Where on the face? And are you scar prone?

it would show up pretty fast so you are good to go. for me when it happened it was a few days after i got the injections. i dont know how many shots i had over the years but probably at least 35 or so and i only ever had atrophy twice. after 3-4 months it was totally gone and the skin was normal looking again.

dont worry at all you are fine!

You would've gotten it already. Just to let you know I've had dozens of cortisone shots from a well experienced dermatologist and never gotten an atrophy, the one time I saw another dermatologist I got an atrophy that showed up 2 days later (took about 3 months to go away).

Typically for acne cysts, derms will use 2.5mg/ml. At that concentration it should be enough to reduce the inflammation. I've had derms who injected 5mg/ml and that might be where you start running into atrophy. It's happened to me on a few occasions, and it usually shows up by 1-2 weeks.

Kenalog comes in 10mg/ml and 40 mg/ml strengths which are diluted before injection. At 4 weeks, you should be good and long past the point of atrophy showing up.

Thank you so much for your helpful comments, everyone! I really appreciate you all sharing your experiences with cortisone shots.

I posted this message because there is another thread on the Acne.org forum where someone says that she got atrophy 2 months after her cortisone shot was administered.

The forum thread is called, "You want to see Cortisone Atrophy? I'll show you Atrophy." If you dig deep through the messages, you'll come across a user who says that she got a cortisone shot in May and atrophy showed up in July. Then, another user agrees with her -- and says that she also got atrophy 2 months after the shot!

I wonder if maybe those are unusual circumstances, and not the norm?

Based on all of your answers, I will not worry too much. Thank you again!! (I don't think I'll ever get a cortisone shot again, though! To me personally, it is not worth the worry.)

Yeah for me it happened several times. Once was a couple days and the other time happened slowly over about 4 months. They have never filled back in. I know people will say it must be the acne itself that caused it, but I have had plenty of the same acne and never ever had that happen until the shots. It is my biggest regret.

That is bizarre. As far as I know, the crystals in kenalog are flushed out of the skin in a month or two? Don't quote me on that.

Michi31: I am so sorry this happened to you. I also regret getting my cortisone shot.

If you don't mind me asking, I have a few questions about the shot that gave you atrophy over the course of about 4 months:

1. How much cortisone was used in that shot?

2. How severe is the atrophy from that shot?

3. When did you first start seeing signs of the atrophy?

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Again, I am so sorry.

Thank you so much for your helpful comments, everyone! I really appreciate you all sharing your experiences with cortisone shots.

I posted this message because there is another thread on the Acne.org forum where someone says that she got atrophy 2 months after her cortisone shot was administered.

The forum thread is called, "You want to see Cortisone Atrophy? I'll show you Atrophy." If you dig deep through the messages, you'll come across a user who says that she got a cortisone shot in May and atrophy showed up in July. Then, another user agrees with her -- and says that she also got atrophy 2 months after the shot!

I wonder if maybe those are unusual circumstances, and not the norm?

Based on all of your answers, I will not worry too much. Thank you again!! (I don't think I'll ever get a cortisone shot again, though! To me personally, it is not worth the worry.)

I have gotten several cortisone shots over the last year, and I have had atrophy twice. The first was the first time I ever had the shot, and it just looked like a small dimple. It showed up very slowly within about a month of getting the shot, lasted for another month, and then it filled in rapidly and there is no evidence of there ever being atrophy. The second time was just recently, when my doctor went a little crazy with the cortisone injections (I was having an IB from accutane). The atrophy showed up maybe a week after, was apparent for a couple of days, and is gone now.

To me, temporary atrophy is a much better risk than a permanent scar, and I have only ever gotten a cortisone shot for painfula nd inflammed cysts that will likely scar. I am very sorry to the poster above who had permanent atrophy, but I really don't think it is the norm. Atrophy can and does occur sometimes, but it is usually completely temporary.

Hi megtree -- Thanks for sharing! I'm hoping you're right when you say that atrophy is usually not permanent. I'm not very familiar with cortisone and its effects, and I'm certainly no doctor, but from the research I've been doing, it does seem like atrophy (if it occurrs) is only temporary.

It has now been almost five weeks since my shot was administered, and I have not experienced atrphy. Megtree, based on your experience with cortisone shots, do you think I'm in the clear? I'm curious to hear your opinion.

michi31 -- Do you think maybe your doctor injected too much cortisone?

Thank you all again for your help and support!! It means so much.