POSTED UNDER Reviews
Acne Scar Surgery
UPDATED FROM Ebascted
3 years post
Little improvement and many expensive side effects
$8,500
It has now been over 3 years since my acne scar surgery with Dr. Young. Virtually all of my scars have slowly reappeared.
I should emphasize that I don’t hold any grudge against Dr. Young, personally. I think he’s genuine and he is sincerely invested in his work. He also seems like a principled man. Sometimes there are unique factors that influence how a body responds to surgery. It’s all a science experiment at the end of the day.
It is clear that many people have been very happy with their acne scar surgery with Dr. Young. And chances are you will be, too.
Dr. Davin Lim (the famous acne scar doctor) says that scars won’t improve if there’s inflammation in the skin, such as active acne. I did not have active acne when I went to Dr. Young. But perhaps, my body had systemic inflammation in other ways. After all, I developed a limp in my walking gait after acne scar surgery and intense heat in that leg. Dr. Young told me to go to the ER to check for a blood clot. I did NOT have one. But maybe that was indicative of my body’s inflamed reaction to the extensive surgery, which in turn canceled out any good. I don’t think of myself as someone who has chronic inflammation or chronic disease, disability, or metabolic issues.
I’m going to proactively lower my body’s inflammation before getting further treatment for my scars. I plan to see a naturopath to do this. But I think that this last very aggressive acne scar surgery, itself, caused lots of inflammation I didn’t have before, so I don’t know to what extent this will help.
As I said before, my scars only improved very slightly, with only one recent scar disappearing and a new scar appearing as a result of the aggressive needling in surgery. Dr. Young has also noted this lack of improvement after seeing me in person and listening to my account. He texted me before and after photos. In one of the after photos I see mild improvement in the lines that interlock between my scars on one cheek. A shadow obscures some of my face in the after photos, which superficially makes my skin look better. But I can attest that my skin is not improved in the areas that are shadowed in the after photos.
Dr. Young was concerned with my lack of improvement, because according to him, I’m the only patient who improved so little. And yet, a woman had reached out to me on RealSelf before my surgery, telling me about how she also improved very little, if at all, after acne scar surgery with Dr. Young. Maybe he is unaware of the ways his surgical methods affect everyone because so few patients may travel to see him afterwards (as many of us travel out of state to see him). Albeit, this woman told me that she did travel to undergo the surgery a second time but was dissuaded when she showed up because she was told she would have to pay more the second time because prices had increased for everyone. (Dr. Young offered to do my second acne scar surgery and forehead reconstruction surgeries without the primary cost of the surgeon’s fee.)
If Dr. Young was anything like he was with me the time I came to improve my forehead side effects, then he may have been initially uninterested in that other lady’s scar improvement, and so did not offer to give her the second surgery cheaper, as he did with me. This attitude may be because he genuinely believes his surgical technique always makes significant improvement, so he assumes he doesn’t need to check. I had to firmly and repeatedly say and show how little my skin had improved. The before and after photos in his office did a poor job at showing my skin quality and the individual scars. It would stand to reason he would benefit from learning lighting and angling techniques that best showcase scars in all their glory.
Since my surgery, I have had work done on my scars by two doctors. Dr. Steven Weiner did a series of things in one session. I left a review on here about that experience. Suffice it to say, I had very mild improvement (20% on one cheek and 0% improvement on the other cheek and 0% improvement on the scars on my forehead…similar to my improvement with Dr. Young.) I also went in this year to get HA filler in my scars from Dr. Stella Desyatinkova in Seattle because she had proven herself a skilled filler when I went to her for help with my botched forehead. It’s really hard to give a percent improvement after one session of 2 syringes of Juvederm (1.5 hours). It’s sometimes hard to see all of my scars in even the “worst” lighting. But I’d maybe say a couple of my scars are gone. The rest look the same. It is really hard to say what kind of improvement I’ve had because initially my skin looked a lot better and then the swelling disappeared and the scars reappeared, so it’s messed with my ability to assess differences.
At this point, I think I need more subcision sessions before getting any more filler (or fat). I’m playing with the idea of getting treatment from Dr. Mark Taylor because his subcision technique is the most aggressive (Taylor Liberator tool). BUT I’m scared that I could be part of the percentage of people who develop permanently lumps and swelling as a result. I’m also playing with seeing Dr. Rullan in California to get the phenol peel to treat my boxcar and ice pick scars. Apparently, he is the best at giving the phenol peel of anyone (I’ve heard this from a couple sources). He also invented the cannula technique of subcision. I would only go to him for everything, and not bother with Dr. Taylor, but I’ve already had 3 cannula subcision sessions from different providers and they didn’t do much. I know I need extensive subcision at varying levels in my skin’s layer that the Taylor Liberator offers.
(I’m just nervous about potential side effects.)
I’m also playing with the idea of seeing Dr. Davin Lim in Australia if I don’t improve significantly from Dr. Taylor. His clinic is now seeing out of country severe acne scar patients. In the past, he discontinued seeing severe scar patients. But I guess now he is seeing people like us again. I like the idea of seeing him because he seems to have the most individualized approach to everyone’s scarred skin.
Dr. Young says that he thinks what I most need is more fat grafting into my scars. But my first surgery with him shows that the grafted fat went into changing the structures of my face, rather than the ripples of my scars. It would seem that the fat was administered too deep. At this point, my face cannot accommodate any more fat into its structure without making me unrecognizable. My face is far more round than ever before. It is clear to the keen eye that I’ve had plastic surgery.
Over this time, my preoccupation with my skin has been partially replaced with the severe lumps and dents in my forehead that are a result of the surgery. I went back to Dr Young to get more fat to fix it, but that surgery only had very mild improvement on the overall picture. I was lucky to find Dr. “Stella” who is the only plastic surgeon who administers HA filler into the high risk forehead areas with the help of ultrasound, in order to prevent severe health complications in the arteries.
Combined, I have spent $10,000 fixing my botched forehead, and probably have to spend $20,000 more: filler and an open brow lift to smooth out the dented and lumpy tissue, smooth out the bizarre wrinkle patterns, and allow my eyebrows to raise. Thankfully, I have seen gains from my forehead reconstruction procedures.
I may also need a buccal fat removal to make my face less round after what the fat grafting did.
I now have permanent rosacea now that flares up sometimes, like when I wash my face or some evenings before bed, which I never had before. Dr. Young was uninterested in this side effect and said there was nothing he could do. (The redness persisted for many months and now is intermittent.) Another plastic surgeon told me that this is the result of having fat grafting because of the vascular nature of the fat.
My prized freckles are gone. This wouldn’t bother me in and if itself, though. Many people try to get rid of freckles.
But on a good note, the etched horizontal lines from wrinkles that used to cross my forehead are completely gone. I used to be self conscious about my forehead wrinkles but now the pattern is different and is bizarre, including arches above each of my eyebrows, which look like a second set of eyebrows.
I have also been worried with permanent patches of fat that are on the upper sides of my cheeks and my now wider chin structure. I don’t think much can be done to fix those areas. At least they don’t bother me as much.
I’m fortunate now to be earning enough money to treat these disfigurements over time. But I’m unlucky enough to have had to deal with severe acne scars for 20 years (in addition to other facial disfigurements that I haven’t mentioned on RealSelf). It’s wearying to have had to put up with this all these years.
I’m genuinely amazed with myself that I’ve not become suicidal over this. Albeit, it’s likely because I didn’t allow myself to think much about my disfigurements during the years I couldn’t afford to do anything. I was affirmed as gorgeous by everyone before puberty, so I always maintained that inner sense of self. I viewed my disfigurements as distractions from my beauty, rather than things that made me ugly. And now I see it as merely needing MORE surgery, which is doable.
It’s tough when I feel all alone, even within the acne scar community, for having worse scaring than nearly everyone. Fortunately, my skin has gone from a 9.5 severity to a 6.0 severity after years and $30,000 worth of treatments from multiple providers. I’ve only ever seen a handful of people who had worse scarring than I started with (albeit, there are different scar patterns and types of scars out there, so I never looked the same as anyone). I hope to have normal (not perfect) skin someday.
Some of you commenting have expressed how you’ll “pray for” me. I appreciate the sentiment, but saying this kinda affirms what a disfigured mess I am, that I am deserving of such pity.
I see this as an achievable process. It’s just taking a LOT longer than anyone anticipated. Meanwhile, I’ve tried to compensate by improving my looks in other ways. I’ll update the acne scar community in years to come.
I should emphasize that I don’t hold any grudge against Dr. Young, personally. I think he’s genuine and he is sincerely invested in his work. He also seems like a principled man. Sometimes there are unique factors that influence how a body responds to surgery. It’s all a science experiment at the end of the day.
It is clear that many people have been very happy with their acne scar surgery with Dr. Young. And chances are you will be, too.
Dr. Davin Lim (the famous acne scar doctor) says that scars won’t improve if there’s inflammation in the skin, such as active acne. I did not have active acne when I went to Dr. Young. But perhaps, my body had systemic inflammation in other ways. After all, I developed a limp in my walking gait after acne scar surgery and intense heat in that leg. Dr. Young told me to go to the ER to check for a blood clot. I did NOT have one. But maybe that was indicative of my body’s inflamed reaction to the extensive surgery, which in turn canceled out any good. I don’t think of myself as someone who has chronic inflammation or chronic disease, disability, or metabolic issues.
I’m going to proactively lower my body’s inflammation before getting further treatment for my scars. I plan to see a naturopath to do this. But I think that this last very aggressive acne scar surgery, itself, caused lots of inflammation I didn’t have before, so I don’t know to what extent this will help.
As I said before, my scars only improved very slightly, with only one recent scar disappearing and a new scar appearing as a result of the aggressive needling in surgery. Dr. Young has also noted this lack of improvement after seeing me in person and listening to my account. He texted me before and after photos. In one of the after photos I see mild improvement in the lines that interlock between my scars on one cheek. A shadow obscures some of my face in the after photos, which superficially makes my skin look better. But I can attest that my skin is not improved in the areas that are shadowed in the after photos.
Dr. Young was concerned with my lack of improvement, because according to him, I’m the only patient who improved so little. And yet, a woman had reached out to me on RealSelf before my surgery, telling me about how she also improved very little, if at all, after acne scar surgery with Dr. Young. Maybe he is unaware of the ways his surgical methods affect everyone because so few patients may travel to see him afterwards (as many of us travel out of state to see him). Albeit, this woman told me that she did travel to undergo the surgery a second time but was dissuaded when she showed up because she was told she would have to pay more the second time because prices had increased for everyone. (Dr. Young offered to do my second acne scar surgery and forehead reconstruction surgeries without the primary cost of the surgeon’s fee.)
If Dr. Young was anything like he was with me the time I came to improve my forehead side effects, then he may have been initially uninterested in that other lady’s scar improvement, and so did not offer to give her the second surgery cheaper, as he did with me. This attitude may be because he genuinely believes his surgical technique always makes significant improvement, so he assumes he doesn’t need to check. I had to firmly and repeatedly say and show how little my skin had improved. The before and after photos in his office did a poor job at showing my skin quality and the individual scars. It would stand to reason he would benefit from learning lighting and angling techniques that best showcase scars in all their glory.
Since my surgery, I have had work done on my scars by two doctors. Dr. Steven Weiner did a series of things in one session. I left a review on here about that experience. Suffice it to say, I had very mild improvement (20% on one cheek and 0% improvement on the other cheek and 0% improvement on the scars on my forehead…similar to my improvement with Dr. Young.) I also went in this year to get HA filler in my scars from Dr. Stella Desyatinkova in Seattle because she had proven herself a skilled filler when I went to her for help with my botched forehead. It’s really hard to give a percent improvement after one session of 2 syringes of Juvederm (1.5 hours). It’s sometimes hard to see all of my scars in even the “worst” lighting. But I’d maybe say a couple of my scars are gone. The rest look the same. It is really hard to say what kind of improvement I’ve had because initially my skin looked a lot better and then the swelling disappeared and the scars reappeared, so it’s messed with my ability to assess differences.
At this point, I think I need more subcision sessions before getting any more filler (or fat). I’m playing with the idea of getting treatment from Dr. Mark Taylor because his subcision technique is the most aggressive (Taylor Liberator tool). BUT I’m scared that I could be part of the percentage of people who develop permanently lumps and swelling as a result. I’m also playing with seeing Dr. Rullan in California to get the phenol peel to treat my boxcar and ice pick scars. Apparently, he is the best at giving the phenol peel of anyone (I’ve heard this from a couple sources). He also invented the cannula technique of subcision. I would only go to him for everything, and not bother with Dr. Taylor, but I’ve already had 3 cannula subcision sessions from different providers and they didn’t do much. I know I need extensive subcision at varying levels in my skin’s layer that the Taylor Liberator offers.
(I’m just nervous about potential side effects.)
I’m also playing with the idea of seeing Dr. Davin Lim in Australia if I don’t improve significantly from Dr. Taylor. His clinic is now seeing out of country severe acne scar patients. In the past, he discontinued seeing severe scar patients. But I guess now he is seeing people like us again. I like the idea of seeing him because he seems to have the most individualized approach to everyone’s scarred skin.
Dr. Young says that he thinks what I most need is more fat grafting into my scars. But my first surgery with him shows that the grafted fat went into changing the structures of my face, rather than the ripples of my scars. It would seem that the fat was administered too deep. At this point, my face cannot accommodate any more fat into its structure without making me unrecognizable. My face is far more round than ever before. It is clear to the keen eye that I’ve had plastic surgery.
Over this time, my preoccupation with my skin has been partially replaced with the severe lumps and dents in my forehead that are a result of the surgery. I went back to Dr Young to get more fat to fix it, but that surgery only had very mild improvement on the overall picture. I was lucky to find Dr. “Stella” who is the only plastic surgeon who administers HA filler into the high risk forehead areas with the help of ultrasound, in order to prevent severe health complications in the arteries.
Combined, I have spent $10,000 fixing my botched forehead, and probably have to spend $20,000 more: filler and an open brow lift to smooth out the dented and lumpy tissue, smooth out the bizarre wrinkle patterns, and allow my eyebrows to raise. Thankfully, I have seen gains from my forehead reconstruction procedures.
I may also need a buccal fat removal to make my face less round after what the fat grafting did.
I now have permanent rosacea now that flares up sometimes, like when I wash my face or some evenings before bed, which I never had before. Dr. Young was uninterested in this side effect and said there was nothing he could do. (The redness persisted for many months and now is intermittent.) Another plastic surgeon told me that this is the result of having fat grafting because of the vascular nature of the fat.
My prized freckles are gone. This wouldn’t bother me in and if itself, though. Many people try to get rid of freckles.
But on a good note, the etched horizontal lines from wrinkles that used to cross my forehead are completely gone. I used to be self conscious about my forehead wrinkles but now the pattern is different and is bizarre, including arches above each of my eyebrows, which look like a second set of eyebrows.
I have also been worried with permanent patches of fat that are on the upper sides of my cheeks and my now wider chin structure. I don’t think much can be done to fix those areas. At least they don’t bother me as much.
I’m fortunate now to be earning enough money to treat these disfigurements over time. But I’m unlucky enough to have had to deal with severe acne scars for 20 years (in addition to other facial disfigurements that I haven’t mentioned on RealSelf). It’s wearying to have had to put up with this all these years.
I’m genuinely amazed with myself that I’ve not become suicidal over this. Albeit, it’s likely because I didn’t allow myself to think much about my disfigurements during the years I couldn’t afford to do anything. I was affirmed as gorgeous by everyone before puberty, so I always maintained that inner sense of self. I viewed my disfigurements as distractions from my beauty, rather than things that made me ugly. And now I see it as merely needing MORE surgery, which is doable.
It’s tough when I feel all alone, even within the acne scar community, for having worse scaring than nearly everyone. Fortunately, my skin has gone from a 9.5 severity to a 6.0 severity after years and $30,000 worth of treatments from multiple providers. I’ve only ever seen a handful of people who had worse scarring than I started with (albeit, there are different scar patterns and types of scars out there, so I never looked the same as anyone). I hope to have normal (not perfect) skin someday.
Some of you commenting have expressed how you’ll “pray for” me. I appreciate the sentiment, but saying this kinda affirms what a disfigured mess I am, that I am deserving of such pity.
I see this as an achievable process. It’s just taking a LOT longer than anyone anticipated. Meanwhile, I’ve tried to compensate by improving my looks in other ways. I’ll update the acne scar community in years to come.
UPDATED FROM Ebascted
9 months post
He’s committed to fixing them
I’ve been touched at the concern he’s expressed at my lack of progress and his commitment to try out methods other doctors have found useful (except for filler and probably updated energy devices like Genius). He’s offered me his future services without a surgeon fee, just fees for anesthesia and the facility. I mentioned TCA cross and a series of subcision procedures with saline in order to keep the scars from re-attaching and then ultimately fill them in with fat. He seems open to it, which I think shows his humility, which is a huge asset in surgeons. I’m thinking the fat from my stomach was not the most amenable to fat grafting. We’ll find out in a few months if the fat from my thighs holds with my forehead procedure and then decide if we want to use it in a possible next scar surgery. He’s also mentioned not doing dermabrasion (I think) as a means to help speed my recovery next time.
Replies (2)
Hi, first off I just wanted to say that you are gorgeous. I check this website on and off and saw your reviews prior to this procedure and I must say, judging by your before and after pics, that you look like you got a good 50% improvement! So keep holding on there. Really impressed with the work and inspired my journey. I know it'll get better.
Thank you for being so honest in your account and so humble with your transparency on costs and even set backs. As a acne scar sufferer it pains me that you've spent all this money and things sometimes do not come out as how we would hope at least, on the minimal margin of improvement. I for one see improvement in depth of the deeper scars that look like they are now shallower but have widened a bit which may make it seem like they have gotten worse. I have previously followed your last post of treatment and thank god for your honesty I swear I had really been on my wits end to go to any doctor near and far but have since learned from your experience and others to find a good qualified dermatologist to focus on skin health with medical grade skin care, nutrition and mine wellness but still believe seeking out appropriate tools like chemical peels, microdermabrasion and fat grafting, tca cross and subsicion have really improved the possibilities to get better outcomes in skin scarring procedures. It seems a lot more doctors are taking these types of procedures on as I've seen many more surgeons specializing in it like Dr. Salazar Hazany. I am praying for you, and I also just wanted to say you are gorgeous as well, your bone structure is very balanced and inviting. I know how hard it is look past imperfections when there are other things like acne scars that plague us to view ourselves harshly. I took some time off social media for that reason, made a skin neutrality and positivity page and gaining traction, that was public and connected with some great people. I have severe anxiety and deleted the page after people I knew started following me, I wasn't ready to let everyone know my insecurities. But, by sharing yours you have enlightened me to maybe start it again. Just sharing your experience is so powerful and I hope you get everything you are hoping for and realize you are more than your skin as I am still myself battling with everyday and getting better at:). It sucks that in the PNW there's not really a market for these types of procedures that we have to travel great lengths to be able to have good options. One doctor I am found of for their work is the one I mentioned earlier is Dr. Richard Sadove for autofat grafting, subsicion and punchgrafting. The punch grafting scars me but he seems like a genuine caring physician who will not push procedures and regardless with good aftercare it seems both patients who performed this on had great results. He personally is who I want to go to and hope to share the details when the time comes. If you do use social media some great instagram accounts for skin neutrality isofiagrahn , its.shiny, prettyprogress23, which have helped me forgive myself having seen myself so negatively for so long and times when I do feel depressed. I hope one day skin conditions will be taken seriously as a mandatory condition to be treated by healthcare systems for free, to prevent scarring. I believe inherently deceptive marketing tactics for skincare against professional medical advice should be denied in media outlets because a lot of commercial skincare products targeted for acne specifically have hazardous ingredients that only add insult to injury of acne trying to be treated with other irritants. REgardless of this rant, I apologize for the long reply but was excited that someone was finally from the same region as myself a fellow PNW. From a PNW to a PNW, I hope you are enjoying this weather now in spring and and hoping only better days for you in the future!!!!!!
Thank you. I've looked into Dr. Sadove in Florida, as well. But his AFTER pictures seem to be right after surgery, when the swelling masks the scars the most. And the cannula subcision and fat grafting with CO2 that he does is what Dr. Young does. The difference is he does excisions whereas Dr. Young does full on dermabrasion and his own form of aggressive needling. Excisions are only helpful with skin in certain parts of the face because of the way the skin is more or less taut in different spots. Excisions can make things worse sometimes. I've looked in Dr. Weiner, also in Florida, who is a close colleague of the famous Dr. Davin Lim. Right now, I have a second surgery scheduled with Dr. Young for September. He will focus more on fat grafting and subcision, he tells me. Honestly, I think my scars' tethering is much worse than with other people. I've had acne for 20 years, with only the last 3 years largely in remission. That means I have gotten a ton more scars than not people. I appreciate that Dr. Young was honest about the little progress I had, instead of trying to convince me otherwise, as other doctors have done. He wants to figure out why I was the odd one out in all his countless acne scar patients. I just think he didn't see how bad my scars really were the first time (he had told me the first time that I didn't really have bad scars at all then the second time he remarked on how many and how bad my scars were). I think part of that was due to the lighting and part was due to the fact that the rust time I had just washed my face with hipocleanse which made it taut from the harsh stringent. I'm going to be more insistent he notice each scar the next time. Also, I think the fat from my stomach wasn't that suitable for fat grafting. Hopefully, I can regrow my thigh fat and have that used next time on my scars. By the way, the fat grafting revision on my forehead that he did three weeks ago looks really good (much better than at this time the first time). So far, going through a second surgery with Dr. Young is much cheaper than starting with another doctor. I trust he's going to be more careful the second time.
UPDATED FROM Ebascted
9 months post
Scars have gone nearly gone back to how they were before
I was confident at the five month mark to post a review and recommend it to others, even though my scars had only improved a touch (and on one cheek and my forehead and chin scars). HOWEVER, in the months past (9 months out now from surgery) my scars have all come back to how they were before, except for three scars. I just saw Dr. Young yesterday in order to fix the dents in my forehead from the surgery and he expressed concern that my scars had not improved much, if at all (he even didn't think the three scars I thought were improved, were improved much). He told me I was the ONLY patient whose scars did not improve. I was hesitant to update my review until I got his opinion, but now I have it.
You can understand his negative opinion means all the more because he's self invested in believing his stuff works. He wants me to go through the procedure, again, but I'm really not confident. He thinks the reason it didn't work was because my body dissolved the fat grafting. He asked if I had lost weight, but I've only gained weight.
I'm planning to go to Dr. Stephen Weiner, a surgeon who specializes in acne scars and is a close peer and friend of Dr. Davin Lim, the famous acne scar doctor in Australia. Dr. Young does not believe in filler for acne scars but Dr. Weiner's wife told me they think fat grafting is good for large areas that need to be raised but not good for individual acne scars.
You can understand his negative opinion means all the more because he's self invested in believing his stuff works. He wants me to go through the procedure, again, but I'm really not confident. He thinks the reason it didn't work was because my body dissolved the fat grafting. He asked if I had lost weight, but I've only gained weight.
I'm planning to go to Dr. Stephen Weiner, a surgeon who specializes in acne scars and is a close peer and friend of Dr. Davin Lim, the famous acne scar doctor in Australia. Dr. Young does not believe in filler for acne scars but Dr. Weiner's wife told me they think fat grafting is good for large areas that need to be raised but not good for individual acne scars.
Replies (1)
I'm so sorry this happened to you. Please update what you decide to do next.
He told me yesterday that he'd do it again without a surgeon fee, just a facility and anesthesia fees, coming to just over $2,000. I think he did the same thing when charging me to fix the dents in my forehead. We're waiting to see how the fat holds with the forehead before going toward with the scars, again.
Replies (3)