Skin Pessimist

It's been a few months now. Next time will be TCA 60%

atrophic acne scars are indented, to varying degrees based on the severity of the scar. Acne hyperpigmentation, without an accompanying scar, should not be indented

I wouldn't be too aggressive personally because the scarring is minor overall. There's a study showing Differin gel (Adapalene 0.3%) can help reduce scarring. Tretinoin likely helps too. Those aren't necessarily sufficient for severe scarring, but they could help with the scarring shown in your picture. If you do try Adapalene, make sure you go for 0.3%, as I believe 0.1% was not found to be beneficial for atrophic acne scars. If you wanted to be more aggressive, you could try microneedling

that must have been incredibly uncomfortable for you

I dislike when people suggest acne (or scarring & other imperfections) is just caused by poor skincare or a bad diet. It's possible for those things to contribute, but it's absolutely not the only factor. Some people eat poor diets and have a skincare routine consisting of washing their face with a bar of soap, yet get minimal acne. Meanwhile, I follow a comparatively better skincare routine (by conventional wisdom) & I'm in good health. That didn't stop me from getting acne scars

I'm going to go about things as if I won't have access to tropoelastin, since we don't know how much it will cost or when it will hit the market. But the developments lately are certainly optimistic

Great news. Thanks for the update

I've seen at least a few people with fairly noticeable ones Most people either don't have acne scars or have very minor ones. But many of them have different struggles of their own

Thus far, my opinion is that 40% may not be strong enough. I've tried 30% once and 40% twice, spacing them out by multiple months. It's only been just under a month since my most recent application, so I'm going to give it more time before making a definitive judgment on whether I switch to a slightly stronger percentage (perhaps between 50 and 60%). As always, gotta be patient when it comes to skin remodeling

I can definitely notice it in the before photos. Harsh angle and lighting though. It does look much better in the after photos, but lighting differences always make before & afters tough to compare, and the facial hair may also be helping

I've been layering TCA 40% on some scars, including a few boxcar ones. I'll let you know if I see good results

it's theoretically possible, yeah, but that sort of technology is probably a relatively long way away from being available for use by the general public

man, it's just so frustrating how subpar the avaliable treatment options are

Absolutely. I'd imagine many here are in the same boat

It's tough to say because results vary and everyone heals differently, but moderate to major improvement is possible (but not guaranteed)