I'm 23 y old. I've always had issues with my skin (acne, moles, scars from mole removal, acne, etc..) but that's all kinda endurable. However, ~ 5 years ago my skin became permanently damaged which has been ruining my life ever since. I was using some facial cleansers and acne products, some with benzoil peroxyde and salicylic acid. One of these has permanently damaged my skin (forehead, nose and around the nose) causing some kind of dermatitis, but on top of that - and this is what bothers me the most - it damaged my skin and caused a permanent indented scar that looks like a wrinkle straight across my forehead (as you can see in in the photo). This wrinkle has been ruining my life! So since then (5 years ago) I've had this wrinkle-like indented scar on my forehead, skin that is dry and peeling after showering but really greasy after (forehead, nose, around nose creating a lot of oil/sebum) and red, sometimes itchy, sensitive, irritable skin. When I'm on the sun, or doing something and starting to sweat, my forehead starts to itch and get red. You can't really see the redness or just how bad my facial skin has been for the past 5 years, because of the lighting. When I'm outside, on the sun, it looks even worse. I've been trying to cover my forehead with hair to cover the "wrinkle" for the past 5 years but this is not a solution and it's horrible aswell. Please help me, tell me there's a solution to these problems, especially the scar on my forehead. The dermatologist I've been to recently just said well it's a wrinkle and you have dermatitis. And that's it. She didn't offer any advice, solution, nothing. And it's always like that..
Also, if this is relevant to you, I've had acne for ~10 years and finally at the start of this year I started using Roaccutane, which kinda helped. But I was on it for only 3 months and with a 2x smaller dose than the min. recommended for my weight, because my doctor was afraid of side effects I guess. It still got rid of pimples for a few months, but they started coming back now. It's been > 6 months since I stopped taking Roaccutane. Anyway, thanks for reading this and thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice. The dermatologists I've been going to over the past few years really aren't much help.. They literally just want to give me creams to use for my acne, no real solution for all my other problems.
Hi there, this is less of a acne scar problem and a aesthetics issue. Botox would fix that line right up it's where the muscle is. I suspect you might have lost some fat and thus you see the lines. To use filler in the forhead is risky because of all the vascular nature of this area, look for a doctor who can do filler.
Other than that you can do TCA peels. Some doctors would do laser but I don't see that helping too much here. Microneedling won't do much because the muscle is causing this crease but you can try stamping it and using a HA plumping serum.
With all the conditions you mentioned / topicals you could be messing up your acid mantle aka to protect the skin.
@ailaeshizPlease report this if it bothers you.
IF your asking if things are strictly enforced, that is up to the senior MODs, there is a procedure. I think the attitude is more along the lines of report and ignore it if at all possible, I don't make the rules ;-).
I realize people who have acne / scars are sensitive as it's a very personal thing, and someone is judging you publicly. This definitely is not a safe space where disagreement is not allowed. When someone belittles others it's a reflection of what is going on internally inside themselves... or it would not matter right.
Everyone is welcome here weather small scars, or big scars.
. But honestly, don't let a wrinkle on your forehead ruin your life.
I'll be the first to admit I can have a bit of a TONE when I run across posts like this.... BUT , I attribute this to caring about maintaining the quality of these forums. BA, I give you a lot of credit for actually monitoring these forums so diligently.
There was a period a while back where the entire forum was overtaken by similar posts, and the desperately needed information for scar sufferers REALLY REALLY got lost in a lot of noise. No one was really monitoring, and the conversations got wildly off topic. For a scar sufferer who is just starting out, it was NEAR impossible to actually get information. There was no sticky at the top of the page outlining the basics. There were endless posts from people who clearly were struggling with BDD asking repeatedly for validation. It became a mess.
Thankfully that has mostly been sorted out due to better monitoring. A lot of the really knowledgeable members just didn't want to contribute anymore because of that. Nobody needs it to go back to that. No offense to the OP.
Thanks for the replies, those that have actually tried to be helpful. The others... Don't really have a response to. This is a huge problem for me and it's VERY noticeable and very impactful on my life. I am just looking for a solution for things that have been ruining my life since I was 18 (for 5+ years now). It's much worse than it looks on the above picture, especially when it gets inflamed (when I'm outside or working, starting to sweat etc).
My facial skin will probably never be the same, or "normal", but I'd at least like to solve the scarred forehead, or what you call a "wrinkle" - which it is not, since it's damaged skin caused unnaturaly with acne products I was using many years ago. Wrinkles are natural and everyone gets them at one point. I was 18 when I noticed the skin damage, that is not normal. I'm just looking for help regarding something that's been making my life 100x more complicated and 100x worse than it would normally be.
As for the suggested solutions, along with some suggestions from other sources (TCA, botox, vertical needling - subcision, fillers, etc.); I'm not really knowledgeable in these (also english is not my main language, so aplogogies); I take it there is no "permanent" solution? Also, these sound like they could be really expensive.. I'm a student so I barely get by with what I earn working for the 3 months during summer. Thanks for every and any reply!