Bumpity bump. So I've had atrophic scars on my cheeks (boxcar) and forehead (icepick) since I was a teen, and I must say, TCA Cross + dermarolling DIY combo absolutely works. Literally. After years of researching, spending thousands of dollars at a derm's office, performing various methods myself to remove them, and getting constantly disappointed that they didn't work, I found a regimen that will finally remove those suckers.
I started 3 months ago, and I've done 6 sessions in total so far, so 3 TCA Cross and 3 dermarolling sessions. I use
TCA Cross 80% and a
1.5 mm dermaroller. I perform these alternatively on a 2-week interval, i.e., I dermaroll today, the next 2 weeks I do TCA Cross, then the next 2 weeks I dermaroll, and so forth. I'm sure a lot of people in this thread already know about it or can research about them, but I'll go ahead and outline the steps just so it's easier to follow:
TCA Cross 80%
- Ensure gloves are on
- Have a few toothpicks (for icepick and smaller boxcar scars) and cotton swabs (for bigger boxcar scars) ready.
- Despite toothpicks being small, they cover a lot of surface area after skin contact, especially cotton swabs. I recommend sharpening them
- Dip your choice of instrument multiple times in the bottle so there's enough TCA in them
- Poke directly at the entire depressed scar for a few seconds to ensure the entire scar is covered. Expect a stinging sensation for each poke
- After a minute or so, the scars will frost
- When you're done, wash face with water. Moisturize if needed
Dermarolling
- Ensure dermaroller has no bent needles
- Coat or spray dermaroller with 70% isopropyl alcohol
- Wash face with water, then wipe some alcohol on face
- Roll dermaroller on one area of my face 6-8 times. Lift as you go, not in a back-and-forth motion.
- Depending on needle length, you may get pinpoint bleeding
- When you're done, wash face with water
- Swish dermaroller vigorously in water mixed with dish soap
- Coat or spray dermaroller with 70% isopropyl alcohol again
- Apply Vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, and so forth on face for better results. Expect stinging as your skin deeply absorbs them
After doing this for 3 months, I'm super delighted about the results so far, and I would say it's a 40% improvement right now: the existing deeper scars are shallow now and a few of the shallower scars I had are literally gone. To make sure that I wasn't fooling myself, I even put angled lighting against my face to see if the indentation smoothened out, and they are! Some of my scars post-TCA scabbing are hyperpigmented, while some are not, and I made sure not to mess with the scabs since it took 6-9 days for them to fall out. Moreover, the first time you do TCA Cross, some of those scars may appear wider, but they say that's just a sign of the skin healing. Sometimes I wonder if dermarolling is absolutely necessary since TCA does most of the heavy lifting, but then I realize that after doing TCA on icepick scars, they become shallow. Dermarolling against these shallow scars helps them to be smoothened out, and overall for our skin it helps speed up the healing process—as well as for anti-aging purposes—especially using Vitamin C, niacinamide, and sunscreen. Also, since we've all been stuck at home, it makes this process incredibly easy, so I don't have to worry about anyone seeing my face being red and full of scabs. If I have to go out, I wear sunscreen, a baseball cap, and a mask. Full-on protection, and it feels hella good; otherwise, I stay away from outside. But man, I regret not doing this earlier on, because if I did I might've seen more significant results now, but I gotta be patient!
I do want to note that this isn't my first time dermarolling as I've done it consistently starting in 2016. However, I was only using a 0.75 mm and 1.0 mm, which didn't do much to my indented scars. It only took a 1.5 dermaroller to make some difference, which makes sense since my scars were deeper. I had also done subcision, laser treatments, fat grafting, chemical peels, and so forth. Subcision did help, which broke off the rolling and tethered scars that I had (which actually cannot be treated by TCA or dermarolling), but didn't do anything on my boxcar and icepick scars. Laser treatments and chemical peels only helped to get rid of PIH/PIE. Fat grafting sort of worked and I was initially excited, but after a month or so the rest of them got absorbed or lost so the scars became visible again. Like I said earlier, I did a lot to try and get rid of them, but so far only a combination of TCA Cross and dermarolling have demonstrated significant results, which I knew conceptually before, but either I was hesitant (like thinking TCA was only an in-office treatment) or I didn't do it effectively (since I used smaller needles for dermarollers instead of longer ones). Although people don't recommend doing this at home, if there's no any other option and you've exhausted all of them, I'd say it's good to do this as a last resort.
I want to give credit to this study and these series of blogposts and threads. Sorry I don't have pictures, but pretty much my process is derived from these guys, and their before and afters are incredible, but I'll let the results speak for themselves. I hope this post helps you just as it did for me! :)
Here's my routine if anyone's curious:
AM
- Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser
- SAL3 Sulfur Soap 3% Salicylic Acid
- Rohto Melano CC Vitamin C
- CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion
- Neutrogena CF Sunscreen 30 SPF
PM
- Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser
- SAL3 Sulfur Soap 3% Salicylic Acid
- Hada Labo Premium Hyaluronic Acid
- CeraVe Facial Moisturizing Lotion PM
- NIVEA 48hr Body Lotion (for body only, not face)
Biweekly
