I am learning a lot from these forums so I thought I would contribute and share my experience with Dr Taylor in Salt Lake City. It has been a year since the treatment and I am happy with the results. I'm making plans to see him again sometime this year. I will be sure to update this thread, hopefully with even more improvement to my skin after the next treatment.

MY SKIN

I am in my 40s with no active acne. The scars were from a long time ago and were most severe on my cheeks. I also had some on my temples and forehead. Mainly, the scars were atrophic rolling and boxcar. I'm not sure what my Fitzpatrick level is, but I get mistaken for Latino or Filipino in the summertime.

PREVIOUS TREATMENTS

I only had one previous treatment - microneedling of the whole face done by a dermatologist at 2 - 2.5mm depth. I was happy to see that the procedure made a noticeable improvement. But I was somewhat discouraged to realize that it just softened the edges of the scars. I realized that my scars were deep and tethered and would require a more aggressive treatment.

PROCEDURE WITH DR TAYLOR

The whole process took about an hour and a half and combined several procedures:

1. Field subcision - this is what Dr Taylor is known for, cutting the tethers holding down the depressed scars across the whole cheek rather than one scar at a time in traditional needle subcision.

2. Fraxel re:pair laser

3. 30% TCA peel

4. Excisions - he did 12 excisions on my face and sutured them closed

I hardly felt any pain during the treatment. I was awake and alert and feeling like I had a few cocktails but I still have a complete memory of the procedure. The strangest part was the preparation for subcision - they inserted a tube between the layers of skin and pumped my cheeks full of fluid. I could feel my cheeks get very heavy but i felt no pain because the fluid contained an anesthetic. He used a tool that looks like a fondue fork for subcision, inserted from the sideburn. I could hear the tethers snapping as he worked the tool across my cheek.

I asked Dr Taylor to give my skin as thorough a treatment as it could handle, so I think he set the laser a little higher. Dr Taylor was very knowledgeable and capable and caring, definitely a top notch dermatologist. All of his staff was  organized and efficient so that made the procedure easier.

RECOVERY

For the first 24 hours, the swelling was pretty severe. I'm not sure if my own family would have recognized me walking down the street. The worst part of the recovery was that I had to keep a thick layer of vaseline-type cream all over my face at all times for almost a week. It was just cumbersome and annoying to have my face stick to anything that touched it. I used a special pillow to sleep with my head elevated for the first week. After a week, they took out my sutures and I started using a regular lotion on my skin instead of the thick grease. I was somewhat swollen at that point but I didn't feel too bad running errands and doing everyday activities. And every day my skin started looking better. Except after about five weeks, some purplish-red rectangular patches showed up on my cheeks. They weren't horrible and they went away after about a week. I think those patches on my cheek were the area they covered twice with the laser as the skin finally came to the surface. I did experience some numbness of the skin of my cheek close to my ears. That went away as the sensation returned gradually over a few months. Thinking back on it now, the recovery was significant and disruptive but it was not horrible. It's not like I would never want to go through it again.

OUTCOME

I'm posting photos so you can judge for yourself. I'm happy with the results. Many of the acne scars on my temples and forehead are nearly gone. Much of the sun damage is gone and the overall texture of my skin is better. The cheeks are improved, especially the right cheek. Where I had deep divots before, now I have shallow lumpiness. I can't really see any surgical scars from the excisions, but I can feel some slightly raised ridges of scar tissue from the excisions on my cheek. When I look at my cheek now, I think that laser and microneedling treatments would really improve the shallow scars that I have left. I'm in a much better position than a year ago when I had such deep scars and felt that no laser or microneedling treatment would make a big difference.

Overall I recommend the procedure for anyone with severe and deep acne scars on their cheeks and temples.