Im a 30 year old male with moderately severe rolling scars. Ive decided to move forward with the treatment finally, and am now trying to decide on a doctor in the New York area. I am also open to travelling if that would improve treatment outcome significantly.
I was hoping that the community could share some of their experience with the respective doctors: Dr.George Yang or Dr. Jeffrey Rapaport, or recommend another doctor who excels in these treatments. To what extent does the doctor you pick determines the success of the treatment - i.e. is there wide variation in the treatment outcomes for subcision depending on the doctor?
Im having a difficult time evaluating which doctor to go with, and this is in part made worse by the discrepancy in reviews Im finding online (more on that below). About 4 years ago I went to see Dr.Yang for a consultation on subcision. I held off on the treatment, as my dermatologist at the time suggested subcision had little efficacy and lasers were a far better option. I held off on doing the laser treatment as well since though the medical literature was positive on it, and the doctor recommended it, I couldnt find much evidence of people having positive experiences with laser treatments for rolling scars online. I recall her telling me that subcision was a primitive option in contrast to lasers. Interestingly, years later that same dermatologist who said subcision was primitive, suggested that subcision would be a good option for the rolling scars.
As a tangent, I wonder if the 1% rule of the Internet (1% Creators, 9% Contributors, 90% Lurkers) really applies to reviews as well. Are there a huge number of people getting treatments, and having positive outcomes, but not posting about them. How heavy is the selection bias to posting negative experiences rather than positive ones.
Heres my research on these doctors so far - if anyone in the forums has gone to either and could share their experiences, I would love to hear about it:
Dr.George Yang
Real Self 4.8 Stars (30 Reviews) https://www.realself.com/find/New-York/New-York-City/Facial-Plastic-Surgeon/George-Yang
Yelp 3.9 Stars (7 Reviews) https://www.yelp.com/biz/george-yang-m-d-new-york
ZocDoc (5 Stars Around) https://www.zocdoc.com/doctor/george-yang-md-4674
HealthGrades (4 Reviews)
Dr George Yang (4.7 Reviews) http://www.vitals.com/doctors/Dr_George_S_Yang/reviews
Dr. Jeffrey Rapaport
RealSelf - 4.6 Stars (38 Verified Reviews) https://www.realself.com/find/New-Jersey/Englewood/Dermatologic-Surgeon/Jeffrey-Rapaport
ZocDoc - 4 Stars (Verified Reviews) https://www.zocdoc.com/doctor/jeffrey-rapaport-md-50478
RateMDs - 3.5 Stars - https://www.ratemds.com/doctor-ratings/8499/Dr-Jeffrey+A.-Rapaport-Englewood+Cliffs-NJ.html
Healthgrades - 2.8 Stars (59 Reviews) https://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-jeffrey-rapaport-xg3xh
Either Doctor would be fine, which is closer to you, which costs less, etc...
Subciscion is not very doctor dependent like laser, ... laser and surgery you have to be much more careful.
If they have done hundreds or thousands of these procedures they should be fine.
Take realself, and yelp reviews with a grain of salt. Just like Amazon the truth is somewhere in the middle. They can pay for good reviews or offer perks (any doctor can). But a majority of your unhappy reviews find their way on these sites. Why because unhappy people want to vent, and satisfied consumers live in peaceful bliss.
With subcision...It does not sound like you are going to do filler, this is the new way to treat with subscision, Vacuuming is a older method. Why because vacuuming is variable and the body can heal variably. With filler what you see is what you get, minus some of the swelling of course.
Acne treatments are not one and done (I have done many subsicions). Goto one doctor, if you do not like them, goto the other.
Why are their negative reviews on acne.org about these doctors. To complain. Because they were sold unrealistic expectations of perfection after one expensive treatment. Because the healed funky, we have acne scars, thus we have auto immune disease, we heal poorly. Some of these people want perfect skin like some photoshopped model, our skin will NEVER be like this. You will get a percentage of correction to move on with your life when you are finally done with the treatment(s) journey.
Thanks for your thoughtful response @beautifulambition, and for the work you're doing moderating this forum.
It's interesting to hear that subcision is less dependent on the doctors. I'll follow your lead on that one and likely go to the doctor that's closer. In terms of filler being the new standard, I'd definitely be open to the filler approach. I read more on the FAQ it does seem like that co uld bea very good approach.
Is the current standard approach to do filler exclusively, or is the approach to first do some subcision & vacuuming and then try filler afterwards? Are fillers more doctor dependent in terms of outcomes?
Your perspective on auto-immune diseases as the source of acne scars is an interesting one. I wonder if it's that the auto-immune disease just led to more cystic acne, which anyone would scar from, rather than the auto-immune disease being the source of the scarring (poor remodeling during the healing process) itself.
On the laser front, curious what you've heard about the PicoSure laser. Dr.Gerenomeous, who seems acclaimed by other dermatologists, recommended that as my treatment of choice when I went for a consultation some time back.
Thanks again!
I am sure you have seen this post:
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/topic/364087-do-dr-nelson-lee-novick-treatments-work/
Dr. Novick and Dr. Yang seem to have good reviews.
Yes Filler is a much better option. I have tried so many things, I did not heal well from Vacuum but many do like it. Your making a Hematoma blood pooling when you vacuum. With Filler it fills that deficiency instead.
With filler you do not vacuum, what you see is what you get, minus a bit of swelling from the procedure. They can top you up on your follow up appointment.
Yes I think filler doctors are more dependent on results. They must subcise those tethered scars and then fill. Some have gotten doctors who simply doughnut the filler around the tethered scar which is not the right way to do it. A great new filler is Volbella, it's not hydrophylic (draws water) like other fillers so it can be used more superficially. Juvederm LYFT or Perlane is also good.
Checkout in the FAQ subcision section the second video.
You could always have them subcise in the traditional way. And go back for filler after. When too many things are combined sometimes it can be funky, but it depends on your down time.
Picosure, is a laser often used on Asian or ethnic skin as it does not do hyperpigmentation to the skin. Itwarms the skin in quick bursts of energy. 1Fraxel is equal to 3 Picosure Focus treatments, so one will take many treatments of Picosure. It has no down time, but it is not equivalent to the CO2.
@Novai95We have a list of Dr's in the FAQ - frist post in the acne scar solutions. Dr Weiner is a short plane ride to Florida, or there are some other Drs. Novick is in NYC but expensive (NYC prices).
