The close ups are kind of a low resolution, but I'd say you have the common dual presence of both icepick and box car scars. You don't seem to have any rolling, or wavy, scars which can be a pain. Your box car scars, the shallow rectangular ones, could be softned with an AHA or a peel, maybe microdermabrasion or a fraxel if you save money and are feeling upto it. The icepicks could be treated with a TCA peel, which is a very intense acid that basically causes a scar within the indented scar to even the skin out, this is a cheap and can be done at home if you're brave and careful. I'd wait for your more inflamed acne to calm down before trying any of this first. You're very pretty! Keep your head up, honeslty it's not bad and we are always our own worst critics. If anyone else has a differing opinion then so be it, this is just my own!

Definitely treat most if not all the acne first. Any seasoned dermatologist will deny treatment for your scars, which I would consider shallow boxcar scars, until you're clear and put you on a new regimen or and possibly suggest a round or two of lasers such as ipl, vbeam, isolaz, diode or lasers alike that can get things going. I agree with iggs ^

Look into the oil cleansing method and balancing hormones. my 2 cents

It's really psychologically tough to deal with for sure. You definitely have to have the acne under control before you do any treatments or risk aggravating it. I would suggest you look into Accutane / Isotretinoin or whatever they call it over there. It's a powerful drug for sure, but it's the closest thing to a cure for people with severe acne. If your acne is constantly leaving scars, it may be time to step up to Accutane. I did one course of high dose Accutane and for me it effectively cured me of my severe cystic acne. Unfortunately I finally went on Accutane at 25, so I suffered through more than a decade of severe cystic acne.

The close ups are kind of a low resolution, but I'd say you have the common dual presence of both icepick and box car scars. You don't seem to have any rolling, or wavy, scars which can be a pain. Your box car scars, the shallow rectangular ones, could be softned with an AHA or a peel, maybe microdermabrasion or a fraxel if you save money and are feeling upto it. The icepicks could be treated with a TCA peel, which is a very intense acid that basically causes a scar within the indented scar to even the skin out, this is a cheap and can be done at home if you're brave and careful. I'd wait for your more inflamed acne to calm down before trying any of this first. You're very pretty! Keep your head up, honeslty it's not bad and we are always our own worst critics. If anyone else has a differing opinion then so be it, this is just my own!

Thanks for your quick reply and kind words the pics are on my phone so not the best quality but thanks for identifying the scars as now I can read the specific info for them, which is a great help. Have you done the TCA peel? It's something I'm going to start looking into?

Definitely treat most if not all the acne first. Any seasoned dermatologist will deny treatment for your scars, which I would consider shallow boxcar scars, until you're clear and put you on a new regimen or and possibly suggest a round or two of lasers such as ipl, vbeam, isolaz, diode or lasers alike that can get things going. I agree with iggs ^

Look into the oil cleansing method and balancing hormones. my 2 cents

Thanks for your reply yeah every time I get the spots under control (or so I think) a few days later I get a break out I will look into the laser and it's interesting you mention balancing hormones as with my thyroid problem that's a big part of what's going wrong right now, so that may well be an adding factor...

The close ups are kind of a low resolution, but I'd say you have the common dual presence of both icepick and box car scars. You don't seem to have any rolling, or wavy, scars which can be a pain. Your box car scars, the shallow rectangular ones, could be softned with an AHA or a peel, maybe microdermabrasion or a fraxel if you save money and are feeling upto it. The icepicks could be treated with a TCA peel, which is a very intense acid that basically causes a scar within the indented scar to even the skin out, this is a cheap and can be done at home if you're brave and careful. I'd wait for your more inflamed acne to calm down before trying any of this first. You're very pretty! Keep your head up, honeslty it's not bad and we are always our own worst critics. If anyone else has a differing opinion then so be it, this is just my own!

I forgot to ask you what's your thoughts on the dermarolling? As I've read a few posts on here about it... Would be great to hear if you think it would be any help.. Thankyou!

 

The close ups are kind of a low resolution, but I'd say you have the common dual presence of both icepick and box car scars. You don't seem to have any rolling, or wavy, scars which can be a pain. Your box car scars, the shallow rectangular ones, could be softned with an AHA or a peel, maybe microdermabrasion or a fraxel if you save money and are feeling upto it. The icepicks could be treated with a TCA peel, which is a very intense acid that basically causes a scar within the indented scar to even the skin out, this is a cheap and can be done at home if you're brave and careful. I'd wait for your more inflamed acne to calm down before trying any of this first. You're very pretty! Keep your head up, honeslty it's not bad and we are always our own worst critics. If anyone else has a differing opinion then so be it, this is just my own!

I forgot to ask you what's your thoughts on the dermarolling? As I've read a few posts on here about it... Would be great to hear if you think it would be any help.. Thankyou!

I have never done the TCA cross, I'm too nervous to do any of those really strong acids on myself. I have done a couple peels and use Dan's AHA nightly. I have heard good things about dermarolling but mostly on rolling scars, and the results can take upto a year to really be prominent. Something more targeted that I have read about is dermastamping or a dermapen, basically same concept as a roller but can be focused more on one spot or patch, I'd look into that! Robertitoo I know is a good resource as well, all of these suggestions have shown really good results for some and at times exacerbated the problem in others :/ kind of the double edged sword in all of this. Best of luck amiga, keep us updated please!

 

 

 

The close ups are kind of a low resolution, but I'd say you have the common dual presence of both icepick and box car scars. You don't seem to have any rolling, or wavy, scars which can be a pain. Your box car scars, the shallow rectangular ones, could be softned with an AHA or a peel, maybe microdermabrasion or a fraxel if you save money and are feeling upto it. The icepicks could be treated with a TCA peel, which is a very intense acid that basically causes a scar within the indented scar to even the skin out, this is a cheap and can be done at home if you're brave and careful. I'd wait for your more inflamed acne to calm down before trying any of this first. You're very pretty! Keep your head up, honeslty it's not bad and we are always our own worst critics. If anyone else has a differing opinion then so be it, this is just my own!

 

I forgot to ask you what's your thoughts on the dermarolling? As I've read a few posts on here about it... Would be great to hear if you think it would be any help.. Thankyou!

I have never done the TCA cross, I'm too nervous to do any of those really strong acids on myself. I have done a couple peels and use Dan's AHA nightly. I have heard good things about dermarolling but mostly on rolling scars, and the results can take upto a year to really be prominent. Something more targeted that I have read about is dermastamping or a dermapen, basically same concept as a roller but can be focused more on one spot or patch, I'd look into that! Robertitoo I know is a good resource as well, all of these suggestions have shown really good results for some and at times exacerbated the problem in others :/ kind of the double edged sword in all of this. Best of luck amiga, keep us updated please!

Thankyou very much for the advice! I'm going to look into all of the above and try get a plan together, it's good to know that there's lots of options! I'm just so damn fed up !! and of course will updates as I go! Thanks again

It's really psychologically tough to deal with for sure. You definitely have to have the acne under control before you do any treatments or risk aggravating it. I would suggest you look into Accutane / Isotretinoin or whatever they call it over there. It's a powerful drug for sure, but it's the closest thing to a cure for people with severe acne. If your acne is constantly leaving scars, it may be time to step up to Accutane. I did one course of high dose Accutane and for me it effectively cured me of my severe cystic acne. Unfortunately I finally went on Accutane at 25, so I suffered through more than a decade of severe cystic acne.

Yeah I think we call it Isotretinoin, I've read so much about it on here and i guess it's really the miracle worker from what I've read.. Unfortunately due to having a history with depression/anxiety no doctors over here are willing to let me try it- apparently it can make you feel of a very low mood? Do you mind me asking, once you had cleared your acne up did you yourself have scarring or does the Isotretinoin target both acne and scarring? Many thanks

isotretinoin argueably makes the scarring worse, so no it doesnt target acne and scarring. just the sebacous glands (acne)

On 9/4/2015 at 11:52 PM, Iggs said:

The close ups are kind of a low resolution, but I'd say you have the common dual presence of both icepick and box car scars. You don't seem to have any rolling, or wavy, scars which can be a pain. Your box car scars, the shallow rectangular ones, could be softned with an AHA or a peel, maybe microdermabrasion or a fraxel if you save money and are feeling upto it. The icepicks could be treated with a TCA peel, which is a very intense acid that basically causes a scar within the indented scar to even the skin out, this is a cheap and can be done at home if you're brave and careful. I'd wait for your more inflamed acne to calm down before trying any of this first. You're very pretty! Keep your head up, honeslty it's not bad and we are always our own worst critics. If anyone else has a differing opinion then so be it, this is just my own!

This is great advice. I think she would do well to start with Dans AHA, and work her way up to peels.

On 4 September 2015 at 4:52 AM, Iggs said:

The close ups are kind of a low resolution, but I'd say you have the common dual presence of both icepick and box car scars. You don't seem to have any rolling, or wavy, scars which can be a pain. Your box car scars, the shallow rectangular ones, could be softned with an AHA or a peel, maybe microdermabrasion or a fraxel if you save money and are feeling upto it. The icepicks could be treated with a TCA peel, which is a very intense acid that basically causes a scar within the indented scar to even the skin out, this is a cheap and can be done at home if you're brave and careful. I'd wait for your more inflamed acne to calm down before trying any of this first. You're very pretty! Keep your head up, honeslty it's not bad and we are always our own worst critics. If anyone else has a differing opinion then so be it, this is just my own!

Sooooo 8 month update! I don't know how to tag the other people that gave me advice (I'm not very good with these forums) but I've been on the Lymecycline for 8 months now and also been using a gel called Isotrex ... It's helped a lot - I have s breakout right now which I get here and there still, but over all I think my skin has improved a lot ... Would you guys say it's time to start trying to tackle the scarring now?... Many thanks!! 

Hey,
Your acne is not that bad! It looks like the kind that can be easily treated. What are you using right now and what have you used in the past? For the acne scars I'd recommend microneedling.

Its very interesting reading these posts, I have to say I'm very new to this site and I am learning new stuff here. I'm in my late 30's and have struggled off and on with acne throughout my life. My acne is not bad right now, my biggest problem has been my pores. My pores are quite big and I have the type of skin where even where my acne has healed you can see the scars and the dots ( like small craters) My skin is looking ok right now I use Zinc Oxide face sunscreen which is helping me. It works well to diminish and faderedness and just calms my skin. I live in the Caribbean and one of the things I'm thankful for is the salt water which is great for acne. I try to swim in the ocean as much as possible, the only problem is the sun which can trigger acne. I'm thankful for finding this Zinc Oxide face sunscreen,its working well.Thanks for all the posts here.

On 14 May 2016 at 1:15 AM, GlowNShine said:

Hey,
Your acne is not that bad! It looks like the kind that can be easily treated. What are you using right now and what have you used in the past? For the acne scars I'd recommend microneedling.

Hey, thanks for your comment.. I've been on anti biotic Lymecycline for 8 months now which has defiantly helped if you see the previous pictures I posted last year, and also a gel called isotrex. I also use Elemis skin care daily... Have you done the micro needling yourself? How often would I need to do it? And how long until I would see an improvement ? Thankyou... Also would you suggest micro needling rather than dermaroller?... Thanks again for your response  

On 14 May 2016 at 2:08 AM, Douglas123 said:

Its very interesting reading these posts, I have to say I'm very new to this site and I am learning new stuff here. I'm in my late 30's and have struggled off and on with acne throughout my life. My acne is not bad right now, my biggest problem has been my pores. My pores are quite big and I have the type of skin where even where my acne has healed you can see the scars and the dots ( like small craters) My skin is looking ok right now I use Zinc Oxide face sunscreen which is helping me. It works well to diminish and fade redness and just calms my skin. I live in the Caribbean and one of the things I'm thankful for is the salt water which is great for acne. I try to swim in the ocean as much as possible, the only problem is the sun which can trigger acne. I'm thankful for finding this Zinc Oxide face sunscreen, its working well. Thanks for all the posts here.

I always find the sun helps to clear up my acne but I guess everybody's skin is different.. On the advice I've been given by others I've gathered you need to clear up the acne completely before trying to combat scarring which can be difficult if your anything like me and get random flair ups  

Microneedling and derma roller are almost the same thing, but the derminator is the better option. Depending on how much money you're willing to spend you can make the choice between the two.
So you're on of of the cyclines antibiotics.... yes, those are not good for long term use. I've never tried the gels you're on, but your acne looks like it's on the verge of disappearing completely. It's mild! Maybe you need to try something stronger, but I'm sure after you tweak your regimen/medicine you'll get clearer skin and will be able to treat the scars full speed. The way I solved my acne problem was with accutane, but you don't have to go that route. You can check out my posts about microneedling if you're interested about what I do to solve my acne scar problem which is very similar to yours.

On 15 May 2016 at 2:54 AM, GlowNShine said:

Microneedling and derma roller are almost the same thing, but the derminator is the better option. Depending on how much money you're willing to spend you can make the choice between the two. 
So you're on of of the cyclines antibiotics.... yes, those are not good for long term use. I've never tried the gels you're on, but your acne looks like it's on the verge of disappearing completely. It's mild! Maybe you need to try something stronger, but I'm sure after you tweak your regimen/medicine you'll get clearer skin and will be able to treat the scars full speed. The way I solved my acne problem was with accutane, but you don't have to go that route. You can check out my posts about microneedling if you're interested about what I do to solve my acne scar problem which is very similar to yours.

Thanks for the advice  will check out your page ...x

On 15 May 2016 at 2:31 AM, Masterpain said:

2 basic treament during a day. One oil based and one water based.

Oil based consist of 3 oils, natural cold pressed and ecological. These are 1. rape seed oil, grape seed oil and sesame oil. massage in during the day for atleast 2 hours before if you want to was off.

Second: facial mask use during night, sleeping. To create this facial mask you need these ingrediants in a solution od destilled water.
1.carboxymethyl chitosan, highest quality for dermatological application.
2. Hydrolyzed marine collagen peptide.
3. hyaluronic acid with molecular weight around 50 kda.
4. R-alpha lipoic acid, water soluble and stabilized.
Mix them into a thick cream, store in the refrigde.

Use dermaroller or derminator machine every 3 week and you would see great results, using 1,5mm in needle lenght.
Applie the facial mask after the treatment and the day after use the oil base treament.

Dont forget that smoking and bad food habits contribute to bad skin texture, so try the healthy life style.

May I ask is this advice aimed at treating acne or scarring? As I've been told that you cannot dermaroll an area that has 'active' acne as it will just make matters worse which makes sense. Also the chemicals that you mentioned to use are they available to buy in stores? And is this something you've done yourself? If so what were your skin problems and how bad were they? Many thanks

UPDATE..... A year and 3 months after my original post ... Acne has nearly cleared up (currently not using any medication for acne) now just this - what I feel is bad scaring :(... Anyone have any ideas on what I can do next?.....

hi, im not particularly knowledgeable about scarring but i can say that i have had great results from my treatment with professor chu at hammersmith hospital, he's hugely experienced and i think he genuinely cares in the sense of wanting the best results for his patients. my consultation cost 210. as you're in the UK i think he would be your best bet for advice on how to proceed.
if money is still tight for you i believe it is possible to see him on the nhs, if you have a referral from your gp (although i think his waiting list is quite long).
good luck!

Hey, I personally have a decent amount of knowledge about scaring, I hated having it all over my body. I found different remedies and my favorite had to be the derma roller. I would highly recommend you research into derma rolling and giving it a shot.

derma roller review:<link removed>

On Ž17Ž/Ž12Ž/Ž2016 at 9:58 AM, BloomingWasp said:

hi, im not particularly knowledgeable about scarring but i can say that i have had great results from my treatment with professor chu at hammersmith hospital, he's hugely experienced and i think he genuinely cares in the sense of wanting the best results for his patients. my consultation cost £210. as you're in the UK i think he would be your best bet for advice on how to proceed. 
if money is still tight for you i believe it is possible to see him on the nhs, if you have a referral from your gp (although i think his waiting list is quite long). 
good luck! 

Hey Thankyou for your reply... Ouch £210 for the consultation ! That's deffo out of my price range right now, but I'll deffo look him up.. Thankyou again for the info  

On Ž17Ž/Ž12Ž/Ž2016 at 11:41 AM, mat123 said:

Hey, I personally have a decent amount of knowledge about scaring, I hated having it all over my body. I found different remedies and my favorite had to be the derma roller. I would highly recommend you research into derma rolling and giving it a shot.

derma roller review: <link removed>

Hey Thankyou for your reply and the link, I just had a quick look.. How often did you use it?.. I've read afew people say that the dermaroller is worth trying... So I'll deffo look into it  

10 hours ago, lpx said:

Hey Thankyou for your reply... Ouch £210 for the consultation ! That's deffo out of my price range right now, but I'll deffo look him up.. Thankyou again for the info   Hey Thankyou for your reply and the link, I just had a quick look.. How often did you use it?.. I've read afew people say that the dermaroller is worth trying... So I'll deffo look into it  

I used it once a week because the skin needs to heal, and after using it once a week with a moisturizer all my acne scars were gone, would recommend the one I linked you to since there are multiple needles and you can return it if you like also ships across the world.

hope you enjoy