Acne Treatment Experiences I have known

Hi,

I'm not a member of this group but saw your posting and wanted to
contribute. (Please feel free to post this publicly). I am a woman
with severe acne scarring and have run the gamut for treatments.

Both laser and dermabrasion are invasive, and cause non- reversable
damage, some of which can be worse than the original condition. Make
no mistake, they are harmful. The only thing that they will remove
with any certainty is money from your wallet. I had dermabrasion 10
years ago. It permanently left me looking somewhat like a burn
victim. Prior to this my skin was able to somewhat heal the deeper
acne scars with sunlight exposure and time. The dermabrasion
INCREASED the scarring by removing my healthy skin. I have been told
by many doctors that laser is the same thing and NOT to get it.

I have had some cutting (excisions) and some worked, some didn't. Now
I look somewhat like a burn victim who went through a plate glass
window. I'm trying to find a doctor willing to undo some of the
damage the medical industry has caused. At any rate......

Not one doctor ever asked me about food allergies. (I guess they
don't memorize that in medical school - drug companies can't make
money from good advice). Avoiding these foods greatly reduced the
cystic acne breakouts.

I took accutane in the late 80's and that really helped. Except for
possible liver damage I would recommend it for SEVERE cases. It all
but cured the condition.

I am currently looking into microdermabrasion as it is said to be less
damaging while improving SOME of the scarring without turning you into
Michael Jackson.

I am also looking for ways to improve/reduce the scarring. If you
hear of anything that works for you please keep me in mind. Be
PRUDENT before accepting any old advice someone offers. An honest
doctor will simply say, "I can't help you.". It's the truth because
they can't. Someone else, however can I'm sure. If you find them,
please let me know. Thanks!

Dianne

dgardner204.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com (Dianne) wrote in message news:<154595fe.0406240618.2dfceced.TakeThisOut@posting.google.com>...

> I'm not a member of this group but saw your posting and wanted to
> contribute. (Please feel free to post this publicly). I am a woman
> with severe acne scarring and have run the gamut for treatments.
>
> Both laser and dermabrasion are invasive, and cause non- reversable
> damage, some of which can be worse than the original condition. Make
> no mistake, they are harmful. The only thing that they will remove
> with any certainty is money from your wallet. I had dermabrasion 10
> years ago. It permanently left me looking somewhat like a burn
> victim. Prior to this my skin was able to somewhat heal the deeper
> acne scars with sunlight exposure and time. The dermabrasion
> INCREASED the scarring by removing my healthy skin. I have been told
> by many doctors that laser is the same thing and NOT to get it.

Hullo... I've never posted to this group either, although I
occasionally lurk, on the lookout for new treatments for acne
scarring.

I, too, have severe scarring (pitting and "gouging" on each side of my
face). Two years ago I underwent dermabrasion. It cost approximately
$1400 (USD) and recovery time was, all in all, about three months (the
bandages came off in 10 days, and I progressed from red to pink over
the remainder of the period). The results were very impressive during
the first week out of bandages because there was still quite a lot of
swelling, which tended to fill out what was left of my scarring. When
the swelling subsided entirely the improvement wasn't as striking, but
it was still apparent (and is still apparent to this day). Perhaps the
methods have improved in the past ten years? I am not thrilled with
what dermabrasion achieved for me; I'm not exactly disappointed
either; 30% betterment isn't fabulous, but it isn't bad! The only side
effect I experienced was a lightening/fading, two or three shades
maybe, which is difficult to see unless one's right up against my
jawline.

I've read and heard that laser is less easy to control depth of
penetration (rather strange considering the precision with which
lasers are used in eye surgery!) and thus produces less desirable
results.

When one thinks about it, the surgeon must be somewhat of an artist.
Shopping around, *a lot*, is probably the best idea, asking for before
and after shots of patients, etc. Every doctor I visited prior to my
surgery gave me a free consultation.

Microdermabrasion is something I tried in 2000. I had six sessions,
and while it improved the texture of my skin to a certain degree, it
was temporary. This is a procedure one would have to make regular, six
sessions twice a year, probably. It stings a little; the experience
overall was quite pleasant, however, as I had it done at a day spa
where they included a facial massage and masque each treatment.

To treat my adult acne I've had great success with turmeric (taken
internally over long periods), women's herbal blends, cardiovascular
exercise trying not to "freak out" .

Sorry to get kooky on everyone, but I don't think, right now anyway,
that there is any perfect *physical* answer to acne scarring.
Countless people have cured fatal diseases (including my
sister-in-law) via metaphysical methods, and I can't see why acne
and/or scarring should be any different. I don't want to get into a
discussion or argument about this point, it's just something I thought
I'd throw in. Maybe I'll become disciplined enough and give the
non-physical route a go, and post my results somewhere. We'll see, it
seems an awful lot harder than popping a pill! Sigh.

Good luck everyone!

Miss X.