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Downtime and results of treatment cost and benefit

MemberMember
11
(@nemesis-89)

Posted : 11/22/2018 11:30 pm

Hello to every one.

I m like many people here suffered from acne and scars both for many years and tried different treatment to treatscars.

Every year or two year I wentto a new doctor and tried diferent things and in every session my scars got better a little but still not good as I feel comfortable with it.

But recently I go and try full face co2 laser which was reallypainfull and give me huge and long redness which still dosent go away even after 4 month(doc told me between 5 and 6 month it take to go away redness)but the good side of the treatment is its good and noticable improvment in scars(I can say this one session results is better than all of other treatment which I did before totally).

Now I am sure that one more session of this laser can gives me around 90% result and I can be happy forever.

But my problem is the huge redness that the treatment cause.

In first treatment my girlfriend which I plan to marry her left me(because I dont tell her about laser and with my red face cant go and see her and her family and she thought that I was cheatingher) and in other hand I have problem in my job because cant go to work with that face and creams on my face and even I cant go see my friends few month because of my face(I m sure every one who see my face in those weeks and month thought that I gotbad disease...)

Now my family plan to help me to marry with other girl(I am in the middle east and many people marry like this here) and although I fix my absence in my job somehow.

My question is if you were in my shoes would you go through second laser treatment or you would go through marriage and job ?(I m 29 and my scars now is not noticable like before but second treatment can take me close toperfect skin)

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MemberMember
13
(@arug)

Posted : 11/22/2018 11:38 pm

I'd go for one more session. You can speed up the healing/fade rednessif you use sunscreens extremely high in UVA protection and wide-brimmed hats/visors. My recs are La Roche Posay Anthelios 50+ or BIoderma Photoderm Max 50+ from Europe. There are a handful of other brands that qualify but they are obscure and hard to find. The Euro formulations are the only ones with the best filters/combinations of filters that protect from UVA. In some countries, sunscreen lobbyists have actively blocked regulations to force them into providing better protection because they don't want to spend the money on better filters and formulations.

I can't address the marriage question as I've never been close, but job would not be an issue for me as I am female and could wear makeup to disguise any lingering redness.

 

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MemberMember
11
(@nemesis-89)

Posted : 11/22/2018 11:51 pm

19 minutes ago, arug said:

I'd go for one more session. You can speed up the healing/fade rednessif you use sunscreens extremely high in UVA protection and wide-brimmed hats/visors. My recs are La Roche Posay Anthelios 50+ or BIoderma Photoderm Max 50+ from Europe. There are a handful of other brands that qualify but they are obscure and hard to find. The Euro formulations are the only ones with the best filters/combinations of filters that protect from UVA. In some countries, sunscreen lobbyists have actively blocked regulations to force them into providing better protection because they don't want to spend the money on better filters and formulations.

I can't address the marriage question as I've never been close, but job would not be an issue for me as I am female and could wear makeup to disguise any lingering redness.

 

You know the redness is really huge which none of sunscreens and even make up cant fade it away or help it heal sooner

5 month terrible redness is 100% and I cant run away from it by any tricks

Anyway thanks for your answer

Do you yourself have scars ?

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MemberMember
13
(@arug)

Posted : 11/23/2018 9:01 am

Yes, I am filled with pits and dents from phenol in 1993. My acne scars to begin with were very mild, but I wanted perfection. A doctor gave me dermabrasion, which made me worse, and then phenol to correct for the dermabrasion scars which made me horribly pitted and dented. SO basically my horrible scars were given to me by a doctor.

You really need to try these superb sunscreens, apply them copiously and reapply every 2 hours. It will make you heal much faster. You have no idea how wounding UV can be, and how much more protective a sunscreen with a very high, separate rating for UVA can be. So don't be dismissive before you try it. It was a game changer for me.

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MemberMember
11
(@nemesis-89)

Posted : 11/23/2018 11:19 am

2 hours ago, arug said:

Yes, I am filled with pits and dents from phenol in 1993. My acne scars to begin with were very mild, but I wanted perfection. A doctor gave me dermabrasion, which made me worse, and then phenol to correct for the dermabrasion scars which made me horribly pitted and dented. SO basically my horrible scars were given to me by a doctor.

You really need to try these superb sunscreens, apply them copiously and reapply every 2 hours. It will make you heal much faster. You have no idea how wounding UV can be, and how much more protective a sunscreen with a very high, separate rating for UVA can be. So don't be dismissive before you try it. It was a game changer for me.

Oh no nothing is worse than a failed treatment which cause more scars.

I didint try dermabrasion or phenol ever.

Thanks and wishyou get well soon.

Scars is really bad thing in life only people with scars understand how badly scars affect someones life

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MemberMember
8
(@kman101)

Posted : 11/23/2018 2:20 pm

Id be very careful about doing another session of the same laser. Sounds like it was a very invasive procedure. These carry long term risks, sometimes permanent side effects such as pigment loss or pigment change... particularlyriskyif you are of eastern/dark complexion.Id wait until the redness is long gone before considering going again... But just my opinion.

i would also add that dont think another session will necessarily bring you the same level improvements.. no guarantee of this... scar improvements are often, like most things in medicine,diminishing marginal returns..

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MemberMember
13
(@arug)

Posted : 11/23/2018 2:21 pm

2 hours ago, Nemesis 89 said:

Scars is really bad thing in life only people with scars understand how badly scars affect someones life

Yes. It was 25 years ago. A lotof the things that are considered normal passed me by--climbing up the career ladder, having a boyfriend, husband, kids. No way any of that could happen when I cringed when anyone came near my face. It's not so bad anymore but I still cry when I put my glasses on and see it. The worst of all is that a doctor did this to me. I actually paid for this! Be careful!!

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MemberMember
11
(@nemesis-89)

Posted : 11/23/2018 5:27 pm

2 hours ago, kman101 said:

Id be very careful about doing another session of the same laser. Sounds like it was a very invasive procedure. These carry long term risks, sometimes permanent side effects such as pigment loss or pigment change... particularlyriskyif you are of eastern/dark complexion.Id wait until the redness is long gone before considering going again... But just my opinion.

i would also add that dont think another session will necessarily bring you the same level improvements.. no guarantee of this... scar improvements are often, like most things in medicine,diminishing marginal returns..

Yes it was really invasive laser

I didnt even see one member in this site who gotabout 5 or 6 month of redness for any treatment

I think I had most downtimed scar treatment ever

I accept your opinion maybe another session does not give me huge improvement again but I still cant get rid of thinking about 90% improvement which I thought the second session can give me.

By the way if you were in my shoes and you were sure that the second session will bring good improvement whitout long term risks would you go for second session?

3 hours ago, arug said:

Yes. It was 25 years ago. A lotof the things that are considered normal passed me by--climbing up the career ladder, having a boyfriend, husband, kids. No way any of that could happen when I cringed when anyone came near my face. It's not so bad anymore but I still cry when I put my glasses on and see it. The worst of all is that a doctor did this to me. I actually paid for this! Be careful!!

Oh no

I am sorry and goddamn that doctor who did this to you

I myself once have punch elevation which was really bad and cause me more problems.

But I go and find another doctors and to scars level that those days I had my scars are very better now

I suggest you dont stop and try to find new doctors and methods

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MemberMember
8
(@kman101)

Posted : 11/29/2018 8:31 am

@Nemesis 89

On 11/23/2018 at 10:27 PM, Nemesis 89 said:

Yes it was really invasive laser

I didnt even see one member in this site who got about 5 or 6 month of redness for any treatment

I think I had most downtimed scar treatment ever

I accept your opinion maybe another session does not give me huge improvement again but I still cant get rid of thinking about 90% improvement which I thought the second session can give me.

By the way if you were in my shoes and you were sure that the second session will bring good improvement whitout  long term risks would you go for second session?

 

If you were sure of both improvements and no long term risks then yes of course ... but the problem is you cannot be sure of either... and the lack of improvement risk is much less important than the risk of long term damage, of course...

My advice would be to wait until 6 months after all lingering redness has passed from the last one before considering a second go. Even at that point, doing further scar treatments is fine, just maybe not such an invasive one. And of course ask your doctor for he/she is the expert!

I am interested in your improvements from the laser, as I am considering scar treatment plans myself. What kind of scars do you have and what location of the face? And you are very pleased with the outcome? Thanks :)

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MemberMember
86
(@scarright)

Posted : 11/29/2018 4:25 pm

I would avoid doing this same laser if you're face is still red. Redness should start to fade after several months. I think it would be crazy to do another session if you're struggling to heal. Regardless of the improvements.

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MemberMember
11
(@nemesis-89)

Posted : 11/30/2018 12:20 am

15 hours ago, kman101 said:

@Nemesis 89

If you were sure of both improvements and no long term risks then yes of course ... but the problem is you cannot be sure of either... and the lack of improvement risk is much less important than the risk of long term damage, of course...

My advice would be to wait until 6 months after all lingering redness has passed from the last one before considering a second go. Even at that point, doing further scar treatments is fine, just maybe not such an invasive one. And of course ask your doctor for he/she is the expert!

I am interested in your improvements from the laser, as I am considering scar treatment plans myself. What kind of scars do you have and what location of the face? And you are very pleased with the outcome? Thanks :)

You know I see the patients who go for 2 or even 3 treatments of this Laser and now have closely perfect skin with no side effects

But the only problem for them is the long period of redness 

2 or 3 session of this Laser brings you more than 1 year red face which really affect your social life and job and etc

 I think the treatment is usual or traditional co2 which the doctor use it in the highest degree in your scars and the treatment itself take more than 1.5 hour and very painfull and doctor use fractional co2 and eMatrix I think after usual co2

My scars is in my temples and cheeks and I have rolling and boxcar scars.

 I m around 100percent sure that treatment will not give me long term side effects which I see in other patients who had 2 or 3 sessions

My only problem with the treatment is that I cant tolerate another 5 or 6 month period of isolation from social life and my friends and family and job(because of the huge redness)

8 hours ago, ScarRight said:

I would avoid doing this same laser if you're face is still red. Redness should start to fade after several months. I think it would be crazy to do another session if you're struggling to heal. Regardless of the improvements.

Yes maybe now its too early to do another session

I m in the dilemma to go or not go for second session after the redness go away

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