POSTED UNDER Reviews
Acne Scars Treatment, 40 Years Old, western skin type - South Korea
UPDATED FROM lisecat
1 month post
One month since treatment
lisecatAugust 23, 2016
$880
It's been one month since treatment. SCAR edges a little bit smoother. The deepest scars are wider and shallower. Looks worse with make-up, so I don't bother trying to cover. First pic is left side.
UPDATED FROM lisecat
9 days post
Day 9 after treatment
lisecatJuly 31, 2016
This is how scars look nine days after treatment. Crusting is gone. Scars have red edges. Maybe a little bit softer the edges, but I'm not sure if I can see any improvement. Think I will ask for stronger TCA, 90% for my next treatment. And no laser.
Replies (2)
July 31, 2016
I actually see the difference! It's more around your jaw line and the are where the skin has less scars (which makes sense to me). I can't wait to see your progress after a few treatments.
August 21, 2016
Hi. I have similar scarring to your before pictures and am about the same age. I'd be interested to hear how your healing is going.
August 23, 2016
Hi! Not much improvement after first treatment, doc said about 5-10% improvement to be expected. I'm not sure, scars are still red. I've updated with 2 photos taken yesterday. I think I'll do a second treatment but TCA only, no laser this time. I'd like to focus on rising the deepest scars. Then do more laser later.
UPDATED FROM lisecat
2 days post
Day 3 after treatment
lisecatJuly 25, 2016
Three days after treatment my skin has started to crust and scab. Especially on my left side and I'm still hiding. Trying to keep my skin hydrated as much as I can
Replies (3)
July 29, 2016
Thanks for adding more photos. TCA Cross does well with ice pick scars (which the majority of your scars appear to be.) TCA Cross makes the scars look temporarily worse before they improve, so don't lose faith. I have gotten 90% TCA Cross and I don't think the healing time was extensive. I think I got fast results with it though. What is the Dr. going to do for the few rolling scars you have? Has he mentioned subcision with filler?
July 30, 2016
Thank you. I've been quite worried about the scars looking worse for a few days.. Also the scars are more visible because they are red and I don't wear any makeup. Today I think scars edges look softer. There's still some crusting. Dr. said 10% improvement to be expected after one treatment. He hasn't mentioned subscion with fillers. I think he'd like to do the same procedure again. TCA 75% combined w Legato laser. I'm considering asking for TCA 90% and no laser. Mainly because I think the only laser treatment worth spending money on is a fully ablative CO2 or Erbium, as you've done. But I'm not sure I can find a Dr. in S-Korea performing that procedure because Asian skintypes cannot be treated this way (risk of hyperpigmentation).
I'll post more photos later.
I'll post more photos later.
August 4, 2016
YW. Some of scars that I had treated with TCA Cross had scabs that stayed on for 2 weeks. And I usually have a red mark for at least a month, sometimes a bit longer. Covers fairly well with makeup. I only had two icepick scars but a lot of boxcar scars (which were also treated with TCA.) One icepick completely disappeared after two applications combined with laser. The really deep, big icepick that I have is much shallower but a bit wider. She's still working on it but it's much less noticeable. Now I did have two shallow boxcar scars that got a bit worse looking after the TCA but one is fine now and I'm hoping my remaining two laser treatments fix the other. Anyway, I think I had a total of 5-6 treatments that included TCA Cross to various scars. I'm done with that part of treatment now. From what I understand, 90-100% TCA gives a faster, better response but only recommended in fair complexions. I'm of German descent and have a very light complexion. I can't tell how fair your skin tone is. I'm sure that your Dr. being in South Korea probably will only want to use the 70% TCA. You can do the TCA Cross without laser but my Dr. always does it prior to laser. I didn't have fully ablative CO2 (it is rare to find a Dr. now that will because of the side effects.) I have been getting Co2re, which is fractional but has the ability to do fully ablational too if the Dr. chooses too. I have also been getting Fraxel Dual. When you get fractional laser only 5-13% of the skin is actually being treated at a time, which is why it takes more sessions. I've had 9 so far, so it's going to come pretty close to 100% by the time I'm done. I only had her do full-face the first time. The subsequent treatments were area treatments (but pretty extensive areas.) Perhaps you could ask him to do the laser only on certain areas? Be extremely careful of the sun, as I'm sure you've been told. I haven't developed a single brown spot but I always wear SPF 50 and a wide-brimmed hat outdoors and pretty much have been staying indoors most of the time in the past year. Keep at it and don't lose hope. TCA Cross is definitely the way to go for ice-pick scars.
August 4, 2016
Thank you for your support - sounds like you've had a lot of improvement for your scars! I really hope I will achieve the same. The Dr. actually had TCA 90%, so next time I will ask for it. My skin complextion is also light, I'm from Scandinavia, so I think my skin can bare 90% and maybe also ablative laser. I think the Legato II laser can be used fully ablative, and the ablative lasers are still considered being the "gold standard" for acne scars treatment if the patient has a skin type I-III. I'd like to do several TCA sessions to see if the ice pick scars can get shallower. For ice pick the best treatment is TCA, not laser I think. Then when the scars hopefully are shallower I'll consider doing a fully ablative laser treatment with Dr. Davin Lim, Brisbane, Australia.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Replies (3)