Hello all,
Please see my history of acne scar treatments here -->
Long story short, I did 4 mixto laser sessions with Dr. Rahimi, and it did not work. I decided not to pursue any additional treatments and just accepted my scars.
However, I came across Dr. Rullan just browsing through these boards, and decided to give him a shot.
I had my session done Thursday, 12/20/18 in his Chula Vista location. He performed Cross (with carboxylic acid), subcision, microneedling, and PRP.
See pictures before treatment and after treatment.
I plan to do a total of 3-4 sessions with him. This was session #1.
I'll come back monthly on these forums to provide updated pictures. I am pretty busy with my work life so i apologize in advance if I do not get to answering any of your questions.
Feel free to PM me - I can provide you my personal cell.
Good luck everyone!
*Update* on Tuesday 12/25/18 - Hi all, healing is going well. There are some scabs still remaining. I think all the scabs will fall of by tomorrow , meaning, total downtime before I can go back out in public is around 7 days. However, some hyperpigmentation is apparent after the scabs fall off - so it probably will be still a bit embarrassing to go out in public , but should be okay. This is for anybody who wants to understand the downtime after this procedure since most of us need to work. I didn't post any new pictures, but will do so on a later update. I'll update again if anything changes, but my estimate is that 7 days downtime is required before you go out in public.
*Update* on Wednesday 12/26/18 - Hi all, all scabs have come off. My skin just has a bit of hyper pigmentation. Healing process seems to be going well. Day 7 is when all the scabs fell off for me. I can finally go out in public now. See attached pictures. Now just need to wait for the healing process to begin. My skin looks a bit better already, but not too much different before the treatment. Will need to wait it out.
**Update** on March 29th, 2019.
Hi all, I went in for a second treatment with Dr. Rullan. Same treatment. Acid, Subcision, Microneedling, PRF.
Updated pictures.
I think I've seen maybe 10-15% improvement after one treatment? Super hard to tell though. The depth of the scars look less deep. But all scars are still present.
I spoke with the Dr. about going with something way more aggressive, a 2 day phenol chemabrasion peel. I'm thinking of doing that next time, after I fully heal from this treatment. Apparently, this phenol chemabrasian peel is a very extensive 2 day procedure with 2-3 weeks of downtime. I want to do something more aggressive as my skin is still not where I would like it to be.
I'll keep you guys posted with any future updates.
**Update** on June 9, 2019.
Hello All, its been about 3 months since my second procedure. I am going in for a third session next week. I have included updated photos. My apologies for the poor picture quality , i am using my samsung, not the best of quality.
That being said, I am glad to say i have definitely seen some major improvement! I would easily say my scars look 40-50% better. You still see the "red" marks on my face, but, the scars look less deep. They look more "filled in" so to speak, which is amazing. I am very happy so far with the results thus far. I should get better results after the third treatment. After the third treatment, i plan on finishing it off with a phenol peel , however, since the downtime is more than month, I am not sure when I will do this procedure. That being said, I highly recommend it to anyone with deep acne scars to go to Dr. Rullan, i can see why he is so popular on this board. I would advise against lasers and to go with the treatment set forth by Dr. Rullan, as i believe it is much much more effective. My friends/family have also mentioned they have noticed some major improvement of my skin. So things are looking up. thanks for reading. Will update again in the near term future. Take care.
*Update 07/06/19*
Hello All,
Its been about 2-3 weeks since my third subcision treatment with Dr Rullan. Skin is mostly healed (still a bit red, nothing major). I have posted updated pictures. As I mentioned in my previous posts, this treatment is really good for "lifting" the scars and "filling" in the scars. However, the scar indentations still remain.
I am considering doing a phenol peel as my final move to better my skin with Dr Rullan. I plan to do it in August as I am transitioning to a new job and plan to take off a month to heal before i start the new job.
Any opinions from you guys ? Do you guys think Phenol Peel is the next best move for me and my skin? Would appreciate your guys advice!
*Update on 08/30/19*
Hello All, I went in for my fourth subcision/carboxlic acid / erbium laser w/ fillers this past Tuesday. I am currently laying low at home recovering. Heal time is going along as planned, I should be healed by day 6 based on previous sessions (i.e. healed enough that I can go out in public, i.e. all skin has shedded). I have not taken new pictures and will post new pictures later in the future, after I give my skin some time to heal from this fourth treatment. As I mentioned before, I wanted to go in for a phenol peel but the downtime was way to excessive for my schedule, as I start my new job in a week. I think this will be my last treatment for the foreseeable future as I do not foresee myself with the time for any other future treatments. I'll come back from time to time to update w/ photos. Take care.
Awesome. I have many questions regarding this.
Why did Dr. Rullan feel the need toincorporate the PRP?
Carboxylic acid instead of TCA?
Subcision...why didn't you swell up so much? Is it because he used a canula**versus a nokor needle? I heard he switched to the Canula rather than the nokor.
How much are you paying for the 3 treatments?
19 hours ago, connectland said:Awesome. I have many questions regarding this.
Why did Dr. Rullan feel the need toincorporate the PRP?
Not sure to be honest - it has something to do with better regeneration since they use your own blood. I would speak with Dr. Rullan's team for more details. I just listened to them on what they recommended since they are the experts with this type of stuff.
Carboxylic acid instead of TCA?
See previous response. Not sure exactly. I just listened to them w/o asking too much questions. Apparently, it may be less acidic then TCA - which can do more harm than good at times. I think Carboxylic is not as strong.
Subcision...why didn't you swell up so much? Is it because he used a canula**versus a nokor needle? I heard he switched to the Canula rather than the nokor.
they gave me some kind of shot after the procedure, i believe it was some kind of cortisol shot? Apparently, it reduces the swelling within 24 hours.
How much are you paying for the 3 treatments?
Each treatment is $1200. If i end up doing 3 treatments, it will cost $3600.
I had the same shot at Dr Rullans office, and it was Kenalog. It definitely reduced the swelling by quite a lot within the first 24 hours. Id say that 80-90% is gone, and the rest slowly goes down over the next few weeks.
I had subcision/cross/micro with Dr Rullan almost two weeks ago and am still very slightly swollen. Still some bruising and slight pigmentation issues but manageable.
Dr Rullan doesnt suggest any aftercare. But I used neosporin, aquaphor, and a creammoisturizer with 5% Niacinamide in the first week.
Im nowback on my normal routine of Tretinoin 0.05% /Azelaic Acid 4% /Zinc Pyrithione 0.25% via Curology as well astheNiacinamide 5% moisturizer mentioned above. Im also using Alpha Arbutin to help manage hyperpigmentation. (Hydroquinone irritates my skin too much).
And of course, Im diligent with sunscreen. Currently using a tinted mineral sunscreen which helps reduce the appearance of redness.
I'm interested in doing the exact same treatment with Dr. Rullan at some point towards the end of this year, hopefully sometime in September. Thanks for posting such clear pictures! Have you gotten a chance to go back and finish your last 2 treatments with him? Any more skin updates? @slee3?
How many weeks are you waiting until your next visit with Dr. Rullan? Also any updates?
@californiakidIn general, Iam waiting 2-3 months in between the sessions. However, I am doing three monthly PRP treatments for hair loss, so will be doing microneedling at the same time, without cross and subcision.
@superburritook thanks, I had treatment with Dr. Rullan two weeks ago; however, one of the staff people said 4 to 6 weeks, but that seemed kind of quick to me.
@californiakidIF you research this site we say over and over. Skin is incredibly slow to heal. It takes about 3-6 months. When Dr's do treatments monthly it is for their benefit alone quicker $$$$. Constant swelling hides issues, and does not allow time to reflect on how the treatment is healing naturally. Sure some do these mega sessions with 5 things at once, ... then they come to the site and ask why nothing worked. Your body is not meant to do quick treatments readily. Secondly if you get filler or cupping the natural generation of collagen takes months to replace the spacer. Most of the time when the sales staff says 1 month it's because that is what they are trained to do(get people in as quickly as possible). I have some people how only do one subcision a year. This is your treatment plan and you can choose when to do it. There is no Rushing in this long journey, that is a sprint not a marathon. I suggest treating every 3 months and if you have filler whenever you need a top up again(obviously you don't need filler that often).
Always best to work on the deepest problem first, raise it up as much as possible before you do any textural surface work lastly.
hi all, sorry been so busy.
I will post up pictures laser. But its been about 2 months, and my skin looks better already.
HP lasted about 3-4 weeks, but then slowly faded away. Try not too get too worried about the HP - it will fade away gradually.
I can see my scars looking more "filled in".
like i said ill post pictures later, really busy with work and life stuff so my apologies for not updating sooner.
I plan to go back for another session in the near term future, not sure when exactly.
@beautifulambitionGetting Subcision and Sculptra done next week. He didn't have lots of bruising. Is this because Dr. Rullan used a cannula?
@connectlandHe probably had the steriod shot Rullan gives if asked in the hip area for swelling or perhaps he is not prone to swell. Cannulas's also help.
Thanks for the post!
What was your aftercare procedure?
Did you have fillers done and did youuse suction cupping after the surgery?
Posted updated for 03/29/19. Went in on 03/28 for a second treatment with Dr. Rullan. Posted pictures.
Thinking of doing something more aggressive such as a 3 day phenol chemabrasion peel with Dr. Rullan - however, heavy downtime and much more expensive procedure. Will need to ponder over it.
@slee3Have you been suctioning also at all?
I totally agree with your comments above. I went to Rahimi years ago too around the same time as he was hotly discussed on here. As everyone knows, the forum has gone through cycles where certain physicians are praised, only for the patients to ultimately decide that the treatments failed. I had Mixto C02 laser with him, and it honestly f***ked my skin texture (although it has improved over the years). He also did fillers for me which looked like absolute shit, overfilled and overdone. He now pushes lasers and expensive treatments to patients. It's a total travesty.
There was a guy on here who said he spent upwards $50K and went into major debt because Rahim pushed countless lasers and Ultherapy on him. In the end he concluded his scarring actually was made worse.
Again, I also concur that lasers do absolutely nothing for most scar types, from personal experience and the countless real testimonials on here.
Rullan is definitely one of the good ones, and the only one besides Lim that has shown consistent results. I wished I started my own treatments with him. Already, I see some of the sharp scars you had have softened. Waiting to see your results.