Tretinoin Cream for acne scars
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Tue Jan 25, 2011 8:04 pm

Hello! I am 34 and have had acne since I was 14 yrs old, so unfortunately I have a face full of acne scars to show for it. Mostly just large pores, box car scars, and some ice pick scars, but they take up all of my cheek areas. It's considered mild - moderate scarring in depth but the area of scarring is pretty expansive. I have had 4 rounds of V-Beam laser (for redness and acne redness marks) and 3 rounds of SmoothBeam laser. It's been 3.5 months since my 1st SmoothBeam treatment and 3 weeks since my 3rd treatment and I am just now starting to see an improvement. Some of the deep scars on one of my cheeks right in the middle are definitely more filled in than they were before. Both cheeks are seeing an improvement actually....not as fast as I'd like of course, but as my dermatologist said, it took 15 years to make all these scars so it's not going to take just a couple months to get rid of them. I don't expect to get rid of them completely either - just marked improvement. Like over 50% improvement would be wonderful. Okay, onto my question - since I do still get some acne a new pretty big scar occured on my upper cheek. Currently it's red because it's only about 3 weeks old, so I know that once the redness goes away it will be less noticeable unless up very close to me. BUT, I have 0.025% Tretinoin cream and was wondering if I spot treated that area right now, would that also help reduce the appearance of that scar - color and depth? I have the cream to use all over, but I'm scared of using it in the winter time. Last year I tried Retin-A starting in Feb. and the dryness was too much for me to deal with.

free skin care · Tue Jan 25, 2011 8:29 pm

kwix - copper peptides are what you need for your scars

they were developed for wound healing and many have had success using them for acne scars. they are also an adjunct to use for post-laser treatments.

I have used them personally for some acne scars w/ great success. I have also used a single needle (and CPs) to fill in ice pick scars that were very deep. Those have almost filled in level w/ the surrounding skin.

CPs do many other things as well. Read up on them here:

http://www.reverseskinaging.com/

Or read my review on them here:

http://www.essentialdayspa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?tid=37752

good luck

free skin care · Wed Jan 26, 2011 1:14 am

I've had a very good experience with my tretinoin cream regarding acne discoloration. I've had no new red or brown spots after an acne lesion, since I started the tretinoin. I also abraded my nose badly about three weeks ago, and for that, I used Avene Cicalfate and Polysporin the first few days, and tretinoin as usual from about day 3 or 4 (once it stopped hurting). And it has healed perfectly with no scar!

This sounds like a great question for your derm, and I think tretinoin would help.

free skin care · Wed Jan 26, 2011 9:27 am

Yes, tretinoin should help since the increased skin turnover would aid in lessening the scarring.

If your skin became too dry with Retin-A... have you considered using Retin-A micro? It has a comparable effect as Retin-A but with less side effects.

Wed Jan 26, 2011 10:16 am

Thanks for the responses! To the last poster, it was Retin-A Micro that I used last year. I only used a pea size and started out every 3rd day for nearly 2 weeks and went to every other day. I used it for 2 months and had to stop. I couldn't even put make-up on because the flaking was so embarrassing!! And back then I NEEDED make-up for the red marks. Now, after the V-Beams, my redness is extremely calmed down and it's not horrible to go w/o makeup.....some days my skin looks better w/o makeup actually.

free skin care · Wed Jan 26, 2011 8:11 pm

kwix76 wrote:

Thanks for the responses! To the last poster, it was Retin-A Micro that I used last year. I only used a pea size and started out every 3rd day for nearly 2 weeks and went to every other day. I used it for 2 months and had to stop. I couldn't even put make-up on because the flaking was so embarrassing!! And back then I NEEDED make-up for the red marks. Now, after the V-Beams, my redness is extremely calmed down and it's not horrible to go w/o makeup.....some days my skin looks better w/o makeup actually.

Oh... I'm sorry to hear that!

I am very intolerant to Retin-A as well. I tried Retin-A micro (the 0.1%) and I didn't tolerate it... it was only after I tried the 0.04% that I was able to tolerate it better... thought I'm still using it only every other day Sad

free skin care · Sat Jan 29, 2011 5:48 pm

Strong acids are needed to affect deep acne scars and even then it is difficult. Copper peptides will help too. I would contact Diana Yvonne at her website and she will be able to help you. Greg

Mon Mar 14, 2016 3:21 am

Tretinoin worked fantastic for me, I had really bad acne, I bought this cream from Internationaldrugmart and applied it everyday at bedtime, and now my face is like brand new, no more acne or scars, my skin is like baby skin now. But you have to stick it out, it takes time for it to start working. You have to use it every day and after about 3 months you will start to see a big difference, and after 6 months to a year you will not believe your eyes. You will go thru the burning, redness and a lot of peeling in the first few months, but that's the signs of showing that it's working, but after a few months your skin will adapt, as it did for me.

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