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I thought I would start a topic where we can all post things that give us hope for improvement on our scars - it could be anecdotes, personal experience, links to topics/videos, innovative treatments or just plain pictures. I'll start with these three topics that give me a lot of hope for improvements on my own scars:
Couple of rounds of subcision followed by needling / fat grafting already gives 90% improvement. Then there is also a thread on Cora therapy. The other 10% will probably take a few more years with 3d printing, hydrogel, stem cells etc.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-07/foas-nyu070612.php
What gives me hope is the fact that most people here have had good improvement from different light or moderate treatments like subcision, skin needling and even some lasers, and they are looking for further improvement. A decade ago the situation was completely distinct. There were many complaints about poor results from agressive procedures like dermabrasion, CO2 laser, exoderm, etc. There were huge threads about TCA cross, self needling and fraxel but those treatments were new and controversial. Nobody knew what to expect because the reviews were mixed. Only now it is clear that the results are slow and cumulative but certain in many cases. There are too many users reporting their improvements.
getting just one session of enerjet gave me new found faith for my deep ice picks and box scars that i have on both cheeks. i feel good about posting my experience to the community since it can help other alot too. ive been through the deepest downs because of my acne scarring. it used to control my life in the weirdest ways. thank god for airgent/enerjet
I thought I would start a topic where we can all post things that give us hope for improvement on our scars - it could be anecdotes, personal experience, links to topics/videos, innovative treatments or just plain pictures. I'll start with these three topics that give me a lot of hope for improvements on my own scars:
Just wanted to say that I don't think those TCA cross pictures could be realistic. I remember seeing this picture when I chose to do cross years ago and believing it naively, but after my cross treatments and more research, these pictures are laughable. If there is any real improvement, it must be severely exaggerated with lighting/photoshop.This guy even has mild rolling scars, and suddenly they're gone after TCA cross?
I thought I would start a topic where we can all post things that give us hope for improvement on our scars - it could be anecdotes, personal experience, links to topics/videos, innovative treatments or just plain pictures. I'll start with these three topics that give me a lot of hope for improvements on my own scars:
Just wanted to say that I don't think those TCA cross pictures could be realistic. I remember seeing this picture when I chose to do cross years ago and believing it naively, but after my cross treatments and more research, these pictures are laughable. If there is any real improvement, it must be severely exaggerated with lighting/photoshop.This guy even has mild rolling scars, and suddenly they're gone after TCA cross?
Did you have any improvement from your TCA cross treatments? How much? How many treatments?
I tried TCA cross in 2005/2006 but the improvement was small. Some scars filled in around 70%, some around 30%, but most scars didn't improve anything.
Thanks
I had 3 cross treatments, with 5-10 months apart in 2010-2011. Most of my scars didn't improve. A couple (4-5) did however, perhaps 30-50%. Some of them have reversed back to what they were like before after a couple of years, and one or two have remained improved. One scar also got considerably worse, and one scar became slightly hypertrophic on one side (not very noticeable). I think I may see some hypopigmented spots around some crossed scars too. It's not really noticeable and I can't be even sure if they're truly hypopigmented, but I see that as a fairly dangerous side effect nevertheless.
I thought I would start a topic where we can all post things that give us hope for improvement on our scars - it could be anecdotes, personal experience, links to topics/videos, innovative treatments or just plain pictures. I'll start with these three topics that give me a lot of hope for improvements on my own scars:
Just wanted to say that I don't think those TCA cross pictures could be realistic. I remember seeing this picture when I chose to do cross years ago and believing it naively, but after my cross treatments and more research, these pictures are laughable. If there is any real improvement, it must be severely exaggerated with lighting/photoshop.This guy even has mild rolling scars, and suddenly they're gone after TCA cross?
That's interesting. TCA cross is a procedure that needs to be done multiple times to see real results though.
Something that I find interesting is the infamous Korean TCA Cross study ("Focal treatment of acne scars with trichloroacetic acid: chemical reconstruction of skin scars method.") From the "results" section of the study:
"Patient treatment data indicated that 27 of 33 patients(82%) (the 65% TCA group) and 30 of 32 patients(94%) (the 100% TCA group) experienced a good clinical response.All patients in the 100% TCA group who received fiveor six courses of treatment showed excellent results. Good satisfaction rates in the 65% and 100% TCA groups were recorded. There were no cases of significant complication."
It also sounds pretty safe (probably not something to do at home though):
"There were no cases of significant complication at
the treatment sites such as persistent erythema, permanent
hyperpigmentation, hypopigmentation, herpes
simplex flare-up, scarring, or keloids."
Sounds pretty promising to me..unfortunately, it seems like almost all scar treatment methods have some risks associated though.
How long was the follow-up period in that study though? I didn't notice any pigmentation issues until very recently, and it's been two years years since the last treatment. Granted, this is barely noticeable hypopigmentation, but nonetheless it's there. I notice it, but if I talked to a dermatologist about it, they may not even see it, it's that subtle. Most of the treated areas are fine, but around 3-4 have a lighter area of skin around them. I haven't had any other treatments besides Cross, and can't think of anything else causing it.
And remember, hypopigmentation from CO2 lasers (which is most likely a more researched treatment method than Cross) only shows up around a year and a half after treatment.
How long was the follow-up period in that study though? I didn't notice any pigmentation issues until very recently, and it's been two years years since the last treatment. Granted, this is barely noticeable hypopigmentation, but nonetheless it's there. I notice it, but if I talked to a dermatologist about it, they may not even see it, it's that subtle. Most of the treated areas are fine, but around 3-4 have a lighter area of skin around them. I haven't had any other treatments besides Cross, and can't think of anything else causing it.
And remember, hypopigmentation from CO2 lasers (which is most likely a more researched treatment method than Cross) only shows up around a year and a half after treatment.
Austra, did you see any noticeable improvement from Cross? Sorry to make you repeat yourself if you've talked about this elsewhere, but how many sessions did you do?
How long was the follow-up period in that study though? I didn't notice any pigmentation issues until very recently, and it's been two years years since the last treatment. Granted, this is barely noticeable hypopigmentation, but nonetheless it's there. I notice it, but if I talked to a dermatologist about it, they may not even see it, it's that subtle. Most of the treated areas are fine, but around 3-4 have a lighter area of skin around them. I haven't had any other treatments besides Cross, and can't think of anything else causing it.
And remember, hypopigmentation from CO2 lasers (which is most likely a more researched treatment method than Cross) only shows up around a year and a half after treatment.
Austra, did you see any noticeable improvement from Cross? Sorry to make you repeat yourself if you've talked about this elsewhere, but how many sessions did you do?
I only had 3 crosses, but didn't really notice enough improvement to have more - and the doctor didn't seem to think it would be useful either. I wrote more specifically about it here.
How long was the follow-up period in that study though? I didn't notice any pigmentation issues until very recently, and it's been two years years since the last treatment. Granted, this is barely noticeable hypopigmentation, but nonetheless it's there. I notice it, but if I talked to a dermatologist about it, they may not even see it, it's that subtle. Most of the treated areas are fine, but around 3-4 have a lighter area of skin around them. I haven't had any other treatments besides Cross, and can't think of anything else causing it.
And remember, hypopigmentation from CO2 lasers (which is most likely a more researched treatment method than Cross) only shows up around a year and a half after treatment.
Austra, did you see any noticeable improvement from Cross? Sorry to make you repeat yourself if you've talked about this elsewhere, but how many sessions did you do?
I only had 3 crosses, but didn't really notice enough improvement to have more - and the doctor didn't seem to think it would be useful either. I wrote more specifically about it here.
I know this is a bit off topic, but I thought I would follow up. Anyway, the study followed up six months after treatment - from my reading, each treatment was done with 1-3 month intervals for up to 6 treatments(?) = a maximum of 2 years since the first treatment. From realself regarding hypopigmentation with TCA:
"TCA peels do help scars, especially icepick ones but run a small risk of hypopigmentation which is usually temporary. Don't let that risk detract you from improving your scars."
You also have to remember that certain skin types are better candidates for chemical peels than others. I suppose there is a risk though...but I'd rather have lighter skin than scars personally.
Knowing that I will be acne free.
That is a great reason to remain hopeful - I think a lot of us with active acne don't realize that having clear skin makes scars look a million times better even if they don't get shallower (which they usually do!).
I don't think 6 months after the last Cross is long enough to measure true outcomes, but still I am sure the risk for hypopigmentation is small, especially since it's a spot treatment. However, Cross is a fairly invasive and harsh method and requires a very skilful doctor and the right type of scarring (very narrow ice-picks). I don't want people going for it thinking there are no risks whatsoever.
And in my case at least, I didn't trade hypopigmentation for no scars or even modest improvement. However, nothing very seriously negative resulted from my Cross treatments which I'm happy about.