Cleaning up Acne Scarring

[tiramisu]

My overzealous experimentation with aas got me plenty of little discoloured scarring on the back of my arms and upper back.

I picked up some 25% glycolic acid and have started doing weekly peels.
The skin on my upper arms and upper back is amazingly thick and I can be fairly aggressive with the peel as compared to putting it on the face.

After 2 tries at this the scarring is visibly fading each time. Still there but better. Good news.

I'm going to keep at this for 6-8 weeks to try to remove the old skin, scarring as best possible to see what the healthy skin looks like underneath.

Are there any other good methods of evening out the skin tone that you use?

[gsxr750]

Emu oil for me sir.. works great on scars

[JonnyO]

GOod to hear that working, sounds similar to like microdermabrasion?

Just make sure not to tan at all, this will make the scars harder to get rid of.

[tex]

laser works better if you can afford it...have been debating on getting this done myself as I had horrible acne when I was a teen....

[gicantor]

Emu oil for me sir.. works great on scars

where do you get that stuff gsx? Are the result permanent?

[gicantor]

laser works better if you can afford it...have been debating on getting this done myself as I had horrible acne when I was a teen....

4-5 grand to get a back done.

[tiramisu]

The problem I have is hyperpigmentation rather than pock marks (thank goodness) and yes no tanning for 8 weeks for me.

I'm not sure whether emu oil is magic but moisturizing with a good penetrating oil generally sounds like a good thing for the leather.

The glycolic acid pretty much loosens just the dead skin so it's a relatively safe peel compared to some of the burn to the bone acids that they use out there.

I've heard hydroquinone works as well but I'm also reading that it can be a 6 month process to even skin tone after the darkening occurs.

[gicantor]

The problem I have is hyperpigmentation rather than pock marks (thank goodness) and yes no tanning for 8 weeks for me.

I'm not sure whether emu oil is magic but moisturizing with a good penetrating oil generally sounds like a good thing for the leather.

The glycolic acid pretty much loosens just the dead skin so it's a relatively safe peel compared to some of the burn to the bone acids that they use out there.

I've heard hydroquinone works as well but I'm also reading that it can be a 6 month process to even skin tone after the darkening occurs.

I have the hyperpigmentation aswell. My doc put me on Tazorac gel. Maybe ask your doc about it. It's pretty powerful stuff.

Oh and I use cetaphil moisturizer after the gel to help heal the skin. It seems to be working well.

And yes 6months to a year depending how dark your skin is. the darker the longer it takes.

[beanball]

Will give ya a huge tip. I had brutal scars from cystic acne on my *face* and this worked miracles. Just had to hide from the public for some time as you can imagine.

Snag a half-worn toothbrush. Preferably one that you used so you're not grossed out. Moisten the bristles with water and create friction on your skin to ensure they aren't "too hard" on you.

Grab the best vitamin E gel you can find.

Put the gel on the moistened toothbrush as you would toothpaste, and rub into the scar area, creating friction, actually making the spot and the slight surrounding area red. It's up to you how hard you want to go, but the idea is to just enough "damage" (sorry couldn't think of another word) to promote the healing process again. That healing process is collagen regeneration. Once you get the scar good enough, this process will kick off.

That's the easy part. The next part is ensuring the Vitamin E gel remains applied to that spot day in and day out until it's healed. You can't let it dry or the healing process will think its finished. Collagen regen will stop. One thing that works great is to cover with bandaid or something to ensure nothing rubs the new skin healing. But don't put anything sticky over it as the spot is delicate when always moist and healing, don't want to disrupt it.

It may take some patience but man this worked huge for me, no word of a lie.