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BeauitfulAmbition, give me a scar-revision plan before I turn insane.

MemberMember
76
(@childhooddreams)

Posted : 03/10/2017 12:15 pm

I've done the Retin-A, Dermaroller, TCA route for over a year. Improvements were there, but slight.

It's not enough.

I am still an absolute freak of nature in the eyes of employers, females (bye bye to any chance at companionship or casual sex) not to mention the entire rest of society.

The above protocol (RetinA, Dermaroller, TCA) Is great for people with mild skin problems, not me. I have severe scars in the grade 4 range (ie. visible from 1 meter away, over 25+ marks) there is fat loss on both cheeks, and surface scars covering 75% of the entire cheek area, such as: Box scars, pockmarks, and others that I am unable to classify (let's just call it 'destroyed' skin) not posting pictures because it's simply too embarrassing and pathetic showing my faulty genetic abnormalities; use your best imagination.

My budget: $7500USD. This might not be enough seeing how these 'doctors' are becoming ever-so greedy, so I could raise it further if need be, to maybe $10,000USD. There has to be guarantees of some improvement. I amnot funding Dr. Goldbergs new stainless steel La Cornue fridge and kitchen set then walking out of his office with nothing to show for it.

Can you lay out a (hypothetical) start-to-finish plan on how to get at least 50% improvement with current technologies?

Please no 'visit a psychologist' or TalkTalk app suggestions. These are the only solutions: 1) Remove my scars, 2) Transcend from my primitive flesh body into another dimension, or 3) Die into nothingness. Thanks. Have a good day everyone.

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MemberMember
84
(@noa27)

Posted : 03/10/2017 3:39 pm

It's just me, but why do you stop with something that gives you improvement?

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MemberMember
76
(@childhooddreams)

Posted : 03/10/2017 3:55 pm

3 minutes ago, Noa27 said:

It's just me, but why do you stop with something that gives you improvement?

I am not stopping, but I need something more effective and more invasive. I need better methodologies. I need a complete face overhaul. I do not have my entire youth to waste with topicals and needling for "slight" improvement. Slight improvement is not good enough, because I am still disfigured thereafter.

If dermaroller and TCA is the best we have in 2017... I have no idea what to say, my journey as a human being is finished.

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MemberMember
311
(@quanhenry)

Posted : 03/10/2017 8:54 pm

Time to try subcision with filler. Continue needling/TCA.

If you have $7,500 with more money coming in, subcision/filler should only be a small chunk of that. Throwing endless amounts of money at the problem wont help you. My advice would be to get the best injector in your area to do the procedure, then buy yourself something nice that will add something new to your life. Then save the rest and continue to build your savings.

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MemberMember
204
(@dazzed)

Posted : 03/10/2017 9:56 pm

I know you don't want to post your own pictures, but can you post a picture of someone else that represents the degree of scarring you have?

1.Filler and subcisionis effective and also the least risky. Since you mention fat loss, it's clear you will need a bit of re-volumization with fillers or fat. Of all these methods, this is certain to give some noticeable improvement simply because it's instantaneous. Drawback is it's temporary. I like this method the best because it takes care of the main issue, the depressions and simply will not do more damage (unless it's permanent filler). Always do temporary first before even considering permanent.

2. TCA cross is really the only thing that's reliable for small boxcars and ice picks. Forget punch excision or excision, you jsut trade one scar for anotherpossibly even worse scar.

3. Laser and dermabrasion is high risk, with uncertain outcomes, but useless for truly deep scars with fat loss.They really should be the last thing you try because they're expensive and frankly lacking in photographic evidence.

Sad to say but that's really all we have to work with. Oftentimes some doctors can work small miracles with the above, but most doctors just don't care enough about scarring to treat it effectively.

Where are you located? From what I've seen Dr. Rullan in San Diego seems like an upstanding guy with fair prices. The LA doctors are kind of useless and charge outrageous prices. That said, you have a pretty decent budget to work with.

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MemberMember
252
(@robertitoo)

Posted : 03/11/2017 12:28 am

Rolling scars and fat loss I presume. Subicion with filler is your best bet.

B

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MemberMember
1750
(@beautifulambition)

Posted : 03/11/2017 3:35 am

@ChildhoodDreams

Seems you have lots of good posts before mine, perhaps I have educated quite a few and I can go on vacation, haha. I'm kidding.  ;P

We have gone through this dance a few times. I have tried to help you but you make it difficult. I need you to do me a favor since you made this post directly to me. Private Message me close up pictures of just the scars (this works better for those who are concerned about privacy, I help several a week like this), ... this would be best, or find pictures of scars similar to yours and post them here. This way I can directly address your problem and give you something customized. I cannot get enough info from your post of even exactly what type of scarring we are dealing with other than severe, and the location which has different treatments.   

I sense you are very unhappy and feel you have been taken advantage of in your scar revision journey. I can sympathize with you because I have had extremely severe acne scars, and have been taken advantage of myself by doctors. The part we differ on in treatment approach is I choose to move past imperfections and help others, because I know it won't help me to just be negative. Part of this shift, and I can tell from the above part where you quote me on therapy and Talkspace (A smartphone therapy app), was therapy and working on these internal messages and consequences to my life. This gives the scar suffer the remaining improvement they need. Part of being a scar suffer is unrealistic expectations of the world and themselves brought on by messages from media of false perfection and happiness. When Kim K (I know terrible example) but good for this point became plastic in every way like her sisters and mother she obsesses over excess plastic surgery with her BDD. They often further photoshop and do makeup on top of this. One of the sisters has major acne and chronic eczema issues, they spend fortunes at dermatologists and hrs in makeup per day. But there are others who do none of this and can live happy healthy productive lives with major superficial impairments. But I won't lecture you on the psychology of this all because you don't seem to care about this on your outcome even though any doctor will tell you part of healing is wanting to heal and the outcome with realistic expectations. 

Unlike what dazzed said ... I do not feel filler is temporary, it's how you use it and one's knowledge of the different types and their usage. "dermabrasion is high risk", I do not feel this at all. If you have a facial plastic surgeon this is nothing, they do it all the time with face lifts and much harder procedures. It takes a skilled eye and the ability to know when enough is enough.  

"Retin A, Dermaroller , and TCA" will be upkeep for you at home (skin care maintenance), these will not give you the major improvements you seek with severe scarring. 

"It's not enough." Because it's not customized to your scar types and long term goals. We all heal differently. Scar improvement's are never one and done. They take progressive elaboration of improvements, with small percentages reaching your specified goal of 50-70% improvement. I get it you want the big guns and something with stronger results than the above. 

"I am still an absolute freak of nature in the eyes of employers, females (bye bye to any chance at companionship or casual sex) not to mention the entire rest of society." There are dudes on steroids with huge muscles who get women just fine, have shrunk d_____ Terrible acne from the side effects of roid / rage. I guess they overcompensated for their issues and found people who like muscles. My point being (not to take steroids!!!) is people are attracted to different things, if you want fake plastic girls, then you have to look fake and plastic. There has to be something about you that is unique beyond your scars that will attract others through mutual interests and hobbies. Work on that as well as scars. 

"fat loss on both cheeks, and surface scars covering 75% of the entire cheek area" We just had someone like this on acne.org who has dramatic improvement.... uses, TCA, Microneedle, retin a, but we combine a few more things. He's been treating for 2 years.. Again pictures would help, PM me them or send me pictures of others with similar scars.

Where are you, (so I can offer Drs which offer all kinds of interesting things)?

"7500USD-$10,000USD" Might be appropriate for long term maintenance with fat, fillers, and other surgical techniques. Drs don't work for free, and the cheap ones don't do new procedures normally to get recognition and prestige in magazines and conferences. It's a mutual relationship of how much is it worth to you. But this budget is fine for outcomes. No one will give you 50% promised outcomes besides say Dr. Lim does promise this. 

PM me please. We will work on a full plan. I need to know location of the scars on the face, approximate sizes, depth, color, rolling, boxcar, icepick, macule, scarred pores, hypertrophic, keloid, hypopigmentation, etc. This is where pics come in handy. 

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MemberMember
84
(@noa27)

Posted : 03/11/2017 3:41 am

Although HA filler is not permanent, i did read a post from someone on this board who did several times subcision and filler and now his scars has improved a lot. He didn't need the filler anymore so he said. That is good news :)

Since you have quite amount of money to spend i would go that route. When you have the filler, continue to do things that are collagen building. Copper peptide in combination with peels, i have heard great things of. Needling, live healthy, etc. 

As far as disfigured, you are not. No one with acnescars is disfigured. People who have a huge tumor on their face, those people are disfigured. I feel you are in a very dark place right now and you need to get out of it. 

I have scars. Degree 3 i guess, they are quite prominent. Still i have a nice dude at home who loves me and who wants to buy a house with me (we currently rent a house). We have a beautiful 2 year old daughter. We both have great families that we can count on and we both have a nice job. This is not a story to tell everybody how great my life is, no. It's to tell you that acne scarz are not the end of the world. 

I'm sure that in time we all come at a place where we want to be, it's just that we have to go over a bumpy road to get there. 

You're gonna be okay. 

squeezeMcQueen, kat22, winter09 and 1 people liked
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MemberMember
204
(@dazzed)

Posted : 03/11/2017 9:36 am

Well when I say high risk, I mean that on a spectrum of acne scarring treatments from least risky to highest risk, dermabrasion would be at the risky end. You can have the best doctor, but if you are prone to hypertrophic scarring or poor healing, you might end up with scarring. And as acne scar suffers, we are already predisposed to abnormal healing as it is. It requires much more consideration than just getting injected with fillers, which can't make your scars worse (unless it's permanent filler).

And I agree, depending on which filler you use and how you use it, there is a level of permanence. To generalize though, fillers are temporary. I'm thinking you are referring to Dr. Lim's comment in one of his video that fillers can be permanent if sandwiched in the scar after subcision (used as a spacer).

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1750
(@beautifulambition)

Posted : 03/11/2017 9:55 am

.

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MemberMember
204
(@dazzed)

Posted : 03/11/2017 10:23 am

Let's not even get started on the scarless healing thread...lol. It the same conversation between 3 people for years?

Sometimes the "big guns" really are the simple techniques. Subcision and filler is powerful for the right scars, and I would say beats lasers and resurfacing hands down if you have big deep indentations. People have this idea that burning their face off or sanding down their skin will give the most improvement because it's such a big procedure with huge downtime. So it' has to be effective, right?!!? In my experience, it's just not true. If you make a wrong decision and go too aggressive, game over. Sometimes these docs can scar you even worse and leave you with irreparable damage.

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MemberMember
84
(@noa27)

Posted : 03/13/2017 1:38 pm

On 11-3-2017 at 4:23 PM, dazzed said:

Let's not even get started on the scarless healing thread...lol. It the same conversation between 3 people for years?

Sometimes the "big guns" really are the simple techniques. Subcision and filler is powerful for the right scars, and I would say beats lasers and resurfacing hands down if you have big deep indentations. People have this idea that burning their face off or sanding down their skin will give the most improvement because it's such a big procedure with huge downtime. So it' has to be effective, right?!!? In my experience, it's just not true. If you make a wrong decision and go too aggressive, game over. Sometimes these docs can scar you even worse and leave you with irreparable damage.

Spot on...

There was this girl on this board and she was so done with her scars. She didn't want to do the easy and cheap methods that can work for scars, no she directly did a dermabrasion. Well.... her last post was in like 2009 that she couldn't handle the disastrous outcome of the dermabrasion. So sad..

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MemberMember
204
(@dazzed)

Posted : 03/24/2017 5:32 pm

On 3/11/2017 at 0:41 AM, Noa27 said:

Although HA filler is not permanent, i did read a post from someone on this board who did several times subcision and filler and now his scars has improved a lot. He didn't need the filler anymore so he said. That is good news :)

 

Which forum member was this?  Interested in reading his case.

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MemberMember
84
(@noa27)

Posted : 03/25/2017 3:26 am

I don't know... i came accross that post last year or so. It was an old post, but i always remember it :)  When i find it, i'll let you know.

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MemberMember
84
(@noa27)

Posted : 03/25/2017 6:50 am

13 hours ago, dazzed said:
Which forum member was this? Interested in reading his case.

When i searched for the post i came across some other post. She claimed that her scars became much softer after 8 years of juvederm. Also she needled 4 months after she had the filler. She sid not know if the improvement came from only the filler, or the filler/needling combo.

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MemberMember
25
(@healing2-0)

Posted : 03/26/2017 3:19 pm

@ChildhoodDreams
What % worse would you say your scarring is compared to mine

face.jpg

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