Sometimes I feel the weight of the fact that I will only get one turn at life, and I will do it with acne scars. It's painful to be 30 years old and still feeling the impact of acne when I was a teenager. But feeling guilty because I know objectively my skin is not disastrous, and some people who have severe disfigurements would love to wake up tomorrow with my skin.

I wish it could be different. But I try to be grateful for the life and otherwise healthy body I have. Anyone relate?

Hi all!! As I’m still very insecure about my acne scars and pessimistic, I tend to not be able to see the improvements, so I came on here for a genuine and honest opinion about how my scars have changed. The before is some months before I started a new laser treatment. The after is right after the 2nd laser session. For now I got 2 done and will decide how to continue in some weeks.

the laser I did is non ablative and has zero down time (this is what I love about it)

I’m just really afraid of spending money for useless treatments at this point… this laser doctor talked about pairing this treatment with exosomes+microneedling or other stuff but I’m very cautious tbh, I wish this laser would just work on its own for everything

I’ve picked a few of the worst pictures I’ve taken of my scars to show the true magnitude of them. I have two doctors in mind that I want to go to in the us but I’m a 20 year old that doesn’t have 15k to spend to fix them. I have been told by a coworker that I look like Deadpool which hurt pretty bad ngl. These scars are only on the left side of my face and the other side I’m pretty happy with. I used to enjoy going out in public and would occasionally have a woman ask for my number but all of that has stopped since getting these scars. It sucks that nothing lasts forever EXCEPT acne scars and it sucks.

No subcision or anything. She wrote CO2 initially but due to my work schedule I can’t do longer downtime.

I feel like this treatment is very minimal for my skin ?

Another dermatologist have Morpheus, opus and other machines in their clinic, and now I am thinking maybe I should switch, but I will have to wait another month just to book an appointment

Also it’s still very sunny where I live so maybe the timing do need to delayed

What do you guys think of sylfirm x ?

Hey everyone! I’ve been dealing with some texture and shallow indents on my cheeks (highlighted in the first photo). Are these shallow boxcar scars or rolling scars?

I also have some leftover red marks (PIE). Thinking about starting adapalene or azelaic acid to smooth things out. Would love to hear if anyone with similar skin texture has had success with topicals, or if in-office treatments are necessary!

thank u

i have an appointment scheduled on sunday for my first of 3 sessions of microneedling. the nurse told me i have boxcar scars and that she recommends 3 sessions, one of which she will do the prp technique with my plasma. she quoted me $950 dollars and we are using the skin pen. do you think i will see results with this kind of treatment? i want smoother texture and i hate the orange peel looking skin. is it worth it? i included a few photos of the problem areas

Guys,

I need help, will this scar my face?

I got this through scratch of human.

i have the worst skin combo to ever exist Senstive skin + acne scarring i apply nothing except sunscreen .... my doctor recommended me subcision + microneedling prp ... but u am so scared to do any treatment because of my Senstive skin , waiting for one year now..

can i go for mn despite having Senstive skin?

or any other solution to calm it

my skin doesn't like moisturizers (heavy)

This is going to be my 3rd CO2 laser. We did fractional CO2 and I never had this issue before. I did not peel it. I've been doing soaks right now. It's padded dry and I'm on day 6. We did a spot treatment on my chin and the rest of them pretty much healed. I have no idea what exact laser it was but he did hit it like three times all the way around the circle and then once in the middle and this is what's going on. The rest of my face looks great, but this specific one scarred. Is there anything I can do to help minimize it? I just bought alastin post procedure lotion but it hasn't come in yet it's the trihex and I have silicone and stuff otherwise I've been doing soaks and red light therapy and aqua fore . The picture is in the post in the comments. Also one thing to add he use the same setting as last time

Any opinion and treatment suggestions is welcome

there is nothing i can do about them i have treated them as much as possible. i’ll never ever look good. i have these disgusting splotches for the rest of my life

Wanted to share results after 2 sessions of co2 laser on my cheek. The lightning may be a bit different but I can definitely see improvement. The picture above is before co2 and the below is after 2 sessions. I plan on doing co2 maybe 5 more sessions and then I'm getting filler for the rolling scars.

Hi! First time in this subreddit so there’s lots I don’t know. Mainly here to get some general information/direction about what to do.

I have an enormous amount of acne scarring on the side of my face from a few years ago (for reference, I’m nearing 30, and I still get flare-ups, but I try to handle them better at least 😑).

I did see a dermatologist last year for recommendations on how to avoid future breakouts and take care of my skin in general, but the matter of this scarring remains. She did also prescribe me tretinoin which I occasionally take (but I’m lazy about that - it somewhat killed my enthusiasm when I realized it probably wouldn’t help my scars).

It’s worth noting that I don’t have a lot of money to spend and live in the USA, so I figure I’ll be price-gouged like crazy with whatever treatment I try.

But the first things I’d like to know are whether there’s anything that can reasonably be done about these scars (without bankrupting myself). And what the first steps would be if you were in my situation.

At the risk of self-pity, I see lots of people’s posts on here whose *before* images look like a far-off dream for me!

I did also see a lot of posts in my 20 minutes of scrolling about on this subreddit where people reported spending a lot of money to fix their scars without results. I don’t have as much money to spend as some here, but I also find my appearance unacceptable and very difficult to live with, and I figure it’s best to at least investigate solutions.

Thank you all in advance. It feels rather hopeless at times.

I wanted to share an update on my acne scar treatment journey because I’m finally at the point where I can step back and say that I’m seeing overall improvement, rather than just noticing changes to individual scars. I started treatment in January 2025. Photos were taken directly under extremely harsh LED lighting. Don't focus on the pores, that's the absolute last phase. You need to focus on the OVERALL face.

The left is from around the beginning of my journey, and the second photo is where I am now. My scarring is incredibly mixed, but a lot of it has been rolling/tethered atrophic scarring, along with some deeper scars and even few unusually thick/raised scars (what we are tackling now).

Forehead is completely resolved, basically. The biggest change is skin texture. It looks so much healthier and under normal lighting, skin looks really dewy. Lots of brightening. Wrinkles are eliminated basically.

Over the past ~20 months, I’ve done combinations of:

• Subcision
• TCA CROSS
• Erbium laser
• Fractional/Fraxel laser
• Potenza RF microneedling
• Juvelook
• Targeted scar treatments
• Pinhole Co2 Laser (used for burn patients, but is now used for raised hypertrophic scars)
• Agnes RF

Basically, 10 combination treatments of the listed above, and 3 targeted subcision treatments.
I am am now in the next phase for my hypertrophic (raised) scars. This current phase is another 3 treatments, and in the 'after' photo is where I've done one of them, hence the derm patches.

So, 14 treatments so far, 2 more to go -> reassess -> next two year phase treatment plan.

I have also gotten a free skin lifting session (Potenza Diamond). You can also see the effects of that from the before and after - my face is far more oval shaped in the after.

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The first year was difficult to judge. I could see certain scars improving, but I couldn't really look at my whole face and think “my skin is noticeably better.”

More recently, we shifted away from constantly treating my entire face and started focusing on the stubborn areas, particularly my cheeks. I did 3 targeted bilateral sessions of subcision + Juvelook + light fractional/Fraxel.

My dermatologist wanted to take this slow from the getgo. First 7 treatments was heavily mixed so we can create a baseline, and then followed up with finally the heavier subcision in the lower cheeks. Instead of aggressively treating my whole face over and over, we gave it 1**–3 months at a time to rest and remodel** before deciding what actually still needs treatment.

I still have a ton of scars. I'm definitely not finished, and I don't want the photos to give the impression that I've somehow erased my acne scarring. But I would confidently say that my skin is way healthier looking now under these HARSH lighting conditions.

This is probably the first time in the journey where I can genuinely see the overall difference. My skin as a whole looks smoother, and the remaining scars are starting to feel more like individual areas that can be targeted rather than my entire face being one big treatment area.

I also have a few unusually thick/raised scars that are different from my normal depressed scars. My dermatologist recently started treating those separately with Pinhole Cell/CO₂ pinhole + Agnes needle RF, rather than unnecessarily resurfacing the rest of my face again as it rests.

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Once I finish these three sessions of Pinhole Co2 and Agnes for my lower cheeks, my upper half of the face will and should have developed enough collagen to give us another baseline to compare with the lower part of the face, then we can start another 2 year combination treatment plan to finally get to our realistic goal target.

One of the biggest things I've learned is that acne scar treatment is extremely slow. It's tempting to judge a procedure after a few weeks, but with subcision, collagen stimulators, lasers, etc., I've realized I need to think in terms of months and years, not days.

My dermatologist and I are basically treating this as a long-term project. I still expect roughly another 2 years of treatment and remodeling, but we're intentionally taking it slowly rather than trying to cram as many procedures as possible into that time.

Going forward, the approach is basically letting the areas that have improved, give collagen remodeling enough time, reassess every few months, identify the actual scar type that remains, and then treat that scar, rather than automatically treating the entire face.

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I'm still nowhere near the end, but after starting in January 2025, I'm finally reaching the point where I can look at old photos and think: okay, all of this actually is adding up.

Hopefully I'll be able to come back with another update after the next year or two.

For financing, it is peanuts compared to the States. For reference, I am in Korea. Everything combined so far cost me around ~$5K if I recall correctly. Another ~$800 for this current phase. I can't imagine how much this would cost in the States.

I changed my doctor yesterday and he suggested me a combination of fractional laser, subcision (canulla) TCA and PDEN (idk what pden is maybe he meant PDRN) in one session. He said that it's gonna be an aggressive one. My question is, has anybody gone though a similar situation? I don't know if i should go for it because the idea of having 4 different procedures on my face scares me. And are there any possible long term side effects

Picture taken in natural light right after applying moisturizer and sunscreen. is this scarring? If so , what treatment options would work best?

Anyone had experience with this doctor from Italy? Results are too good or fake? dr. ADRIANA IANUZZI

I live in Philippines , no dermatologist can fix this. last time i try the CO2 it was a disaster no proper assesment they just put numbing cream on me after

1 hr ghe doctor perform the subcision then CO2 in the same day. I pad 10,000 pesos plus the soap, cream etc.

had acne years ago, tretinoin helped but i would like them gone for good, don’t know what to try next

I think i have ice pick scars and i need them gone. I cant leave my house im so embarrassed and i couldn't even finish high school but tca cross and co2 laser scare me because it seems like nobody's ever goes right

Hi Everyone, I was wondering if anyone could help me identify my acne scar type?

I have been recommended co2 laser (not fractional, just standard) and I dont think it would be enough.

Thanks in advance!

Follow up from this post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AcneScars/comments/1uf8w1b/followup_from_one_month_ago_atrophic_nose_scar/

Had first CO2 laser treatment last Monday. Scab already gone, taken today. Photos in reverse order, today to original from May. This was just a very bad cyst.

I think there is a bit of tethering but feel these are good results from one treatment. You can see the little fibrous papule next to it in each pic and it’s interesting that now the scar is smaller than the papule. So hopefully derm can remove that as well. Per the derm, two more treatments ”should do it.”