Hello! I have struggled with acne almost my whole life. I successfully used Accutane and have been off of it for at least 3 years now. I have always told myself that I would get a treatment to remove my scarring before the big day! Well, that big day is in 8 months, eek!
I have done my homework, and read a bunch of articles (on this site and others) and soaked up as much advice as I can from other posts. I do believe that all cases are different, so if I could have some advice to help me figure out a plan - it would be much appreciated I have been pointed in a few different directions for treatments - Microneedling, profractional lasers, etc. I am currently using a Skinseuticals scrub, vitamin c, B5 with hyalaronic acid, and tretinoin cream.
I have attached pics to help, please let me know if you have other questions!
Thank you so much!
You mostly display boxcar scars. The biggest problem I see is the prominent scar edges. The ideal treatment plan is to fill the pit as much as possible and then sand the edges down. However, unless you only have one or two scars, such a plan never works in the real world. It would take too long to fill the pits the natural way (that is, almost never in this lifetime) and to fill it synthetically using fillers has time and again shown poor results.
What I suggest is the reverse. You first sand the plane down and then fill the hole afterward. Hence, the goal is to morph the boxcar into rolling scars (wider but shallower in appearance). Once that has been accomplished, then get subcision(s). Finally, inject dermal fillers to elevate the pits wherever necessary.
For a couple of deeper boxcars I see, I think punch elevations could work great. You can look into it, but make sure to find someone really experienced to do it. I never see punch elevations recommended on here, but for me it was the only thing that really worked. You only do it once, and the difference is night and day. Only works well on certain types of scars though. The rounder and deeper the better.