SCARS

Did you go to your derm like you said before?

So you must still break out then.  Before you worry about the scars, you have to stop what's making them.  I never heard of accutane making you crazy, but it does have some side effects.  There are other threads about that though.  It is still the best thing out there for cystic acne I believe if that's the type you have.  If you don't want to go for that, try the AcneFree or Proactiv to get rid of the ones you have now, then see the dermatologist again about the scars. 

Did your dermatologist talk to you about methods for removing scars? They do a thing these days with a laser to remove scars (seen it done on plastic surgery tv shows, done by a dermatologist).  They have something called dermabrasion for removing them, and there's also something called a glycolic acid peel which helps too.  Of those procedures I only had the glycolic acid peel done (2 or 3 times) when I was still in my teens.  If your dermatologist didn't mention any of these other methods with you, you may want to get a second opinion with a doctor who will talk with you more about your options. 

I tried CO2 laser for my acne scars but they didnt give me any noticeable improvement.  Just make sure you do your research before.  The recovery is horrible!

It took about 10 days.  No bandages (some docs chose to put bandages on) but there was a lot of oozing on my face.  I had to put a vasaline product all over my face.  It was not pleasant.  My face was really really red and really hot and oozing.  Its gross!

what types of peels have you done?  tca?  glycolic?

im wanting to try some peels to help with my acne scars but im not sure which ones would work the best.

The peels I had done were glycolic.  I still broke out pretty bad at the time, so that was my reason for getting it done, not so much the scars.  And it helped some with that for a couple of weeks, but of course didn't cure it, so I would always have to go back to get another one done every couple of weeks to once a month (I forget).  So I switched my routine and don't get these done anymore.  I had a very red face for 2 or 3 days, but I could go out if I wanted.  I don't break out now as bad as I did then, so now I just do proactiv.

Yeah, I was surprised too!  I've found that after a couple of weeks, your skin gets used to it, and it works less - but if you stick to washing your face with the sandy feeling cleanser for the full 2 minutes instead of shorting the time, it continues to work.

Its probably better that you didn't do the full 2 min. the first week, because it takes a week or two before your skin adjusts to the sandy stuff anyway, but later it makes a difference.  They sandy beads are designed to be round, so they shouldn't damage skin, but you do need that 1-2 week adjustment period.

try proactiv

For the Ladies....when using the Proactiv face cleanser, do you use it all over your face, even your eyes?  If not, how do you get your eye makeup all the way off?

 

Thanks!