5 hours ago, seattlegal90 said:

 

 

I havent been on here much for 7+ months, and i wanted to share an update and ask for advice!

 

I did miconeedling a few times in the summer time.. In my opinion, it was not good for someone who scars easily. I havent done it since.

I switched to the fade peel a few months ago, but i didnt start using it religiously ( every week) until about 6 weeks ago. And about a week ago, i switched to 70% glycolic acid ( this ALMOST made me break out with a cyst which i dont get anymore, luckilythe next day it was gone. I think it released some trapped gunkunder my skin) So, apparently my skin doesnt mind certain peels! Hurray

 

! I think i will wait a little longer with the high % peel now to make sure im not doing those too close together, causing further damage.

 

So theres GOOD and BAD news with my results so far...

 

 

The GOOD news:

 

The peels removed all of my shallow scarring ( grade 1-2) they werent very deep..my previous pictures didnt capture them well/at all, but you could certainly see them in harsh angledlighting.I only have 3 remainingscars that are not ice pick scars. So basically, it mostly leveled out my skin on the side i was working on.. I should also note I put on a little weight ( i had been pretty underweight for 6 months and this may have helped too)

 

Now for the BAD!

It did nothing for my ice pick scars... not only that.. i believe the peels unclogged pores/tiny bumps that had probably made a nice home for quite some time. ( these colorless little bumps i get are the size of a pin head and dont go away for weeks, if not months, if anyone knows what that is, id love to know lol). As a result I have fairly level skin (woot) with MORE ice pick scars than i did before (boo). I traded one problem for another lol. Right now im working on finding a primer that will help with this, because i believe ice picks can be camouflaged pretty darn well with the right products., at least thats what ive read in lotss of forums/reviews. Theres several products that people claim fill in ice picks 'amazingly well'.. we'll see! ( if anyone has suggestions please let me know!).

 

So here are my next steps and questions..

 

I am going to continue trading off between the two peels until June.. Then i will have subcision done on the other side of my face for two very tethered scars that ive never posted ( I have minimal number of scarson that side they are just visibly tethered). I will also have filler done on the 3 scars mentioned above, they flatten nicely when i stretch the skin. Im HOPING they can add filler throughout the whole cheek to give it a smoother appearance overall.. So my question is.. what can i do for the ice pick scars besides TCA and lasers? Anything? Could i have them do subcision on those as well? Im really not worried about the down time/swelling/bruising but if subcision wont do anything for ice pick id rather not go through it.. I noticed when i stretch these scars they dont improve much, some, but not much. Does that mean they are tethered or is that typical sincethey are tiny holes?

 

 

With all this being said, to anyone who is just now clearing their acne and dealing with any scarring, whether its hyper-pigmentation, minoror severe indented scarring this is what i have learned from all this ( and still am) ( Note : this isjust my personal opinion based on my OWNexperience)

 

* IF* it has affected you mentally, i cannot stress enough on how important it is to workon the mental and emotional aspect of this rather than treating the scarring itself. You will miss out on a TONof awesome moments or even large phases of your life if you dont find peace and acceptance first. If you go into this journey with thementality of "it HASto be like this _____ in order for me to be satisfied "or to be 'happy' or in order to" get this job" or "go on that date", " meet up with these new people " "go to that event" or even just to go out in public.. youre going to be down right MISERABLEfor a long, long time and miss out on your life ( and in most cases your youthful years) by not livingin the present, you will ALWAYS be living in the future of 'when this happens..' And yes, changing this perspectiveishard as shit to do lol And even once you know this, its extremely hard to fuse it in with your daily thought process.. I wouldve wanted to smack someone a few years back saying this, because in my mind, the problem wasnt my perspective at all... All my flaws just needed fixing, that would fix the problem. And if youre one of the lucky few whocan fix the problem right away, great! But in most cases, its a longprocess, one that will never be totally perfect ( which is even worse for us perfectionists!) and you need to work on accepting the situation, so you can live right now and any future progress is healthy and gratifying.

 

 

Anyway, thats my two cents. If it helps even one person someday, it was worth mentioning, because it sure made my lifemore difficult not working through this first.

Thanks again for all the support!

oh my god I cannot thank you enough for the wise words. this is what I really need right now, I promise to myself I will never be bothered with this scars on my face I will do my best to accept them but still hopeful for a better treatment someday.

Im so glad you posted again! Yay for the progress with peels and boofor the clogged pores. It sounds like it could be milia. If you can, see a dermatologist because tiny bumps can be so many different things and need topicals.I deal with them too and have gone to two dermatologists who said different things (one said it was a type of folliculitis and the other said it was tiny acne basically). Inany case Im so happy to hear youve had some progress. I find that to be encouraging.

As far as primers go, I would just say do not waste your money on Estee Lauder The Smoother, or Jane Iredale Smooth Afair (the latterisnicer to use than Estee Lauder but neitherdo crap for acne scars). Im not convinced theres a primer out there that actually helps but maybe I havent tried enough.The one product I feel makes my skin look better currently is It Cosmetics CC cream. Two of my girlfriendshighly recommendedit.

Lastly,thanks for your positivity. Some days I obsess and others I rarely think about it. Today was a day of dwelling, and your post helped me.

Have you done subscision before? Im considering it but scared.