Has anyone had success in treating pitted acne scars? Pls RO
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Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:37 am

I went from having nearly flawless, glowing, plump skin to having enlarged and scarred pores, shallow rolling - boxcar - icepick scars, and hyperpigmentation problems all over my face Crying or Very sad

It's been almost a year now since this has started happening. I've probably spent around $2,000 on just different kinds of topicals. I'm too scared to jump for laser treatment and heard it's too expensive for too little, no, or bad results anyway.

To say the least, this has really taken a toll on my life. I now suffer from severe depression and anxiety (especially while being social). I dropped out of school, lost nearly all of my friends, and now I feel like I'm losing my boyfriend of more than four years. This is the same girl who used to go out every single day and woke up with a smile on her face each morning; who loved making friends and trying new things. I've taken a whole 160.

This year, 2011, I plan on getting my life back.

I'm on three different forums that are not very positive when it comes to treating acne scars. It just depresses me even more. I've come across a few threads on here that are definitely more positive and I'm very glad to have found this site.

Now I'm wondering if any of you guys can share your success stories in treating your pitted acne scarring or at least bettering the appearance of them? Or maybe give me some tips? Thank you all so very much in advance Smile

free skin care · Tue Jan 04, 2011 6:31 am

If you go to the Skin Biology forum, there are many there that are having success treating acne scars with copper peptides. I have used them myself for a few acne scars. The CPs work very slowly along with hydroxy acids or some other type of abrasion to bring up new skin and remove the old to fill in acne scars. They also make my skin look younger and have lifted (or firmed) up areas for me.

There are some frequent posters on that forum that can answer questions on scars for you.

Good luck.

free skin care · Tue Jan 04, 2011 9:49 am

Hi Sapphire_Lily

Have you consulted a derm for an opinion? Have a look at skincareman's notepad on MUA to see what his derm recommended to help reverse his damage from CPs. This is NOT to discourage you from trying out CPs as foxe has suggested. Just to look at treatment options.

Oh and good on you for wanting to get your life back!

{{{Hugs}}} and have a Great 2011!

Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:38 pm

@foxe & circus- I had came across Skin Biology while researching frantically for something to help my skin when this started happening in the first place, and then I had ordered CP Serum + Exfol Serum. Then I noticed everyone on forums talking about them Laughing

so I guess I bought the right stuff. But THEN after I received them, @circus, I DID see skinmancare's notepad on MakeupAlley, which scared me away from it and made me swap the stuff for different products. The other products ended up doing little to nothing for my skin and also started irritating it. Now I wish I had kept the Skin Biology stuff and tried it- you'll never know what works for YOU and what doesn't if you don't try it out yourself- and dealing with acne scars, I've come to learn you really can't let someone's one negative experience keep you from trying something.

I think I may order some CP Serum again and take a dive for it; maybe spot-test it for awhile first. I might dermaroll or dermastamp along with it. How does that sound, anyone?

free skin care · Tue Jan 04, 2011 7:29 pm

spot treating w/ CPs works great - I use the stronger stuff myself to do that (but I've already used the regular CPs for a while, so my skin was use to them).

I also have used rollers and, personally, I think using the single needle rollers for individual acne scars is the best way to treat them. this would be for older scars, not ones that are still in the healing stage, btw.

look for individual needles from owndoc.com

they are inexpensive from her. she also has rollers that are not too expensive.

hth!

Tue Jan 04, 2011 7:40 pm

I absolutely love TCA peels! I did my own at home and it did wonders for my skin no kidding. A few months ago I used about a 20% one on my face and holy crap!

I had mild-ish indented scars and some red marks and the TCA peel blew them away. I probably sound like an infomercial but they work incredibly well (for me, at least). If you do go through with it make sure to start with 12% because the flaking/crusting/redness is pretty bad.

I left mine on for 4 minutes when it started to "frost." Frosting is like, it's hard to explain, but you're upper layer of skin turns a white color .

THen, a few days after the peel, you start to actually peel really badly with crusting. And then FINALLY, after about a week you can see the new skin which, in my results, looked sooooo much better than before.

I got mine off Amazon because of all the good reviews...

Hope I helped!

free skin care · Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:10 pm

When I hit the peri-menopausal age I started getting some acne which I had never had before. This stage left me with more than a few indented scars and a couple of icepick scars. SkinBio copper peptides (CP serum and Super CP Serum) worked for me. It was a slow process but I did get results.

free skin care · Tue Jan 04, 2011 9:04 pm

I think "stoney" at the skinbiology.com forum is the one who has been relaying her two year long saga with old acne scars. She gets pretty graphic but seems to have gotten great results.

Tue Jan 04, 2011 10:37 pm

Thanks so much for the replies! To be honest, I really didn't expect many in just a day. This forum really gives me hope Smile

I'm glad I found it, I'll say it again

I have a few questions.

@foxe- How do you spot treat with CP? Do you do something to the scar, then apply the CP serum or..? Then did you moisturize or skip it?? Please let me know your regimen for treating your scars!

@usa4040- I've had MUAC's 12.5% TCA solution sitting on my dresser for about half a year now. I've been too chicken to use it! Does it really help with pitted acne scarring? Did you apply any moisturizer afterward or topical antibiotic, etc..?

@JonnyNJ- How long until you started seeing results? Did you just use the CP serum by itself??

@SoftSkin- Thank you so much! I'm always paranoid that people are just trying to advertise things now-a-days though. Confused

free skin care · Wed Jan 05, 2011 10:09 am

sapphire-lily - some important questions to answer are:
what type of scars are you treating?
-ice pick
-rolling
-box car
-post-inflammatory hyperpigmented

And - is your acne currently under control or are you still breaking out?

Your mention of pitted scars sounds like either ice pick or box car types. I have treated both of these with CPs, a BHA and a single needle.

On a few acne scars that were still in the healing stages, I only used CPs and BHAs with GREAT success. The older, tougher scars have to be broken up using some sort of exfoliation, and the BHA or AHA, microfiber cloths, single needles/dermarollers, or a peel of some sort are the types that can budge them along.

Using CPs along w/ exfoliation will help to bring up the old(bad) skin and replace it with new, smooth skin. That's what has happened to a few of mine and is still happening to a few more I'm working on.

Ice pick scars respond really well to single needles and CPs (needling done every 4-6 weeks, CPs and acids applied daily). Use a gentle acid for daily use. Skin Biology sells some of those, but you can find them every where. In place of the needle, you can use your 12.5% TCA once a month, along w/ the CPs and a daily acid (no acid the day of the peel, though).

You can use that same method for other scars as well.

For the CPs, and for spot treating tough scars - try the strongest CP-- the Super Cop 2X. For using CPs over your whole face, you would want a weaker one to start and work your way up to a stronger one. The CP Serum is a good starting one and it can be diluted until your skin is use to it (these are strong remodeling agents). After your skin is use to it, you can work up to the Super CP Serum (diluting that one again until your skin is use to it). You can use these serums along with spot treating the individual scars w/ the SC2X. You should see some positive results with these.

Definitely go to the Skin Biology forum for more advice, or give a call to them - they're very helpful.

Oh - and to answer your question, when I spot treated, I would only apply the CP to the spot and if I used a moisturizer - it was the one Skin Bio recommended, an emu oil. Emu oil does not cause any breakouts and helps the CPs to penetrate better. I usually found the CPs on their own did a good job of controlling any dryness I had, so I don't moisturize very often.

free skin care · Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:01 am

Hi Sapphire_Lily,

I can imagine how difficult that must be, and I'm glad you're getting help on how to deal with the scarring.

I second the recommendation to see a good dermatologist. Also, I looked up textural scar treatments in Dr. Brandith Irwin's book, The Surgery-Free Makeover (she has a great website called skintour you can find by googling her), and she recommends:

- Subscision for rolling scars,
- Punch grafting for ice-pick scars,
- Filler injections like Cosmoplast,
- And CO2 or erbium-YAG resurfacing by an excellent laser surgeon (which are apparently scarce).

She also has a resource for good cosmetic derms all over.

I have to deal with discoloration from acne, being treated by tretinoin under my derm's supervision. (Tretinoin might help you some too.) My issues haven't completely cleared up yet, and I often feel very self-conscious about it, but I try to remind myself that beauty is more about an overall impression than the particular condition of my skin. You might feel better if you try to highlight features that haven't been marred by the scars: hair, eyes, poise, voice, humor, and above all, kindness.

I hope that things get better for you soon!

Fri Mar 22, 2013 11:43 am

There are really nice and most informative post.I am totally agree with you all. I would just like thanks to you all that you share your nice post here with us. According to me wash your face with milk and usage of Aloe Vera is most effective for such problems. So, Must try it.

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