@JustSomeName Hyperpigmetnation does fade for many, it's just extremely slow over a year or it needs come help to spread up healing. Atrophy is gone forever, just like youth, the fat is gone unless treated. That being said many don't have atrophy they have textural dermal scarring. A year after accutane one heals naturally, we constantly get rid of old layers of skin.

This belongs in Scarless Healing ;-), I don't post there on purpose as no one wants to listen. That is a separate place for fantasy of "what if'" Look at that thread date lots of things have come and gone and are absolutely worthless. "Scar Treatments" is the name of the sub, not "Scar Fantasy" As such we help treat people now with proven technologies and methods.  No Dr will dare discuss anything in that thread as it's not proven clinically on thousands. Every scientist wan'ts to be part of some trial of the next best thing, the fame and research grants never seem to run out. There is always the next best thing. I don't need clinical trials, removing that link, as it belongs in Scarless Healing. 

Anything "can" be used on guinea pigs, ... does it work, I cannot say, but probably not. If they found the fountain of youth then you could cure all things including aging, HIV, Cancer, and soooo many other things. Altering genetics is a risky thing. They cannot even figure out why cancer mutates in the skin and how to stop it (still cutting it out and Chemo). It's healthy for scientists to try things, but until there is data why bother, when I can really make a difference in people's lives now. There is more mental illness in that sub than anything, several of the members have one tiny scar and refuse to get treated, Some have major body dysmorphia, some have body scarring which is hard to treat (I understand they want more), and other's only want 100% perfection or nothing else. Some had terrible general Dr's that messed up their costly treatments. 

Extreme suffering, ...goto a burn unit (any hospital), if you want to see pain and the body not aesthetically pleasing or even functional. These people are not complaining about cosmetic issues. Grafts are still done on their horrific scars as well with incremental benefits. 

Perhaps some day we will all walk on a Star Trek set and have our skin printed out - or regenerated, maybe by then we will all be in the Matrix with AI or VR goggles as the world crumbles ... otherwise it's fantasy right now. They are even finding issues with some of the organs they are creating with 3D printers. There is more resources going into genetic altering of test tube babies than scars, I wonder what their flaws might be. 

There is no vaccine for acne "yet," they started one and it never materialized. That would be a start, but then bacteria and the bodies biome could always just morph and make something stronger. 

Why do scar less healing when companies are coming up with new drugs, pesticides, radiation, viruses, and ways to fry us. Scars are a reflection of imbalances in the body, the skin shows us these issues. To fix scarless healing, you have to fix people's genetics, and get rid of supper bugs. We still have MRSA and other supper bugs causing scarring daily.

If you want scarless healing, watch burn scar trials, ... anything over 5% improvement would be helpful to them.

I help people the best I can with proven treatments, it's not healthy to live in cognitive distortions. If I can get someone 50% improvement now and they can go on with their life, that is all that matters, some even get more than that "if" they heal well.

Quote

15 Common Cognitive Distortions

By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. 

 

Cognitive distortions are simply ways that our mind convinces us of something that isn™t really true. These inaccurate thoughts are usually used to reinforce negative thinking or emotions ” telling ourselves things that sound rational and accurate, but really only serve to keep us feeling bad about ourselves.

For instance, a person might tell themselves, œI always fail when I try to do something new; I therefore fail at everything I try. This is an example of œblack or white (or polarized) thinking. The person is only seeing things in absolutes ” that if they fail at one thing, they must fail at all things. If they added, œI must be a complete loser and failure to their thinking, that would also be an example of overgeneralization ” taking a failure at one specific task and generalizing it their very self and identity.

Cognitive distortions are at the core of what many cognitive-behavioral and other kinds of therapists try and help a person learn to change in psychotherapy. By learning to correctly identify this kind of œstinkin™ thinkin™, a person can then answer the negative thinking back, and refute it. By refuting the negative thinking over and over again, it will slowly diminish overtime and be automatically replaced by more rational, balanced thinking.

The Most Common Cognitive Distortions

In 1976, psychologist Aaron Beck first proposed the theory behind cognitive distortions and in the 1980s, David Burns was responsible for popularizing it with common names and examples for the distortions.

1. Filtering

A person engaging in filter (or œmental filtering) takes the negative details and magnifies those details while filtering out all positive aspects of a situation. For instance, a person may pick out a single, unpleasant detail and dwell on it exclusively so that their vision of reality becomes darkened or distorted. When a cognitive filter is applied, the person sees only the negative and ignores anything positive.

2. Polarized Thinking (or œBlack and White Thinking)

In polarized thinking, things are either œblack-or-white ” all or nothing. We have to be perfect or we™re a complete and abject failure ” there is no middle ground. A person with polarized thinking places people or situations in œeither/or categories, with no shades of gray or allowing for the complexity of most people and most situations. A person with black-and-white thinking sees things only in extremes.

3. Overgeneralization

In this cognitive distortion, a person comes to a general conclusion based on a single incident or a single piece of evidence. If something bad happens just once, they expect it to happen over and over again. A person may see a single, unpleasant event as part of a never-ending pattern of defeat.

For instance, if a student gets a poor grade on one paper in one semester, they conclude they are a horrible student and should quit school.

4. Jumping to Conclusions

Without individuals saying so, a person who jumps to conclusions knows what another person is feeling and thinking ” and exactly why they act the way they do. In particular, a person is able to determine how others are feeling toward the person, as though they could read their mind. Jumping to conclusions can also manifest itself as fortune-telling, where a person believes their entire future is pre-ordained (whether it be in school, work, or romantic relationships).

For example, a person may conclude that someone is holding a grudge against them, but doesn™t actually bother to find out if they are correct. Another example involving fortune-telling is when a person may anticipate that things will turn out badly in their next relationship, and will feel convinced that their prediction is already an established fact, so why bother dating.

5. Catastrophizing

When a person engages in catastrophizing, they expect disaster to strike, no matter what. This is also referred to as magnifying, and can also come out in its opposite behavior, minimizing. In this distortion, a person hears about a problem and uses what if questions (e.g., œWhat if tragedy strikes? œWhat if it happens to me?) to imagine the absolute worst occurring.

For example, a person might exaggerate the importance of insignificant events (such as their mistake, or someone else™s achievement). Or they may inappropriately shrink the magnitude of significant events until they appear tiny (for example, a person™s own desirable qualities or someone else™s imperfections).

With practice, you can learn to answer each of these cognitive distortions.

6. Personalization

Personalization is a distortion where a person believes that everything others do or say is some kind of direct, personal reaction to them. They literally take virtually everything personally, even when something is not meant in that way. A person who experiences this kind of thinking will also compare themselves to others, trying to determine who is smarter, better looking, etc.

A person engaging in personalization may also see themselves as the cause of some unhealthy external event that they were not responsible for. For example, œWe were late to the dinner party and caused everyone to have a terrible time. If I had only pushed my husband to leave on time, this wouldn™t have happened.

7. Control Fallacies

This distortion involves two different but related beliefs about being in complete control of every situation in a person™s life. In the first, if we feel externally controlled, we see ourselves as helpless a victim of fate. For example, œI can™t help it if the quality of the work is poor, my boss demanded I work overtime on it.

The fallacy of internal control has us assuming responsibility for the pain and happiness of everyone around us. For example, œWhy aren™t you happy? Is it because of something I did?

8. Fallacy of Fairness

In the fallacy of fairness, a person feels resentful because they think that they know what is fair, but other people won™t agree with them. As our parents tell us when we™re growing up and something doesn™t go our way, œLife isn™t always fair. People who go through life applying a measuring ruler against every situation judging its œfairness will often feel resentful, angry, and even hopelessness because of it. Because life isn™t fair ” things will not always work out in a person™s favor, even when they should.

9. Blaming

When a person engages in blaming, they hold other people responsible for their emotional pain. They may also take the opposite track and instead blame themselves for every problem ” even those clearly outside their own control.

For example, œStop making me feel bad about myself! Nobody can œmake us feel any particular way ” only we have control over our own emotions and emotional reactions.

10. Shoulds

Should statements (œI should pick up after myself more¦) appear as a list of ironclad rules about how every person should behave. People who break the rules make a person following these should statements angry. They also feel guilty when they violate their own rules. A person may often believe they are trying to motivate themselves with shoulds and shouldn™ts, as if they have to be punished before they can do anything.

For example, œI really should exercise. I shouldn™t be so lazy. Musts and oughts are also offenders. The emotional consequence is guilt. When a person directs should statements toward others, they often feel anger, frustration and resentment.

11. Emotional Reasoning

The distortion of emotional reasoning can be summed up by the statement, œIf I feel that way, it must be true. Whatever a person is feeling is believed to be true automatically and unconditionally. If a person feels stupid and boring, then they must be stupid and boring.

Emotions are extremely strong in people, and can overrule our rational thoughts and reasoning. Emotional reasoning is when a person™s emotions takes over our thinking entirely, blotting out all rationality and logic. The person who engages in emotional reasoning assumes that their unhealthy emotions reflect the way things really are ” œI feel it, therefore it must be true.

12. Fallacy of Change

In the fallacy of change, a person expects that other people will change to suit them if they just pressure or cajole them enough. A person needs to change people because their hopes for success and happiness seem to depend entirely on them.

This distortion is often found in thinking around relationships. For example, a girlfriend who tries to get her boyfriend to improve his appearance and manners, in the belief that this boyfriend is perfect in every other way and will make them happy if they only changed these few minor things.

13. Global Labeling

In global labeling (also referred to as mislabeling), a person generalizes one or two qualities into a negative global judgment about themselves or another person. This is an extreme form of overgeneralizing. Instead of describing an error in context of a specific situation, a person will attach an unhealthy universal label to themselves or others.

For example, they may say, œI™m a loser in a situation where they failed at a specific task. When someone else™s behavior rubs a person the wrong way ” without bothering to understand any context around why ” they may attach an unhealthy label to him, such as œHe™s a real jerk.

Mislabeling involves describing an event with language that is highly colored and emotionally loaded. For example, instead of saying someone drops her children off at daycare every day, a person who is mislabeling might say that œShe abandons her children to strangers.

14. Always Being Right

When a person engages in this distortion, they are continually putting other people on trial to prove that their own opinions and actions are the absolute correct ones. To a person engaging in œalways being right, being wrong is unthinkable ” they will go to any length to demonstrate their rightness.

For example, œI don™t care how badly arguing with me makes you feel, I™m going to win this argument no matter what because I™m right. Being right often is more important than the feelings of others around a person who engages in this cognitive distortion, even loved ones.

15. Heaven™s Reward Fallacy

The final cognitive distortion is the false belief that a person™s sacrifice and self-denial will eventually pay off, as if some global force is keeping score. This is a riff on the fallacy of fairness, because in a fair world, the people who work the hardest will get the largest reward. A person who sacrifices and works hard but doesn™t experience the expected pay off will usually feel bitter when the reward doesn™t come.

_____________________________________________________

5 Mental Health Issues Associated with Acne

by Tracy Raftl 

We all know that acne a very emotionally painful condition. It can certainly be physically painful as well, but it is usually nothing compared to the frustration, shame, and sadness that this rollercoaster of a disease can lock a person into.

Unfortunately, acne is an absolute champ at triggering some serious mental health issues “ there is no question there. Most people blame their emotional problems on the acne itself, and therefore believe that as soon as the acne is gone, the depression and anxiety will go too. I believe strongly that acne may be the trigger and the justifier but not the cause of the emotional distress itself.

I believe that it comes from within and could have just as easily been triggered and justified by something else.

As a consequence of this, mental health issues can quickly get out of hand and not be realized by those expressing the symptoms. Because the blame is constantly put onto the acne, a long hard look at oneself is usually brushed aside. I™m not saying that you are to blame either, but that awareness is the first step to recovery.

The following mental health diseases can be strongly linked with acne. Most people will not have full blown versions of these, but often bits and pieces of each (which was the case with me). The purpose of this post is bring to light some disconcerting tendencies that you may not have realized you were displaying “ before things start to get out of control.

1. Depression. It™s characterized by feeling sad, unworthy, guilty, and helpless. Those with depression usually lack energy and motivation, and feel quite fatigued most of the time. They lose interest in normal activities and spending time with friends. It can also be hard to concentrate and they may have suicidal thoughts. Remember that everyone gets down sometimes but actual depression is when these feelings last more than a couple of weeks at a time.
2. Anxiety. It™s characterized by excessive worry, fear, and apprehension over real or imagined situations “ sometimes it manifests as a dark, ominous feeling with no real basis. Those with anxiety disorders can have uncontrollable excessive thoughts, repeated flashbacks to traumatic experiences, nightmares, sleep disturbances, jitteriness, digestive problems, and muscular tension.
3. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. OCD is a subset of anxiety. It™s characterized by developing strict, repetitive rituals and routines in order to deal with fears and anxieties, and those with OCD fear severe consequences if the rituals are broken. What™s worse is that they often realize the rituals are irrational “ which can cause a lot of distress “ but they just. can™t. stop. Classic rituals for OCD sufferers usually include things like obsessive hand washing, counting objects, and checking 20 times that the stove is really off. For those with acne, it can manifest in excessive skin picking and preening, obsessive face washing and topical application, and completely unreasonable fears and routines revolving around food.
4. Orthorexia Nervosa. It is an anxiety disorder related to anorexia. Orthorexia is characterized by an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating, to the point where it severely interferes with normal life. It can even lead to malnourishment and death in severe cases. Much in the way that those with anorexia use their weight as an emotional scapegoat and limit food in order to feel in control, those with orthorexia are fixated on eating œpure and œcorrect foods in order to deal with emotions triggered by a variety of things (perhaps acne). They feel in complete control when they eat perfectly, and extremely guilty, shameful, and fearful when they don™t.
5. Body Dysmoprhic Disorder, and more specifically, Acne Dysmorphic Disorder. It is characterized by a serious preoccupation with a real or imaginary physical flaw. There is excessive anxiety and stress over the perceived flaw and the person with BDD spends an unreasonable amount of time focusing on it, picking at it, excessively checking their appearance in a mirror, hiding the imperfection, comparing it with others, grooming, constantly seeking reassurance from others about it, and even getting repeated cosmetic surgery. With acne dysmorphic disorder, the perceived flaw is acne, blemishes, and scarring. Often the sufferer has mild acne but when they look at themselves in the mirror, the acne appears to them to be a hundred times worse than the reality.

On 5/12/2019 at 12:18 AM, beautifulambition said:

@JustSomeNameHyperpigmetnation does fade for many, it's just extremely slow over a year or it needs come help to spread up healing. Atrophy is gone forever, just like youth, the fat is gone unless treated. That being said many don't have atrophy they have textural dermal scarring. A year after accutane one heals naturally, we constantly get rid of old layers of skin.

 

This belongs in Scarless Healing ;-), I don't post there on purpose as no one wants to listen.That is a separate place for fantasy of "what if'" Look at that thread date lots of things have come and gone and are absolutely worthless. "Scar Treatments" is the name of the sub,not "Scar Fantasy" As such we help treat people now with proven technologies and methods.No Dr will dare discuss anything in that thread as it's not proven clinically on thousands. Every scientist wan'ts to be part of some trial of the next best thing, the fame and research grants never seem to run out.There is always the next best thing. I don't need clinical trials, removing that link, as it belongs in Scarless Healing.

Anything "can" be used on guinea pigs, ... does it work, I cannot say, but probably not. If they found the fountain of youth then you could cure all things including aging, HIV, Cancer, and soooo many other things. Altering genetics is a risky thing. They cannot even figure out why cancer mutates in the skin and how to stop it(still cutting it out and Chemo). It's healthy for scientists to try things, but until there s data why bother, when I can really make a difference in people's lives now. There is more mental illness in that sub than anything, several of the members have one tiny scar and refuse toget treated, Some have major body dysmorphia,some have body scarring which is hard to treat (I understand they want more), and other's only want 100% perfection or nothing else. Some had terrible general Dr's that messed up their costly treatments.

Extreme suffering, ...goto a burn unit (any hospital), if you want to see pain and the body not aesthetically pleasing or even functional. These people are not complaining about cosmetic issues. Grafts are still done on their horrific scars as well with incremental benefits.

Perhaps some day we will all walk on a Star Trek set and have our skin printed out - or regenerated, maybe by then we will all be in the Matrix with AI or VR goggles as the world crumbles... otherwise it's fantasy right now. They are even finding issues with some of the organs they a re creating with 3D printers. There is more resources going into genetic altering of test tube babies than scars, I wonder what their flaws might be.

There is no vaccine for acne"yet," they started one and it never materialized. That would be a start, but then bacteria and the bodies biome could always just morph and make something stronger.

Why do scar less healing when companies are coming up with new drugs, pesticides, radiation, viruses,and ways to fry use. Scar are a reflection of unbalances in the body, the skin shows us these issues. To fix scarless healing, you have to fix people's genetics, and get rid of supper bugs. We still have MRSA and other supper bugs causing scarring daily.

If you wantscarless healing, watch burn scar trials, ... anything over 5% improvement would be helpful to them.

I help people the best I can with proven treatments, it's not healthy to live in cognitive distortions. If I can get someone 50% improvement now and they can go on with their life, that is all that matters, some even get more than that"if" they heal well.

 

 

THANK YOU FOR THIS INFORMATIVE MESSAGE! I salute you and really thankful because you do this and not getting tired of it! you are a hero.

Honestly, to mescarless healing doesn't sound something so far fetched. We already heal scarlessly in fetus, so that's proof that it's absolutely possible. Very small scars also heal without leaving a scar.

The fact that in 2019 we still don't have a cure for scars is indicative of how little money and research goes into this problem. And how little do they care about curing scars.

To Whom It May Concern:

• Your open to your own opinion and we will agree to disagree. I believe in ethics and "educate." I try not to use my opinion, outcomes are based on clinical experience, studies, and helping thousands, no one else can say that here.
• I think these posts are going to depress a lot of people who are suffering and make them doubt getting treatment. This is sad and one sided, to a group think mentality of Debbie downer this forum can perpetuate. The hurting tend to stay and the one's who heal and succeed do not stay around here a long time, and move on with their lives.
• I think for disclosure you(@------------) post often in scarless healing and believe in the fantasy of _____ "it," you often post "nothing" works and you want scarless healing.
• That (@------------) you are upset about your treatments that were performed poorly and did not lead to "any" results you wanted. IF you need further analysis of why treatment failed please give me a full history of treatment(s) and I can help. I do this often. Often there is a error to approach, error of a Dr(s), health condition, healing condition, sensitivity, or simply a square peg is being fit in a round hole. No one should microneedle and expect it to get rid of their acne scars (you state in another post you did it 40 times with no results), this is not a mono (single)-treatment you do alone and some scar cases it's not a approach for any treatment for the scar type (patient history).
• That you case is exactly my point with Cognitive Distortions, Mental Health Issues Associated with Acne/ Scars, Circular thinking,... you are equating that no one else will get improvements because you did not get the quality of improvements you sought. That is like stating no one will be successful because you are not. Healing capability is a big part of treatment, health concerns, sensitivities, environmental factors, and using the right treatment for your scar type. I forget the "top Dr" you sought for care, but if it was Dr Chu/Rullan alone will not get you to where you want to be, ... it also takes getting other work like energy devices with another Dr. Sadly Dr Chu I don't overly recommend anymore as he will not stay up to date with the newest treatments, nor will he help some scar suffers, his colleague Dr Anil does though... it also takes getting other work like energy devices with another Dr. Some cases are not appropriate for the Dr who is treating, .... you have to find a good fit.
• I have helped thousands "thousands" and I have seen more improvement with real life experience than you are proporting does not happen. to dismiss that is a cognitive distortion. A big part of treatment is patient education and allowing the patient to be empowered with choices. There are a lot of bad Dr's and treatments out there, ... Dr's do over promise results, and some patients are not good candidates for treatment and would do better to accept their scars (very very few - but a few cases).
• I choose to live in the present not the future or the past which is not healthy.
• I am not trying to sell anything or lead people on with "swelling." Look at the success stories if your a doubter. 50% is achievable if you keep a realistic mindset that treatment is long and some magical scarless healing topical will not get rid of scars. But maybe scarless healing (projection) is better to protect those who cannot handle the struggle and journey of scar treatment.
• Who Cares about how a baby heals scarless in the protected womb (is scarless healing telling us all to get back in a womb now, before or after the 3D printed skin and hydrogels "sarcasm"). A baby is not exposed ____ (everything I mentioned above that constantly bombards us and retards our health and well being). Younger adults heal better than older adults with scars (Aging has it's effects). I covered this all above in my post. They have stem cells currently from "babies" they do very little for anti-aging.
• Sadly many acne scar snuffer's have very deep internal scars that they never deal with. As such Therapy is much more important than sometimes the physical treatments. Talkspace allows unlimited therapy though a smart phone if you need someone to support you and work through these deep internal wounds. Some would be better to accept their condition and give up treatment if it will cause them further anguish and harm. You just don't know the outcome of success until you get into this and physically see results over time. This is with any major surgery their is a % of success and a percentage of unmet expectations / failure. If I could save you the hurt, pain, and anguish I would - but the struggle is part of the healing. You can't coach someone who does not want to be helped or fix someone who thinks they are not broken.
• If you wantscarless healing, watch burn scar trials, ... anything over 5% improvement would be helpful to them. No stem cell, microneedling, laser, micro-coring devices(Which were developed many years ago as well), gene therapy, lotions, potions, voodoo will fix the small percentage they receive. The market for burn scars is soooooo much bigger than acne scars. Watch that space.
• It's sad many who are here, ... God Forbid if they had something tough in their lives. They would simply give up. Cancer / Chemo. Burn Scars, Mobility issues. Of course this is not fun. I see mistakes in your treatment. I think the huuuuuuuuuuuuuge missing link here is unrealistic expectations (cover this in the mental quoted material below), and that it's a long jounrey. Severe scars will of course it's going to take longer to heal. I don't think laser alone will get someone there.
• If a patient likes the post procedure swelling they will like filler.
• I cannot change people's minds and heart, I can re-frame the conversation and give some "hope."
• Then there are those who are waiting for scarless healing 100% fantasy - because of some tiny flaw.
• Anyone who is a scar suffer should wait at "least" 3 months after treatment to see the final outcome and let the swelling go down, this is common knowledge here not me selling you anything.
• When is good enough, good enough - that is the question.
• Finally if it does not work and you have given a fighting chance, then perhaps just stop, therapy would be a better idea in that case. Please see the quoted box below about what acne scar cases suffer with, ... one of the biggest issues that are never treated in clinics.

...

Your not like anyone else on these forums. I cannot over-analyze every choice, health concern, and action done in your life. It all depends on how you heal. I Get your frustration.

No scar case is the same, we are not clones, one person could do a million procedures and not be you, your all different ages, ethnic backgrounds, healing capabilities, plans for treatment, outcomes, different surgeons (they treat differently as well), etc, we could go on and on. The point being is never compare yourself to someone else. Sure you can learn from their experience but do we really know every single detail about what was done and why - no. If someone heals poorly or had a poor Dr they typically hang around here.

Goto a board certified Dr for help, ... if you want get 3 opinions and choose the one you like best. Your cases have nothing to do with each other or anyone else here, everyone is a individual with a different story.

It takes time to heal (this is a marathon and not a race, many do treatments every 3 months over 3 years time),... it's slow with lots of treatments.