I'm so sick of people staring at my scars. Some days are better than others. On bad days, every one I interact with seems to stare -- friends, doctors, dates, everyone. I've even had a few looks of disgust and comments from people I care about, which is especially hurtful.
I just want to live a life that doesn't revolve around my scars, and be able to talk to people face to face without feeling insecure and uncomfortable. No one has seen me without makeup on in 5 years.
The pitted scars seemed to mostly disappear for awhile, but after a long, sleepless year, they are more apparent than ever.
I've spent countless hours researching and poring over articles and threads, and I just don't know what to do anymore.
I've tried many products (farmacy Honey moon glow, Rose hip oil, mederma, niacinamide, chemical peel masks, clay mask, just about every product from the Ordinary line) and nothing has helped.
Since topicals have not worked, I'm thinking my only options are fraxel laser, microneedling, or filler. Please guide me in the right direction if you've experienced similar scarring.
While my hyperpigmentation has improved a lot over the years, it's still there too. However, I'm most concerned with the pitted scars. Thankfully, I now only get about one blemish per year so active acne is not a concern.
These scars are from a seemingly randomsevere bout of acne about 5 years ago. Last photo is under harsh lighting and after little sleep.
I would recommend PMing beautifulambition on here to give you a thorough treatment plan. I have done subcision, filler, and Genius rf needling and found them all helpful but the spots with HA filler have filled out the most even 6 months after because its used as a spacer so that the spots dont retether. My recommendation is subcision and filler. It can get expensive but its worth it in my opinion if youre able to space it out. Then do RF microneedling.
3 hours ago, hlp334 said:I would recommend PMing beautifulambition on here to give you a thorough treatment plan. I have done subcision, filler, and Genius rf needling and found them all helpful but the spots with HA filler have filled out the most even 6 months after because its used as a spacer so that the spots dont retether. My recommendation is subcision and filler. It can get expensive but its worth it in my opinion if youre able to space it
Thank you for replying, I will reach out to them.
Honestly, you are gorgeous. You don't look disfigured at all. I think you can work on how you see your self rather than looking perfect. You have manage expectations going into treatments. With anything you do here you can get 80% improvement but not 100% The standard advice of subcision, phenol cross, Sculptra, and Infni/Genious applies. Space out all your treatments over a year.
I have exactly your scars, more extensive but same depth and kind. I was told by beautiful ambition my scars were too shallow for the procedure I chose. I just didnt take proper pictures, they were very repsonsive.
Here's what I've done personally:
Microneedling: little to no improvement
Retinol: made my skin look much worse for 8 weeks, got horrible comments at work from customers, drastic improvement to the surface from there. Was worth the pain
Genius rf: 3 treatments 40-50% improvement, life changing. If I was able to get 6-8 sessions I would probably be as close to normal skin as I could get
I'll be getting a tca peel done in April to improve the surface texture.
I'll be going back for 3 more genius rf sessions in the next couple years
That's just my experience. I didn't do subcision or fillers which Joeysk mentioned which are also consistently helpful treatments to consider.
Improvement is definitely possible.
Thank you both so much! This is really helpful information. I definitely understand that my skin will never fully recover and that managing expectations is important. I just want to get to a place that makes the scarring less distracting. So far, getting enough sleep and staying hydrated are the only things that seemto (temporarily) achieve this. Will start looking into your recommendations!
Overall, your skin looks very good. There's a few scars, but most of them are pretty shallow. It's tough to tell with how far away the picture is, but it looks like you have a few ice pick scars on your forehead. Those could be improved via TCA cross, which normally costs a few hundred dollars per session. The scars on your cheeks appear to be either rolling scars or boxcar scars. It's tough to make out. Subcision would help improve either.
