had 3 different laser procedures done with minimal results with the exception of my recent one. I have had smoothbeam which I personally thought was a waste of money. Multiple fraxel restore procedures in which I saw minimal results. Definitely not worth the $700 plus dollars I paid per treatment. Lastly I had 2 pixel 2940m laser treatments done about a year and a half ago. The first treatment my scars did improve somewhat but I wasnt super excited. I recently had my 2nd treatment done and this treatment I have seen the most results. I dont think it was necessarily the laser itself that improved my skin but the hardwork I put in eating right, drinking close to a gallon of water a day, and exercising religiously. My scars have improved about 50 percent from all these procedures and I'm still a long ways away.
I am posting this message to the world today to inspire you guys to not give up. I felt at times I couldnt enjoy my teens and twenties because of my acne/scars but I'm turning 30 this year and not letting it control and ruin me from this point on. Keep fighting the fight! No pain no gain.........It took years and years of fighting this crap called acne/scars and finally am seeing the victory in this battle. To the young people reading this post enjoy your life and dont let it bother you like it did to me. For the older folks dont give up and give it all you got. I want to thank acne.org and the people of this forum for always posting information on how to deal with acne/scars. I do have to admit though you guys had me spending alot of money on many different things from the advice I took...haha. Good luck everyone
yeah definitely I have all different types unfortunately. Icepick, boxcar, and pitted. I noticed the most results from the boxcar and pitted but the icepick ones wont budge. What you really need to ask is for the doctor to do mutiple stacks on the highest settings. you will be red and make sure you have a week off. They tell you 4 days but thats not true. The multiple stacking and high settings I was out a good 7 days. They wont do any type of CO2 fractional laser because of its possible side effects and hyperpigmentation for asian skin. I have heard this from a handful of doctors and wont take my chances. Im sure there are asian people who have had success but I chose not to. Besides a fraxel repair or total FX CO2 costs atleat $2,500 out here and after reading the reviews I would be extremely disappointed if i didnt see major improvement. From my research and talking to others the Fraxel restore is expensive because they have to replace a part everytime they treat a patient. The Pixel does the same job at a more affordable cost because their are no replacement parts. Good luck to you.
Thanks for the tips. Yea I have the same type of scarring and I have Type IV skin so I'm not a candidate for fractional CO2 either. I've read that erbium lasers are actually much better at sanding down sharp edges on scars anyways. I don't know that I'd mind the icepicks if I could improve the bigger more obvious boxcars. In any event, I wish you continued improvement! Are you going for more treatments? And speaking of hyperpigmentation, did you have any besides the initial redness? How long did it take to clear?
Hey no biggie I will try to help you as much as possible. I am going to have another pixel 2940 in a couple months. I would have it done in 2 weeks but at 500 bucks a treatment and 7 days of downtime its a bit difficult. No hyperpigmentation and the redness was completey gone after day 7. You just have to make sure you follow all the instructions they tell you. Vinegar soak the face, ice packs, and some vaseline cream they give you to heal. I will be honest with you though. The treatment does hurt like heck even with the numbing topical they put on. I tolerate pain well but it still hurts especially in the jaw area where the skin isnt as thick. Oh and I almost forgot.....sunscreen religiously anytime you go outside(very important!!!).