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Hello, I am very interested in getting a Phenol Peel for my bad acne scars, my understanding is thats it the "big guns" "nuke" for acne scars. I'll briefly describe what Ive had done and what I found effective. Co2 laser was a complete waste of money left me with a sunburn and essentially looking the same cost 1000's of dollars, in general i'll never trust lasers again. Subcision was ok 5/10 but I would overall pass. TCA peel was really good for shallow scars and overall made my face about 25% smother, imagine using sandpaper on a bumby piece of wood. However it made many of my scars smoother but they still remain, imagine an ocean tide passing over footprints, they are still there but smoother. Finally Silicon Fillers, Those were probably the best for deep holes/scars. I was injected under the skin and they basically filled in the depressed parts of my face, this has a GREAT effect from about 5 feet away but there is still a very shallow scar left over and an outline of the scar.
I am the pic on the left, that was before fillers, my skin looks a bit better than that pic but not by much, I have done a bunch of research and I decided I am very interested in a deep phenol peel. I know the cost is between 3-6k (which I can thankfully afford). My question is how good will these results be, Im really scared of bascailly looking the same liek when I had my laser treatments, I hate looking at doctor websites because the lighting is always entirely different/misleading on the before and after pics, REALSELF is also full of mixed reviews, a lot from older women with wrinkles (which im not) which doesn't really help me to compare. I am also very fair skinned which I know is a good thing regarding Phenol peels because it can leave you pale which i more or less already am. The pic on the right of the woman is just a rough example of what my skin SORTA looks like, I dont have a quality camera so the left pic will have to do. The scars are mainly on the sides of my face, the front is not as bad. they are mostly shallow, the fillers really helped with the deep scars. ANY advice would be appreciated, including your experince and doctors in the Socal area, thanks.
Hello , I appreciate the reply. As you know I had Subcision and Fillers (Silikon 1000). The Silikon helped A LOT with deep holes and anywhere that had pig fat potholes on my face. I think I should have showed a present day pic to be more clear of my situation, unfortunately my PS VITA is the only camera I have on hand right now without borrowing someones smartphone. Below is the before and after, as you can see I had very large scars on the left and the skin is more "even" after the fillers. I would personally not like to go through more fillers and subcision and cut straight to the Phenol Peel because i feel like my skin is already as even as its going to get without a deep peel. I also think Silikon 1000 is probably the best filler there is due to the fact that its permanent so Im not sure why I would use sculptra or HA. Im not an expert so please let me know what I am misunderstanding. The right side of my face (see pic is about the same) it was much worse and the area on the temple and overall less even, all these pics are taken with the harshest light I can find. The right side is still rough, pockmarky and just seems ideal for a peel, because all the holes etc seem too tiny for fillers/sub. I'm leaning to just doing a Peel with Rullan whom Ive heard of before, I have Family in SD so it should be practical, I just dont want to blow 6k on a bad sunburn. Please let me know if you think, thanks, I sincerely appreciate the response and anyone else who wants to chime in. 
That is much different than the pic you posted, thanks...
Sure stay with family and see Rullan in SD.
Regarding filler and subcision, I respect your desire to not do more. I was stating you could do more of course to get further improvement. Silikon 1000 has caused some people issues who have posted here and is not a FDA approved filler. I know it's permanent. I normally say start with HA and if you like it go for bellafill which is FDA approved for acne scars as a permanent solution. Permanent fillers have permanent problems. Some real horror stories with micro silicone, it migrates as we age elsewhere, some have bad immune responses and build biofilms. I am glad everything has worked for you and no issues, that is all that matters. With HA it's your body replacing it with it's own collagen and the sub further stimulates this. You won't be blowing money with Rullan he us a great Dr and does subcision as well.
BA
@Miggy00Are you planning on have just an 88% phenol done or a phenol peel combined with croton oil? A phenol combined with croton oil is much more aggressive than just phenol but aggression can vary somewhat on the percentage of croton oil used. Just curious as I was planning on talking with my doctor about getting a modified Baker-Gordon peel which is the phenol croton-oil combination.
On 4/5/2018 at 5:55 AM, UpliftingCat said:@Miggy00Are you planning on have just an 88% phenol done or a phenol peel combined with croton oil? A phenol combined with croton oil is much more aggressive than just phenol but aggression can vary somewhat on the percentage of croton oil used. Just curious as I was planning on talking with my doctor about getting a modified Baker-Gordon peel which is the phenol croton-oil combination.
I was just going to do Phenol, my understanding is Phenol is the "TOP" "DEEPEST" peel there is.
55 minutes ago, Miggy00 said:I was just going to do Phenol, my understanding is Phenol is the "TOP" "DEEPEST" peel there is.
Is that the latest pic? Personally, I don't think burning off "more skin" will help with your scars. No doubt, there will be some collagen production, but I ain't sure there will be enough to fill the pits to a degree where the scars will look leveled with the rest of the face. Plus, phenols are pretty damn harsh. Wouldn't it make more sense to "fill the pothole before you re-pave the road" (to borrow the quote from @beautifulambition ) ??
Hey, your before and after for the silicone microdroplet fillers is incredible, but what is the third picture? Is that current?
My understanding is that phenol is ridiculous for downtime/healing. You will not look like yourself for months ... I've read up to 12 months for full recovery.
In any case, welcome. There are so many helpful people here.
PS I'm also 32. I kinda think it's now or never (now being in the next few years) for acne scar revision because our natural collagen production goes down so much as we head into our mid-late thirties, and all acne scar treatments count on that natural collagen production both to heal from the procedure and fill in acne scars. That stresses me out 
16 hours ago, Miggy00 said:On 4/5/2018 at 7:55 AM, UpliftingCat said:@Miggy00Are you planning on have just an 88% phenol done or a phenol peel combined with croton oil? A phenol combined with croton oil is much more aggressive than just phenol but aggression can vary somewhat on the percentage of croton oil used. Just curious as I was planning on talking with my doctor about getting a modified Baker-Gordon peel which is the phenol croton-oil combination.I was just going to do Phenol, my understanding is Phenol is the "TOP" "DEEPEST" peel there is.
A phenol-acid peel is not the deepest peel there is. The deepest possible peel is a formulation thatcombinesboth croton-oil and phenol. It is the croton-oil that is the critical peeling agent. An 88% phenol peel is only medium-depth but a truly deep chemical peel will peel into the mid-reticular dermis. This can only be achieved by the croton-oil peel. Hetter and Bensi-peels also combine croton-oil and phenol but the concentration of croton-oil is not as strong so there is less risk for hypopigmentation and other complications. In addition, the croton-oil peel can be made even stronger by occlusion.
@labellavita1985It is false to say the downtime for a phenol-peel is ridiculous. Healing time for an 88% phenol peel should be the same as other medium depth peels such as dry ice + 35% TCA, Glycolic 70% + 35% TCA, Jessners + 35% TCA, or a 50% TCA peel. The downtime for a Croton-Oilpeel is long. It takes two weeks for the skin to complete reepithelialization. The skin can be red for up to a year but I wouldn't say you don't look like yourself. There are very few doctors in the world who do true croton-oil peels.
On 4/14/2018 at 9:43 PM, Sirius Lee said:Is that the latest pic? Personally, I don't think burning off "more skin" will help with your scars. No doubt, there will be some collagen production, but I ain't sure there will be enough to fill the pits to a degree where the scars will look leveled with the rest of the face. Plus, phenols are pretty damn harsh. Wouldn't it make more sense to "fill the pothole before you re-pave the road" (to borrow the quote from @beautifulambition ) ??
I'm hoping for mostly good results on the temple area, area near the ear and laugh line area. I don't expect it to be magic but an improvement. I do have icepicks but they are fairly shallow, keep in mind this is the absolute roughest lighting I could find.
On 4/15/2018 at 7:47 AM, labellavita1985 said:Hey, your before and after for the silicone microdroplet fillers is incredible, but what is the third picture? Is that current?
My understanding is that phenol is ridiculous for downtime/healing. You will not look like yourself for months ... I've read up to 12 months for full recovery.
In any case, welcome. There are so many helpful people here.
PS I'm also 32. I kinda think it's now or never (now being in the next few years) for acne scar revision because our natural collagen production goes down so much as we head into our mid-late thirties, and all acne scar treatments count on that natural collagen production both to heal from the procedure and fill in acne scars. That stresses me out
Yes indeed, it is the best, I tried bellafill, subcision and laser, a $600 bottle of silikon did 1000% better job than all that stuff, but the catch is the deeper the scar the better results, its doesn't do anything to icepicks obviously and very shallow ones are a bit tougher to deal with. Yes its the latest, It the harshest lighting I could find. I don't expect the peel to make it 100% better but certain areas like my temple etc. I expect reasonable improvement. Im also considering doing a couple excisions to some icepicks and a round keloid on my cheekbone. The Phenol Dr. told me line scars from excisions will improve a lot after a phenol peel. But who knows.
19 minutes ago, Miggy00 said:I'm hoping for mostly good results on the temple area, area near the ear and laugh line area. I don't expect it to be magic but an improvement. I do have icepicks but they are fairly shallow, keep in mind this is the absolute roughest lighting I could find.
One thing you should be aware is that the temple, with so little meat, is a bit of challenge to treat. It just doesn't respond well to any treatment, short of filling the hole (and even that falls far short of being perfect in many instances).
With regards to my earlier point, no matter how aggressive the chemical peel, it will not generate enough collagen to fill the indented scars.I believe filling the hole should be your primary concern rather than burning off the top layer. Fill the pits as much as possible, then even out the surface irregularity with peels or laser. In any case, I wish you well.