please help me with rough skin with shallow pitted acne scar
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free skin care · Fri Jun 04, 2010 5:15 pm

What can i do to smooth out my skin. My skin texture looks rough with enlarge pores and shallow pits from acne and lasers. I have done 3 8% tca peel and around 12 40%lactic acid peels. I have also dermarolled 3 times and used copper peptides for 8 months with no luck. I have rosacea and acne. Please help

free skin care · Fri Jun 04, 2010 5:44 pm

1 to 2 drops of lavender essense oil dotted on the acne scar after cleanser. Apply a paper mask of hydrolat for 15 mins and go to bed.

free skin care · Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:37 pm

Thanks will that plump my acne scars up?

free skin care · Sat Jun 05, 2010 2:47 pm

WHich CPs did you use?

Also - did you use an exfoliative along side the CPs? (Were the peels in conjunction w/ the CPs or before you started them?)

Can you tell me which cleanser you use too? Knowing it's pH might be important here.

It sounds like you have some pretty deep scars.

free skin care · Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:15 pm

fulloflove2 wrote:

What can i do to smooth out my skin. My skin texture looks rough with enlarge pores and shallow pits from acne and lasers. I have done 3 8% tca peel and around 12 40%lactic acid peels. I have also dermarolled 3 times and used copper peptides for 8 months with no luck. I have rosacea and acne. Please help

If you don't mind answering these questions, it'd help recommending something specific for your situation.

a. How long have you been (actively) trying to get rid of the scars

b. Which kind of laser did you get and when?

c. How often have you done the peels? Once a week? Once a month? When was your last peel?

d. How long did you wait in between dermarolling sessions? Which size of dermaroller did you use? When was your last dermarolling session?

e. Is your acne still active? How often do you get breakouts? Are you using anything for acne?

Thanks! Josee

free skin care · Sun Jun 06, 2010 9:13 am

I wish I knew how to post pictures on here so you could see my skin. I have been trying to get rid of my scars for 1 1/2 years. I got the laser genesis along with the yag laser plus v-beam. I think the yag is what scarred me but it might of been the v-beam too. I did have a blister that came from the yag and that left a scar. The other scars i noticed 2 months after the yag and a week after the v-beam treatment.

I did a couple of 8% tca spaced 1 month apart. My lactic acid peels were done every 2 weeks and then i quit for a while and just started doing it again once a week. My last 40% lactic was done 2 days ago and my last tca was a year ago.

My dermaroller is 1.5 i think. I waited every 2 weeks but it really made my skin red and my rosacea was worse from it. My last one was November.

My acne is still active. I breakout all the time. I just started using salicylic acid but its making my rosacea act up.

I use skinbiology copper peptide serum. As far as exfoliating along with it, I use a cleanser that has a little glycolic acid and I use the clarisonic too.

I use biomedic skin purifying cleanser

No my scars are more shallow. Some people say my skin just looks more like rough texture, enlarged pores etc. But to me i see the shallow scars and I also seem to have some raised flesh colored bumps that makes things look worse. My scars look worse in flourescent lights or in certain other lights.

free skin care · Sun Jun 06, 2010 10:21 am

I think TCA CROSS method is more effective then an all over TCA.

free skin care · Sun Jun 06, 2010 11:01 am

fulloflove2 wrote:

I wish I knew how to post pictures on here so you could see my skin. I have been trying to get rid of my scars for 1 1/2 years. I got the laser genesis along with the yag laser plus v-beam. I think the yag is what scarred me but it might of been the v-beam too. I did have a blister that came from the yag and that left a scar. The other scars i noticed 2 months after the yag and a week after the v-beam treatment.

I did a couple of 8% tca spaced 1 month apart. My lactic acid peels were done every 2 weeks and then i quit for a while and just started doing it again once a week. My last 40% lactic was done 2 days ago and my last tca was a year ago.

I've never experienced lasers or these types of peels, so I can't comment on these for you. I've stayed away from them after having considered doing them. I did research and read all gobs of horrid stories, so no lasers for me. Wink

I'm sorry to hear you've had a few scars from them.

Quote:

My dermaroller is 1.5 i think. I waited every 2 weeks but it really made my skin red and my rosacea was worse from it. My last one was November.

A dermaroller is a good tool to try to break up scar tissue in acne scars and loosen them. Adding CPs to this can really produce excellent results for improving acne scars. But, a 1.5 should only be used every 4 or 6 wks. Every two doesn't give your skin time to rebound from the assault. I can see why your rosacea would get irritated from a 2 wk routine here. Another good method to try that may not aggravate the rosacea is to spot treat the scars with a single needle (and apply the CPs). I've done this with some ice pick scars and a couple of other ones I got last year and they've gotten soo much better and flatter & smoother. I even applied SC2X to a PIH scar (still quite red and in the healing phase) and THAT scar is way smoother than the rest of the surrounding skin. It looks poreless!!

Quote:

My acne is still active. I breakout all the time. I just started using salicylic acid but its making my rosacea act up.

CPs do work best with some form of exfoliant. But if one bothers your rosacea, don't use it. You need to find something else to calm down your acne. I can recommend a product I've been using the last 4 wks that done me wonders - called the Wonderbar. It's helped my acne and congested skin. It's also suppose to help rosacea(which I don't have), so you might want to consider it. I've stopped using all my actives during the first 6 wks of use, though. No CPs, Retin A, Vit C, or Acids (that esp). I plan on reintroducing them soon. I've found those actives have given me the best results for anti-aging (besides some gadgets) and I can't eliminate them entirely from my routine. Smile

Quote:

I use skinbiology copper peptide serum. As far as exfoliating along with it, I use a cleanser that has a little glycolic acid and I use the clarisonic too

I use biomedic skin purifying cleanser.

I don't have a clairsonic, but it seems like it might provide enough exfoliation for CPs. I don't believe cleansers w/ AHAs or BHAs in them do a whole lot of exfoliating since they're not left on the skin long enough. The pH is low which would be better for your skin. Something that's very akaline would not be one to use as they stip your skin of its protective acid mantle. I don't think using this cleanser interfers with the CPs effectivness, it just might not be the right one for your rosacea. Can't anyone else say if an AHA is good or bad for rosacea?

Quote:

No my scars are more shallow. Some people say my skin just looks more like rough texture, enlarged pores etc. But to me i see the shallow scars and I also seem to have some raised flesh colored bumps that makes things look worse. My scars look worse in flourescent lights or in certain other lights.

You have a few different things going on there, so you could do a multitude of different things. CPs work great for scars, but it takes dilligence and perseverence to get them filled in and you have to use acids (a gentle daily one usually works best) and the strongest CPs (the SC2X is the strongest) as a spot treatment to get the fastest results. It does take patience for this to work.

But, you also have active acne and rosacea, so you might want a different approach. The Wonderbar might be an option. You'd have to set aside the CPs and acids in the beginning, then you could have a go at the scars after your skin calms down. There's a thread here on the Wonderbar besides the link I provided. Read up on that first.

And, attacking the scars more aggressively might be in order. A thread on someones's success at spot treating depressed scars is from Skin Bio's forum - good reading here too: This person used acids to exfoliate (and strong ones at that!). I personally think the single needle could work just as well if not better at breaking up the scar tissue and helping the CPs get in deeper to work. You can get a single needle from owndoc.com.

Good luck in your endeavor. It sounds like you've been at this a long time. It can get discouraging, I know. CPs can help - that they take forever is one of their drawbacks.

free skin care · Sun Jun 06, 2010 4:34 pm

foxe,
I think i am going to order the needles. Should i use the vitamin a ointment she has too? What scares me copper peptide, is that there are some people that have been damaged by cp too. One guy on makeupalley said his skin looks like mine from copper peptide so that really scares me. I do have some super copper peptide that i can spot treat with.

I have already tried the wonderbar and it made me so red. I used it from November 1009 until Feb 2010. The redness never went away. I still broke out so it didnt help me with acne or anything. My rosacea did not like it at all.

I really wish I could send you a picture so you could see what my skin looks like. Do you know how to do that on here? Thanks

free skin care · Mon Jun 07, 2010 8:10 am

I would try her Vit A cream if I didn't have one. It might be too occlusive w/ acne though. I got some w/ my order and only used it once. I also have Retin A micro - so I was using that until I started the WB.

Too bad the WB didn't work. I went thru a definite 'healing crisis' with it myself. It lasted a few weeks w/ the dehyrdated, flaky, red, irritated skin. And then things started to look a lot better. So much so that I was getting compliments! But then, around the 3-4 wk mark, I saw more purging going on. I hope that calms down at the 6 wk point.

Go ahead and spot treat w/ the Super CP - its a great one for that. Use it after the single needles. It will really fill in those scars.

free skin care · Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:34 am

fulloflove2 wrote:

I wish I knew how to post pictures on here so you could see my skin. I have been trying to get rid of my scars for 1 1/2 years. I got the laser genesis along with the yag laser plus v-beam. I think the yag is what scarred me but it might of been the v-beam too. I did have a blister that came from the yag and that left a scar. The other scars i noticed 2 months after the yag and a week after the v-beam treatment.

I did a couple of 8% tca spaced 1 month apart. My lactic acid peels were done every 2 weeks and then i quit for a while and just started doing it again once a week. My last 40% lactic was done 2 days ago and my last tca was a year ago.

My dermaroller is 1.5 i think. I waited every 2 weeks but it really made my skin red and my rosacea was worse from it. My last one was November.

My acne is still active. I breakout all the time. I just started using salicylic acid but its making my rosacea act up.

I use skinbiology copper peptide serum. As far as exfoliating along with it, I use a cleanser that has a little glycolic acid and I use the clarisonic too.

Hello! Thanks for the further information.
One more question... have you ever been on Accutane?

Here are my recommendations Smile

1. Your first priority should be to get proper treatment for your active acne. As long as you don't have it under control, scars will continue to develop.
In fact, one of the determinants of acne scarring is time from onset of acne to proper treatment.

2. You will need to go to a GP or a dermatologist. You need to be on Retin-A + something else (BP/AP) (Retin-A will also help with the scars). In the meantime, while you go to the doctor, buy yourself cetaphil cleanser and over the counter benzoyl peroxide.

3. Do not start dermarolling with active acne or you actually incurr the risk of not only spreading the acne, but putting the bacteria deep into the skin

4. The peels you used were too weak for the kind of acne scarring you describe. While they will improve the overall appearance of the skin, they will not deal with the deeper scars or the hypertrophic ones. For the deeper scars you would need to try TCA cross, needling, or go to a dr. for excision.

5. The genesis laser + vbeam is also not the treatment of choice of deeper acne scars. The genesis is used to improve acne (since it kills the bacteria due to the heat) and to reduce pore size and improve skin appearance. People usually need 3-5 treatments. But it won't improve deeper acne scars. It should not have left you scars or blisters... maybe the person who applied it did not use the correct settings Sad

If you ever want to go the laser route, you would probably need a stronger laser or an ablative one. But this would also have to wait till your acne is under control or you can end up with scars

So basically, the 2 things that you could do for your scars at home would be needling and TCA cross.

I don't know if you know, but there's a board just for acne users with lots of information: http://www.acne.org/
They might be able to help you even more there.

All the best! Josee

free skin care · Tue Jun 08, 2010 6:06 am

Hi..... if i were you i would take a few weeks off everything. Stop all the acids, just wash well and moisturise with jojoba oil.
I am of the opinion that one off quick fixes dont really work in the long term.
I think the use of ascorbic acid daily and high strength glycolic acid weekly will help you to see an improvement.
Here is a link to a study using this method. The pictures look pretty good to me Smile

http://www.beautymagonline.com/pages/Vitamin_C_acne.htm

Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:34 pm

I have an appointment in a couple of weeks to see if I am a candidate for Dermarolling. The office will evaluate your skin and actually has Dermarolling lessons.

My background:suffered Acne since I was about 12yrs old (40 now). Took two courses of Accutane -the last course was about 11 years ago. Had about 2 or 3 professional glycolic peels and then succumbed to laser resurfacing about 10 years ago. I have a few shallow scars that I would really like to get rid of(as selfish as this sounds but sometimes it gets me depressed).

Would like to hear what you feel is the best post topical treatment to follow after a Dermaroll.

Thank you!

free skin care · Thu Jun 17, 2010 9:11 pm

Im wondering does dermaroller really work for acne scars? I've never really seen people saying they have results from it.

free skin care · Fri Jun 18, 2010 6:56 am

Dermarolling and needling has helped many people with acne scars in conjunction with copper peptide use and also exfoliation. I suggest you check out the skin biology forum and the site in general will provide with direction to help with this.

Mon Jun 21, 2010 7:56 am

Hi, this is my first post so hope I get it right!

fulloflove2 it seems like we have similar skin and history. I worked on getting rid of the active acne with a 4 month course of Isotrex (Isotretinoin 0.05%). Now I stuck only to this (well exfoliated and gentle moisturiser too)... peeled, got all the stubborn blocked pores to the surface, mega dry skin... but it worked!
Then I was left with more scars and enlarged pores. I'm now dermarollering, single needling, vit c and CP's. I still use my Isotretinoin 5 nights a week and especially if I'm about to breakout - this seems to stop any active acne starting. Then the other night my skin was very red and sensitive, and i knew if I used Isotretinoin I'd have a rosacea flare up. I decided to just use Hemp Seed oil - I bought this following reading a forum disscussion on here about it saving a fellow members skin. It was amazing!!! Calmed my skin down, no rosacea in the morning, velvetie skin and no active spots came up. Hope this helps

Fri Jun 25, 2010 1:47 pm

debbiedew & faeriedust: It seems I am in your shoes as well. Has any one of you thus far seen results from Dermarolling or single needling? About a few months ago my skin looked burned and rippled from acne scars, but since I have been using Supper CP's and had a fraxel tx and right now my skin looks a lot better. I started derma rolling last night. I pray I see results. Any other suggestions you would recommend?

free skin care · Sat Jun 26, 2010 10:43 am

Hisjoy111 wrote:

debbiedew & faeriedust: It seems I am in your shoes as well. Has any one of you thus far seen results from Dermarolling or single needling? About a few months ago my skin looked burned and rippled from acne scars, but since I have been using Supper CP's and had a fraxel tx and right now my skin looks a lot better. I started derma rolling last night. I pray I see results. Any other suggestions you would recommend?

Hisjoy111- Which roller do you have? I would think patience is needed in treating scars and you would just need to keep plugging away at it. If you are applying CPs after rolling, you should be good to go. Just be patient. And (depending on which roller you have), wait the appropiate time in between rolls. But, apply the CPs daily and even use an acid on the scars when you are not rolling. That will help break up the scar tissue and let the CPs work better.

You will get results with the CPs. My scars have filled in with them and I have mostly only applied CPs (using acids and rollers only occasionally). This was with fresh scars, though. I had to work harder at older ones.

free skin care · Sat Jun 26, 2010 11:05 am

I just read an article yesterday about Fraxels being recommended for shallow acne scars. I had one and it didn't improve them but slightly for mre, but my technician wasn't experienced. They could work under the right hands.

Tue Jun 29, 2010 4:25 am

I have similar conditions as well with light shallow scars from over 5 years ago. I don't break out anymore with the exception of the occasional pimple. My skin texture is quite rough, with small skin colour bumps (not congestions, more like raised skin lumps)

I have noticed minimal improvements with retin-A use and rose hip oil serums.

I also use the 5mm dermal roller every 4-6 weeks and have done 4 rolls so far.

Are there anything else you ladies would recommend for me to get better/faster results and any suggestions on how to removes these tiny skin lumps?

Tue Jun 29, 2010 5:02 am

I took a photo to show you my current skin conditions. It was hard to show the small skin lumps, I think I got a few of them in the pic.

Suggestions on how to improve this terrible texture and scars is welcomed and greatly appreciated.

free skin care · Tue Jun 29, 2010 8:18 am

jedder wrote:

http://www.beautymagonline.com/pages/Vitamin_C_acne.htm

Wow, unbelievable!

My upper cheeks look like those of Lady A.

Any idea where I can buy sodium L-ascorbyl 2-phosphate & Methyl paraben solution?

I'd like to mix it my myself? Do-able?

free skin care · Tue Jun 29, 2010 8:51 am

Quote:

Wow, unbelievable!

My upper cheeks look like those of Lady A.

Any idea where I can buy sodium L-ascorbyl 2-phosphate & Methyl paraben solution?

I'd like to mix it my myself? Do-able?

Maybe one of the bulk active companies sells it? I would have thought that using l ascorbic acid mixed with distilled water would yield similar results.

free skin care · Tue Jul 13, 2010 4:55 pm

lilpil wrote:

I took a photo to show you my current skin conditions. It was hard to show the small skin lumps, I think I got a few of them in the pic.

Suggestions on how to improve this terrible texture and scars is welcomed and greatly appreciated.

lilpil - It looks like you have a lot of ice pick type scars. Are they former blemishes that scarred or are they current clogged pores/large blackheads?

If they are scars - then using a single needle (owndoc.com has some great ones!) to break up the scar tissue and then following with daily treatment of CPs would fill them in. I would use the single needle as aggressively as you can stand and not do that more often than every 4 - 6 weeks. Use a strong CP for scars like Super CP Serum (good for oily skin) or SC2X (the strongest one). You can use a weaker CP for all over in between the treatments or use one of the stronger ones daily if your skin can handle it. The CPs are very strong and it can take some time for skin to adjust to them. Scar tissue is different, though, and can handle the strong ones right away.

Sun Jul 18, 2010 9:00 pm

foxe - thanks for your advice,
I've gone to order the single needles from owndoc and some vitamin C powder to do targetted skin needling on the scars.

CP = copper peptides right? where can I source these products that you mentioned above?

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