Hi everyone, I thought Id pop in and share my experience with at home cross on the dorsum (cartilage) of the nose since its regarded as a tricky area and I didnt find much info about results. Its been 3 weeks since I crossed and I see definite improvement.
After a bad time extracting a blackhead (dont do this ever) that for some reason decided to stay inflamed and swollen for a month after, I was left with a very deep, jagged, scarred pore that wasnt wide but was noticeable because of how bluntly torn the edgeslooked compared to a normal dull pore.
I washed my face and then dried and immediately went to work.
I used TCA 30% with a whittled down toothpick and reapplied 5 times into the bottom of the scarand got a very minor frost (my TCA was around 2 years old so it might not have been as strong as fresh acid).
I realized that the scar had been much deeper than I thought once the toothpick was in because on the surface it covered the root of it. You could very clearly see it looked like a hole on my nose now surrounded by the white ring of the frosting.
Afterwards, I did not neutralize butI applied antibiotic cream (prescribed to me due to my allergy to polysporin) and then a gentle moisturizing cream on top and headed off to bed.
The next few days it was swollen and didnt look so bad. On day 3 post cross I started to develop a rash which I still havent figured out from what but it got scaley and scabby so I was worried that affected the healing.
by day 7 the scabs (which were white instead of brown) fell off and left behind a fairly obvious hole that was much wider than before. But it did look more shallow. It was ugly and I was starting to have regrets.
I kept it moist with moisturizer and then waited for the rash to heal along side the crossed pore. Keeping my routine super simple and keeping it moist.
The rash was gone by the start of the 3rd week and then I started to use copper peptides, vitamin C serum, and still keeping it moist when I can.
Today is the start of the 4th week and Im finally starting to feel like it paid off. The pore is more closed up and the surrounding skin ever so slightly dips downward. There is still a tiny hole there but it wouldnt be noticeable if you didnt know. Im hoping to let it keep healing and then correct it further with more crossing and peels. But for now Im pretty content with how it looks.
If you have any questions dont hesitate to ask!
1 hour ago, Easypeasyqueezy said:...by day 7 the scabs (which were white instead of brown) fell off and left behind a fairly obvious hole that was much wider than before. But it did look more shallow. It was ugly and I was starting to have regrets.
Today is the start of the 4th week and Im finally starting to feel like it paid off.
A lot of people mistakenly think they will see improvement in the first week. This cannot be further from the truth. As in your case, it usually look crappy in the first 4 weeks before it turns the corner. You will now steadily see improvement for the next 8 weeks, if not longer. If you continue to get TCA every 3 months, your "minor" success will eventually turn into a major one.
PS. However, I wouldn't expect too much from TCA 30%. That's way too low.
17 hours ago, Sirius Lee said:A lot of people mistakenly think they will see improvement in the first week. This cannot be further from the truth. As in your case, it usually look crappy in the first 4 weeks before it turns the corner. You will now steadily see improvement for the next 8 weeks, if not longer. If you continue to get TCA every 3 months, your "minor" success will eventually turn into a major one.
PS. However, I wouldn't expect too much from TCA 30%. That's way too low.
Thanks for replying! If the area is almost level would you recommend to continue crossing or do spot TCA peels instead to get it to even out with the rest of the skin?
45 minutes ago, Easypeasyqueezy said:If the area is almost level would you recommend to continue crossing or do spot TCA peels instead to get it to even out with the rest of the skin?
What's important isn't so much that it's leveled with the skin but whether the scar border is visible or not. It's the scar border, when it reflects light, that accentuates the scar.
When the area is leveled AND the scar border is flattened to a point it's not very noticeable, get a dermal filler to even out the texture.
8 hours ago, Sirius Lee said:What's important isn't so much that it's leveled with the skin but whether the scar border is visible or not. It's the scar border, when it reflects light, that accentuates the scar.
When the area is leveled AND the scar border is flattened to a point it's not very noticeable, get a dermal filler to even out the texture.
Ah yes I understand now. So if its pretty shallow now should I keep crossingtill the scar border is flattened or do TCA peels insteadsince the scar isnt that deep anymore and itcovers the border too?
Also should I continue to keep the scar moist with occlusives like thick creams and Vaseline for the next 8 weeks?
do you not recommend crossing again in the next few weeks? I was told it was every 6 weeks.
5 minutes ago, Easypeasyqueezy said:Ah yes I understand now. So if its pretty shallow now should I keep crossingtill the scar border is flattened or do TCA peels insteadsince the scar isnt that deep anymore and itcovers the border too?
If the scar's shallow, then I suggest you continue crossing it but lower the concentration between 35% and 50%. I personally like to do both cross and peel; cross individual scars and then blend the edges with the peel.
7 minutes ago, Easypeasyqueezy said:Also should I continue to keep the scar moist with occlusives like thick creams and Vaseline for the next 8 weeks?
Yes. Definitely for the first 2-3 weeks. But continuing up to 8th week wouldn't be a bad idea since it takes up to 12 weeks for wound healing.
12 minutes ago, Easypeasyqueezy said:do you not recommend crossing again in the next few weeks? I was told it was every 6 weeks.
It depends on the TCA strength. Here's a very rough guideline.
- Less than 20% : every 2 weeks
- 20%~30% : every 4 weeks
- 30%~40% : every 6 weeks
- 40%~50% : every 8 weeks
- Greater than 50% : every 12 weeks
Edit: I just realized that you were using 30% TCA. You can cross every 6 weeks.