Healing a scar damaged by TCA chemical peel

[Bradley]

Hi guys, I know this isn't really relevant to rosacea but I'm just wondering what suggestions you may have regarding helping a scar heal that I have on my face located near the temple area.

These are two pictures of the scar close up; the picture on the left is the scar in it's normal state while the pic on the right is what appears when I stretch the skin:

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/9290/image102gd.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Originally this scar was a white depressed scar that I had since I was a kid. After reading up about how TCA chemical peels are used to burn off the scar tissue so that new collagen can supposedly grow inside the depressed area thus causing the scar to virtually disappear, I decided to undergo the procedure.

Unfortunately, almost 6 months later the scar is still very much present and it's still red. What's more as you can see from when I stretch the skin there is quite an obvious colour difference between the surrounding skin and the skin within the scar. My belief is that the scar now has even more scar tissue/fibroblasts than before the peel :(

Well anyway I'm now looking into a way to both reduce the redness and even the scar out a little more. I've read about silicone treatments/gels (eg. dermatix gel) but it seems these are more relevant to hypertrophic/keloid scars, however are they good at removing redness? If I run my fingertip over the scar it does feel still slightly indented.

I was also thinking about trying out the Neocutis cream as they are indicated for wound healing however I'm not sure what effect the growth factors may have on the scar tissue itself; could they increase the amount of fibroblast tissue within scar?

Well I'm most grateful if any of you guys can help me out with this as I'm not too sure how to proceed..so thanks in advance!

[Bradley]

Anyone..please?

[Sylvia66]

Wish I could help you out, Bradley. I had to take a more radical approach
to my (acne) scars. Btw, I haven't heard anything positive about the silicone patches.

[redhotoz]

Hi Bradley

Wish I could help. I have something similar on my forehead like a white circle but have no idea what caused it or what to do about it. I'm not really too worried about my scar I must say and haven't done any reading about scars. I'm watching this thread to see what others have might suggest.

Red

[Bradley]

Thanks Sylvia/Red for responding, I know it seems like there are so many things out there that can really damage us and yet virtually nothing that can 'cure' us.

It's a constant cycle of frustration...

[redKen]

http://forum.rosaceagroup.org/viewtopic.php?t=2397&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=neocutis&start=45

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for Dr Nase's post on Neocutis and scars

Ken

[redhotoz]

http://forum.rosaceagroup.org/viewtopic.php?t=2397&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=neocutis&start=45

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for Dr Nase's post on Neocutis and scars

Ken

Hi Ken

Is this the post you meant?

"Answer to use for scars::

Putting this product on scars is containdicated. Scars are overgrowth of collagen and fibroblasts. You do not want to put this product on scars to keep the growth unchecked. No studies, but firm theory.

Geoffrey"

I am not sure what the word "containdicated" is? But it appears that Neocutis is NOT recommended for scars by Geoffrey?

I am not sure why you referred the link? Maybe I am missing something here?

Red

[redKen]

lo Red

I posted the link in ref to a part of Bradley's post.


I was also thinking about trying out the Neocutis cream as they are indicated for wound healing however I'm not sure what effect the growth factors may have on the scar tissue itself; could they increase the amount of fibroblast tissue within scar?


Cheers
Ken

[redhotoz]

Sorry Ken! DOH! Must be bed time for me then (or way past it!). Just reading through the link you attached. Not sure that I would pay that sort of money for something so new. Yet to read up on it.

Red

[Sylvia66]

My scars were different than yours, Bradley. A mixture of orange peel,
thumbprint (depressed), & ice pick. I would have to estimate my face
was 50-60% scarred up from acne. Currently, still about 10% scarred.
I have a small white scar on my cheek that nothing has been able to
make go away, or at least look better.

[Sylvia66]

I am not sure what the word "containdicated" is? But it appears that Neocutis is NOT recommended for scars by Geoffrey?

Red

My spelling is terrible myself. But, I think the good doc meant contraindicated...LoL

[Bradley]

http://forum.rosaceagroup.org/viewtopic.php?t=2397&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=neocutis&start=45

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for Dr Nase's post on Neocutis and scars

Ken

Thanks Ken, I remember Dr. Nase posting that, however since the cream exhibits great results relating to wound healing I emailed Neocutis to also get their opinion. I posted their response here:

http://forum.rosaceagroup.org/viewtopic.php?p=17067&highlight=#17067

"Use post-wound healing

The cream may be used post-wound healing (once the wound is closed and has healed) in order to improve appearance, tone and texture of the affected skin. We never observed that the cream induces a hypertrophic response (= enlargement of skin tissue) when used for that purpose."

See this is what confuses me. I'm not sure how my scar would react as a result of using the cream. Dr. Nase indicates using this cream could cause the scar to become hypertrophic and on the other hand, Neocutis implies that it won't cause hypertrophy?

[Bradley]

My scars were different than yours, Bradley. A mixture of orange peel,
thumbprint (depressed), & ice pick. I would have to estimate my face
was 50-60% scarred up from acne. Currently, still about 10% scarred.
I have a small white scar on my cheek that nothing has been able to
make go away, or at least look better.

Wow, that's amazing Sylvia; how were you able to reduce your scarring from 50-60% to only 10%? That is a huge leap in improvement, I wish I could have the same experience :) Did you get laser treatment done?

I agree, I don't think there is much we can do with white scars. The only thing I can think of is to burn off the deep rooted scar tissue which is what I did via a chemical peel but clearly this is not the right method. I have also heard about freezing the scar tissue and then getting it removed via this method, it does seem more successful.

[Sylvia66]

Wow, that's amazing Sylvia; how were you able to reduce your scarring from 50-60% to only 10%? That is a huge leap in improvement, I wish I could have the same experience :) Did you get laser treatment done?

It is a huge improvment! From 1994 to '04, I had five laser resurfacings done for the scars.
I wish that I had pics of me before anything was done. But, when your skin looks THAT scary,
you don't want to be anywhere near a camera :wink: LoL

For the Rosacea, I'm having my 7th IPL treatment tommorrow. I still have a few small broken
capillaries I want to get rid off.

[Bradley]

That's really great Sylvia your going in the right direction and experiencing real good improvement. It must be very encouraging :).

For the scar, do you know exactly what type of laser was used for the resurfacing? Thanks.

[Sylvia66]

For the scar, do you know exactly what type of laser was used for the resurfacing? Thanks.

For the acne scars on my cheeks & around sides of mouth; The 1st, 2nd, &
5th time: CO2. 3th & 4th time: Erbium YAG.

Last week, I ran into an old band mate I hadn't seen in 15 yrs (when my
skin was a *total* disaster). She couldn't believe how great my skin looked
now. It brought back memories of how I would frantically try to cover my
acne/rosacea, before we went onstage (plastering on the makeup lol). Ugh,
it was a nightmare :roll:

[Max]

I was also thinking about trying out the Neocutis cream as they are indicated for wound healing however I'm not sure what effect the growth factors may have on the scar tissue itself; could they increase the amount of fibroblast tissue within scar?

Well I'm most grateful if any of you guys can help me out with this as I'm not too sure how to proceed..so thanks in advance!

i'm pretty sure using that cream won't do much for old scars...

i guess using lasers will be very effecient and it shouldn't be hard to find a doc with enough experience.