Well well well, here I am. Back again. Back in the early 00s this community gave me so much support. I thought I would come back and give an update. Back then I was known as "Guardedly Optimistic" now i'm "Guardedly Optimistic 2017"

This is the thing, it's a journey. My skin is still very damaged; mostly visible under harsh over head lighting. But...and get this...I ended up pursuing my dream of being an actor and filmmaker! Yes, acne and scars and insecurities and all that crap was not going to hold me back. I don't want it to hold you back either. 

Here are some recent pics under overhead lighting. This is the harshest of pics I could take. It's painful for me even to look at now but you know what? That's ok. I will keep trying to improve it but not let it hold me back. 

After the accutane helped to take away the cysts, the scars started showing in time. I think i've spent the following, estimated: 

Doctor 1: 
Deep Fx Laser (4K)

Doctor 2: Consult $100
Doctor 3: Consult $100

Doctor 4: 
Fraxel ($800)
Subscision with Restylene Filler ($600)
Fraxel ($800)
Excision ($400)
Subscision with Restylene Filler ($600)

Doctor 5:  Consult $350

Total: $7750

Never giving up = priceless

You can see the scars are still there but they are definitely more shallow than when I started revision. Strangely, I think the micro needling (which was the least painful or expensive) was the most effective. I think i'm going to start doing that again at home because I was happy with the results I was getting. 

Now, and I don't know if i'm right, but micro needling soon after injury prevents the building up of scar tissue I think. Now back in the early 00s before YouTube or anything of the sort, we wouldn't have known that but now we do.