Hi everyone,
I have been wondering around this site and on youtube for the past few years trying to find out how to get rid of my rolling and boxcar scars on my cheeks. I was an inch away from having a CO2 laser done but I my mind kept telling me to try the dermaroller first due to how expensive it was
I made a pledge to myself that once I find out something that works I will give back that knowledge. After several sessions of dermarolling with ok results I stumbled across the dermapen and I searched vigorously online to find an at home dermapen and I ended up finding a knockoff on Amazon. I use Super Copper peptide serum afterwards, I have used it twice and IT WORKS LIKE NOTHING ELSE. For the first time I received Noticeable results after each at treatment. Something that I gave up on a long time ago.
I have been using saline injections since last summer and they too help with the physical depression of rolling scars and I started doing these since last summer and between a month and week after my forth treatment just before my 5th treatment I would estimate 40% improvement so I know it is permanent but to be honest I hate giving out percentages because it is almost impossible to tell but they are significantly less depressed.
Things I have tried in the past that DO NOT WORK
-Aha
-retin a
-Lactic acid 50%
-TCA 15%
-Ice mask
-healing clay
-Kojic acid
-100% pure hyaluronic acid
-Emu oil
-Vitamin C serum
-different oils (ie olive)
-The list goes on and on I can not list them all
Things that have WORKED!!
-Dermapen (Dermapen is the brand name I got some knock off from Amazon and It is the very best thing I have used)
-Saline Injections (This is the second thing that I found that works great for depressions but you need several of them and they are the best for rolling scars)
-3 TCA 25% Peel layered twice helps with texture and PIH but it does NOTHING for depressions
I do have some ice picks but nothing seems to be working on ice picks. I was thinking on DIY TCA CROSS (I know It is borderline playing with fire but if anyone has been doing TCA CROSS please give some input it seems that only a few are brave enough on this site to experiment with it.)
Ha what a coincidence, I was just doing some research on youtube on ice pick scars and came across your videos, very informative and helpful by the way. I just had excision done on two on my left cheek so while those are healing i'm going to start working on the ice pick I have on my other cheek. I too am looking into an at home TCA cross method to improve its appearance but like you mentioned at this point I'm not sure if I could conjure up the courage to perform it on myself. It looks easy enough but if I received negative results I would be kicking myself for not having it professionally done. I'll make sure to post back here when there is a plan in motion. If anyone else has some input on improving those pesky ice picks your input is GREATLY appreciated. Scars in general dont really bother me, i actually think that they can add a mysterious character to a person but dealing with indentations really sucks
I saw those vids thanks for posting. I just had my 2nd dermapen yesterday. Jury's still out on resutls but I think I see slight improvement, especially on my nose. For me it will take many sessions to get to where I want to be.
That said when you did the video, how many days were you out from doing your self-dermapen? I just wondering on your redness/HP in the video and at what stage you were. What's your skin tone like now?
Also, what depth and speed settings do you use on the cheeks? I think the pens go up to 2.5.
Of course it is gonna take several session. Maybe it seems like I am over hyping about it but It is the only thing I used at home that gave me Noticeable results at home after each time. Noticeable results does not mean the depressions magically filled up overnight.
when I use the pen I get a little too intense and if I can remember correctly in that video I was about 1 week post treatment and it takes 2 weeks and a half for all the redness to disappear.
at the moment my skin is still red because I had another session 5 days ago but most of the scabs and rawness is gone.
The cheapy device that you can buy online can only go up to 2 mm. I use 2 mm only on the scars on my cheeks. Also keep in mind my skin is thick.
Yes they are. But that does not mean that some one can just do 7-11 treatments and expect 80% or greater reduction in scaring. I can not find the Dr. Sire's article but If I can remember correctly he says that a series of 7-11 treatments of saline injections yields 40%-85% permanent long lasting improvement. Ill do my best to find that article and post it on the site.
I have received about 50% after my last injection. I feel that I can get up to the higher end on the percentage. only time will tell and ill post a comprehensive thread in a few months once I finish my 10 treatment.
Leading force
Thanks for the complement lol.
But actually the lighting sometimes makes it look better or worse. Also keep in mind that That this is from my first dermapen treatment and I have had 6 saline injections and 4 dermaroller treatment and 3 TCA 25% peels and I post and update on my second in a few days
I have used retin a for 9 months but I will be completely honest, 90% of why I got it is because of its anti aging purposes because I smoked heavily for 3 years and after hearing smoking ages the face I got a little paranoid and I started to realize people would estimate me being 2-3 years older than I am. So pick up retin a and the funny part is that I smoked and used retin a at the same time. currently I am almost at the end of my smoking career (Thats what we all say).
Regardless The effects that retin a gave me were poreless skin and it helped with the occasional post accutane cysts better than BP. when It comes to scars it did nothing but sometimes it would seem like it helps especially when putting to much on the night before and waking up to a pink tomato face that is slightly swelling because at the end of the day retin a is an exfoliate but in my personal experience is when it comes to anti aging it is better than daily glycolic acid and I will continue using it after my 25% TCA peel that I am having soon and Ill be sure to document it for you guys.
Man you look fine, you look like you're 18. I just started Retin A and I hope it helps even out my skin tone a bit. That's all. As for my minimal scarring I'm leaving it out to my dermaroller and high raw vegan diet and eventually TCA peels.
See ya around looking forward to your post on TCA 25%
Thanks Robertitoo,
This is the result of the first treatment sorry guys for taking so long I fought I lost the image on my phone. The results of the second treatment is coming soon but at the moment there is a little swelling so It would be cheating if I posted it now
I'd like to bump this topic.
And introduce a link with helpful answers from experts regarding dermaroller/dermapen/skin needling and how long it will take to see results.
cheers