So I am having ablative co2 laser done on sept 4th for some raised scarring on my chin and was wondering if anybody has had success with this type of laser to flatten the scars? I have had some chemical peels and microderm as well as a microlaser peel to help the raised scars but they did nothing. I have seen a few plastic surgeons and derms that told me the co2 is the only thing that will really work to plane down the scars. I keep searching around online but there really isnt much out there regarding raised scarring at all. I do not really know what caused the raised scarring it was literally like one day I woke up and it was there as strange as it sounds. Its been since last May and I have also tried differin and tazorac for a while too with no such luck.
yeah that is what i am having done and everybody has said the same thing i am just nervous about the procedure ya know? i just pray it makes it better and not worse. yeah i am just having a spot treatment done of it and i think they said it would take 7-10 days to heal and then it could be red for up to 6 months. i just wish i could find some pics online with somebody that had the same type of scarring. i havent found anything that look like it at all. blah! m
thank you for your input i appreciate it.
do you mind telling me which treatment you had done on your chin? i wonder if something else would work better? just want to make sure i have covered all options.
i think if you have atrophic scars subcision would be best unless you are going to do it all over your face or the entire cheek. i would be worried about a line from where the laser stopped but then again i have heard that after a bit that goes away too.
What I had done is called hyfrication or electrocautarization- a little known procedure as it seems. In this thread I shared what I know about this skin problem and the treatment. You can have a look
I have been reading a lot in this forum lately and I accidentally stumbled upon a photo of what my chin used to look like Do you have a similar problem?
I have had subcision once, which raised some scarring, but my derm says this particular problem area on the right side is not tethered down and other rounds of subcision would not be necessary. So I have deep but not tethered rolling scars:( Any idea what could help with these?
oh ok thanks i know a lot about that unfortunately. i had that done on a few bumps on my chin last year and it left me with some holes that have pretty much filled in by now but i dont ever want to go that route again so the co2 it is i guess. i am glad it worked well for you though 
if the area isnt tethered down then why not get filler? or you can try laser genesis.to help produce more collagen. its non-invasive and it suppossed to provide decent results but it takes a while like if i started doing them in july/august the lady said the full result wouldnt be seen until december. the good thing is that there is no limit so you could do it as long as you wanted until you got the desired result. check it out here:
[Edited link out]
Sorry to hear that you got indented scars from the hyfricator, at least they are better now. Hope you have better results with the co2 laser!
Thank you a lot for the idea about the laser genesis, at this point I welcome every suggestion. I will definately research it. Have you personally had good experience with Cutera lasers? Fillers I would consider as a last option, because of some risk of a delayed allergic reaction and I am generally an allergic person
hey just wanted to say dont worry about fillers with hyaluronic acid too much because your body produces this naturally so you shouldnt have an allergic reaction. these are very rare for this type of filler. i have had restylane before (for laugh lines) and had no issues and its cheaper and easier than going in for multiple laser genesis treatments. i had the filler done that day and went right back to work so its super easy.
i have not had any laser genesis treatments but its the next thing i will be doing after the co2 for sure. i think it will cost me $1200 for 5 treatments. the only lasers i have tried are the acleara laser for acne and the erbium-yag laser for my scarring. i had no issues with either one.
thanks again for the kind words and let me know how things go for you!
Yeah I have been thinking of HA too on the recommendation of my beautician. She says I could get immediate and visible improvement and I am tempted to give it a try for just one scar on the temple just as a test.Today I have an appointment with her and I think I am gonna go for it. Thanks for sharing your experience with HA, comes absolutely in time!
hey let me know how it goes for you today. i am sure it will work out so great for you!! i am excited and you are so welcome!
It went very well, thanks for asking! You were right-very fast and simple.The scar was moderately deep, so it got filled up nicely. I am going to wait for a few months to just to make sure no adverse reaction occurs and maybe I can go for fillers with or without a co2 laser before that. But for now I can only say -not at all bad, these HA fillers, if only they were permanent!!
i am so glad it went well that is such great news! i bet you look fantastic! how awesome is that?! yeah i hear ya there i only wish the fillers were permanent too but i will say when i had the filler it last for over a year so maybe you will get lucky and have it last as long for you as well. i bet you feel so much better about things now.
On 8/23/2013 at 7:34 PM, tracy521 said:i am so glad it went well that is such great news! i bet you look fantastic! how awesome is that?! yeah i hear ya there i only wish the fillers were permanent too but i will say when i had the filler it last for over a year so maybe you will get lucky and have it last as long for you as well. i bet you feel so much better about things now.
A little bit better yeah. I saw that from aesthetic point of view there could be almost 100% improvement, even for a couple of months. I am also very happy I had no local reactions from the injection. But I did it only as a test on a less conspicuous scar and my deep rolling scarring is still there so it is still far from fantastic. But I think there is hope!
i gotcha. well that is good news and i think you will be fine then to have more filler injected. there is always hope so remember that. i also keep thinking as the years go by there will be more and more treatments that will be coming out so we will have even more options 
Yeah I agree, but I want results NOW, not in 10 years!
I just wanted to tell you, I spoke with my beautician about this elastolysis. She works at a dermatologist's practice and they have all sorts of lasers there-ILP, Erbium, fractional CO2 etc.She told me she has successfully treated white spots on the chin with Erbium Yag laser at higher settings. That is what she claims. So it seems any ablative laser could do the trick. Maybe you could try it, at least you won't have the residual redness from the co2 for months afterwards..
hey thanks for the info i wonder what the higher setting would be for the erbium yag to work on the bumps. i had the erbium done back in june but it was only 20 microns but the lady did go over the area at least 2-3 times though. i saw no result for those bumps. that is something to think about and i might call the other laser place i went and see what they think. when i talked to the lady before about it she didnt seem too hopeful that the erbium would do the trick but i can ask her again what she thinks. thanks again!
i had 2 - co2 treatments and the first time(sept 4th) the doc missed a lot of the scarring so the 2nd time (jan 8th) he hit the right areas but only did 1 pass so i didnt see too much of an improvement. i am going to see a new doc about having dermabrasian done on them now instead. i do believe the laser could work fairly well if multiple passes are done but the tough part is that it cant blend the edges of the scars with the rest of the skin so even though the scars can be lasered flat you will always see the outline of them unless some sort of blending is done. so this is where i am at now. i see the doc tonight about the dermabrasian and will go from there. i will keep you updated. i do find its very hard to find good plastic surgeons out there that have had a lot of experience with raised scarring. not sure why that is though.
ok so an update from yesterday i saw a new plastic surgeon who thinks that dermabrasion would work pretty well for the raised scarring on my chin. he wants to do both sides and it will cost $1150 total. he said it would take about 10-15 minutes and that they wouldnt have to put me out or anything just use local anesthetic. the doc thinks that there is a lot more control with doing the dermabrasion and thinks that i can get a good cosmetic result from it. they mentioned about using arnical gel after the procedure for healing and they took pics and gave me a booklet with all the instructions. so we shall see i am not quite sure when to schedule it due to the fact that i have some things coming up in the next month. the healing for my co2 was fast and this would be the same from what the doc has told me so i really only need a week so we shall see. the latest i plan to do it is around june 11th or 12th.
I have permanent bumps on my chin, I've always thought this was scarring, but I've been researching alternative causes for it.
I came across something called seborrheic hyperplasia, and mine chin looks quite similar to the Google images for this condition. Can't remember the exact cause but it's something to do with the oil glands that cause stubborn bumps.
If you haven't already, just thought it would be worth looking in to...
I've ordered Paulas Choice BHA 9% which is supposed to help treat this condition, but it has mixed reviews. I've had my bumpy chin for 15 years I think so I'm not holding my breath, but I just thought it would be worth you having a look and ruling it out before going for the dermabrasion.
yeah the whole thing is so odd because whatever it is showed up almost overnight about 2 years ago. i have seen 3 derms and about 7 plastic surgeons and everybody agrees that its raised scarring so beats me. i had tca peels done to try and get rid of the bumps as well as i used mandelic acid for a good 6 months or so and then starting last year i have used a glycolic acid toner daily. i also had a microlaser peel last june and some co2 treatments and nothing has really touched whatever it is so the dermabrasion is like the last thing out there to try. its very frustrating though because with the bumps being on the chin area they just stand out more and it makes that area just look so strange. ugh!i take spiro everyday as well.
