Hi I've had my face under control meaning pretty much clear for over 5-6 years. HOwever recently in the past 6-7 months, my skin started to change there are a number of factors i believe why this happened. I was going thorough a stressful period of break up, new job, and some depression. Causing my stress levels to increase immensly that i needed to take anxiety medications to stop me from panicking. Also, the cream cleanser i 've always used changed their formula (clean and Clear deep action wash) which made my face drier and dehydrated, then extra oily due to my hormone inbalance. I started getting several large cyst acne. It doesn't hurt but they swell up fast and didn't open to the surface. I used sulfur ointment ZZ cream to dry it up and hydrocortisone cream to reduce the swelling. However, more acne started flaring up due to too much chemicals and stress. SO i panicked and called Johnson and Johnson customer service to ask what ingredient changed in my old cleanser. They said they only replaced the gelatin with xanthan gum. SO i asked if there's another brand that doesn't include xanthan gum but is similar to the Clean Clear Deep Action Wash. They recommened Neutrogena Deep Action Cream Cleanser with has gelatin and not xathan gum. Just replacing this cleanser and using Clindagel from my Derm, literally got rid of my acne and reducing stress too was a big factor. Now, I'm stuck with these dark pigmenation from the old acne and three of them are raised like a skin tag or bubble like raised on my mouth area. It's been 3 months and i haven't seen reduction in the size of the raised scar or lightening. I used renitol, lemon juice, sulfur, to help reduce the color, but i don't see any change every morning. Does any body know an effective and safe way to reduce and flatten the raised aftermath of cysts scar. Do I have to just wait longer and eventurally it will heal and flatten it self? HOw long like a year? IS C02 laser worth it? Please advise.
If they are still raised there is either still material in your cysts or it has caused the cells to change in that area. As cysts cause a plug in the hair follicle it could be trapped inside the skin. It could take a very long time to heal or you could heal poorly, like most acne scar suffers. Please see the blow FAQ under skin: reds. They can do v-beam on them for the red, or IPL for the browns. You need to see a dermatologist about the cysts., they might need to be lanced of the trapped material.
CO2 will do nothing for your cysts, it doesn't even reach that far, they do use it occasionally to make a hole for surgery but you can also do this, with a sharp tip scalpel .
I went to see my derm after one month and i told him what are these three red raised bumps i had for about 4 months. He said they look like oil glands traped
sebaceous hyperplasia. But i know it was a big cyst acne It was big before then it shrunk but still left these red raised soft bumps. He recommended electric needle to reduce the size. If that works, will the dark red fade in time? I've been using lemon juice to help fade the color but it does very little to help. IS the electric needle worth it?
The "electric needle" or CO2 laser can also zapsebaceous hyperplasia. They can come back needing more treatments. Ask if he has V-beam or IPL to get rid of the red after, this helps with the color. The color takes a very long time otherwise. Look at PIE under skins in the below link of my signature for the FAQ.
Do you think this is an acne raised scar or a sebaceous hyperplasia? I made an appointment next week to do the electric needle to flatten the bumps, but i hope it doesn't make more scaring than it is. The dark spots don't fade with any type of stuff I 've been using. USually the fading time is near 6 months. I'm around 4 months but doesn't seem like much has chnaged.
IF the dermatologist says they are sebaceous hyperplasia then that is likely the cause. Oil trapped in a follicle can do this. The needle treatment or electro surgery, he can always do a "test" on some or one of them to the side and see how you do or his skill, he does not have to do everything.
Regarding PIE/PIH which are in the FAQ link below of my signature. There are things to speed up the healing as described. If it is red and turns white after pressed on it's PIE and you use v-beam laser to get rid of the reds, If it stays brown or red it's PIH which you use skin bleach, retain a, glycolic acid or IPL for the browns.
Its a wound, wounds ooze out lymph material to heal. It could be a few days to a few weeks depending on how you heal. Some say aloe vera and honey is good others like triple antibiotic cream (you can do this over night) or Vaseline but that has no anti bacterial properties just moisture. Keep your wounds moist. Do not pick. Daily use dilute white vinegar and pat the area to kill the bacteria. It will peal on it's own eventually.
When it has healed fully might be up to a month. You can follow in the below faq link in my signature under the skin section and PIE the treatments. If you do it too early you can cause scaring.