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There is an online support group at yahoogroups.com that is for Acne Scars. I don't remember the name of it, but they have actually had some interesting information there.....

It should be easy for someone to find it from the yahoogroups.com website by going to the field for searching for a group and using words like "scars" and "acne".

I have studied this a lot and have a few suggestions.

There are things I've tried and things I plan to try.

Things I've Tried (That Work)

Neutrogena Mult-Vitamin Treatment applied lightly, daily has done wonders for me. It's designed to prevent breakouts but also causes rapid skin cell turnover with the fruit acids and hydroxys in it. I have found that it makes the "evidence" of breakouts disappear quickly and prevent scarring as seriously, and over a long time of usage it seemed to smooth out my old scars a little too. This is not a big or DRAMATIC difference, but it's pleasant to use, also works on clearing the skin, and doesn't cost much or take my trouble, so I recommend it.

Aloe

has also helped me a lot. Aloe is a scar-healing, skin-healing plant. You can apply aloe gel directly on a scar.

Microdermabrasion is something I've tried and recommend HIGHLY for mild scarring. Not only does it help minimize scars but it makes your skin look radiant and glowing and beautiful for a while afterwards. In France, women get microdermabrasion as a beauty treatment, such as before a big event.
It's about $125 a pop so it's not cheap, but some places will sell a package of 4
or 5 sessions at a reduced price, so you could save money on it that way.

I've done it three times and never even felt UNCOMFORTABLE, much less in any pain, there is NO NEED for anaesthetic. It fills like a cat's scratchy tongue licking your face. It feels funny and it even made me laugh, but it's not really unpleasant, just a little weird. And I did notice a difference on my scars after my third treatment.

And afterward, my skin looked a little "rosy" but was not irritated or weird looking....it just looked like I was blushing a little or had been out in the sun, and I was able to apply some gentle makeup right away if I wanted to cover that up, but it looked pretty....I didn't want to!

So I recommend this highly. But again, 3 treatments is not going to change deep deep scars a lot. I have seen amazing before and after pictures though of microdermabrasion used as an acne TREATMENT and amazing scar-erasing effects.....but the women I saw in those pictures had had like 15 or 17 treatments!

Of course, if you get package deals and only have to pay about $100 per treatment, that's only $1500 to $1700 dollars, which is a LOT cheaper than big surgeries. So I'm going to do it again when I have finished doing whatever other scar treatments I do, as kind of an ongoing maintenance/ finetuning thing. I love that you don't have to come up with all the money at one time, either.

I went to a really nice good dermatologist that I know for it to be done in her office but some salons can do it as well. I was told that salons are only authorized by law to do a very mild form of it so they may not be able to give results as good, but I don't know that for sure.

I think the setting is important and having a gentle, careful person. They can se the setting higher or lower based on what feels comfortable for you (so it's not painful). They also use a lower setting on gentle areas like the eye.

Anyway, I hope this helps somebody.

The only other scar treatments I'm going to try before going back to microdermabrasion some more are

excision,

needling,

mild laser peels,

and

mild chemical peels.


I will probably try them in that order.
I won't offer advice a bout them since I haven't done them yet, but I have done a lot of reading about these and think they are likely to be the most safe and effective and give good results.

The heavier peels often require long recovery time, truckloads of money, and can re-INJURE your skin causing NEW scars!!! egads! And they can be just plain harsh and painful and make you hideous for awhile. Not worth it to me. But the milder ones seem worth it/promising.

The excision I would only use on one or two difficult scars I have that might need this method to break up scar tissue.

And I've heard AMAZING things about needling. And it's even cheaper than microdermabrasion, with results in only one session. It seems like the derm surgeons are keeping this one secret so they don't lose business to the salons who do this. I've also seen impressive pictures.


Hope this helps


Love to all sisters


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