New scar nose

[dylanw]

Dear Sarah

I was recommended to visit your site and I hope you can help me. I appreciate you must get many such requests so any advice you can offer I am hugely thankful for

I am a 31 year old Asian (Indian) male. I have suffered with mild to moderate acne on my face for 20 odd years and have generally had it under control

In February earlier this year a spot appeared on my nose.  I did not think anything of it and I cannot remember if I touched/picked/popped it or not. For the next 5 months (!) the spot would scab over, peel off, scab over, peel and repeat this process. Last week the final scab came off and much to my dismay I was left with a scar, as seen here https://http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/837/scarc.jpg/

I have been advised to derma stamp the scar with a 1mm stamp every 4-5 days and apply a serum. I have been advised this by a company called White Lotus Anti Aging (sorry if I am breaking any rules by naming) whom have many videos on their website and Youtube. They give the impression of speaking from knowledge and experience

Can you please advise me if this is a sensible approach and to the best of your knowledge what hope I have of improving the situation. I am feeling quite low at the moment as whilst the scar could have been worse it is still quite unsightly and very prominent due to its position. It also draws more attention to other blemishes on my skin

Thank you

Edit: I forgot to add that 2 days ago I stamped the scar ~15 times with a .75mm dermastamp and then rolled it with a 1mm dermaroller a few times

The stamped/rolled area bled tiny little pin prick holes which wiped off easily with a facial cleansing cloth. The area was red when I went to bed a few hours later but back to normal when I woke up. I have since been applying a scar serum once in the morning and then in the evening after cleansing

Today the scar looks the same, not red or anything. The skin on top of it feels rough, like it may scab (which would not be a surpise given it has done so many time previously as mentioned above)

As the skin bled with a .75mm stamp I assume I punctured the dermis thus achieved my intention of inducing the repair process and collagen? I confess I did stamp quite strongly. In view of this, is using a 1mm stamp unnecessary? And is rolling unnecessary too as the stamp seemed to do its job?

Edit 2: I have just read the sticky here on warning rolling frequency. Presumably this applies to stamping too. I imagine then you disagree with the advice given to me to stamp every 4-5 days - ? This is most confusing as the company I mentioned above appears very reputable although I appreciate you cannot speak for others

Further to this I have just read the 'Dermarolling instructions' PDF dated 4th July 2011. It suggests a 0.5mm roller can be used once or twice a week on the same skin area and a 1mm every 2 weeks. I have both a .75mm and 1mm stamp. Given all the information I have written down here, would stamping with a .75mm once every 10 days be an appropriate course of action?

I am sorry for writing so much. I feel lost and bewildered. Why does life have to be so difficult

Thank you once again for any advice you can offer me, I really do appreciate it

[SarahVaughter]

I paste here my answer to another customer with the same problem:

   

 Whenever I receive a question about scars on the nose, I get nervous.. The problem is, that the skin on the nose reacts very unpredictably comparing to the rest of the skin. Nasal skin can heal worse than you started with. There is no fat layer under that skin, there is only cartilage and that might be the reason.

 Skin procedures on the nose are always risky.

 I can only suggest this: Use the single needle on it but do not do any aggressive needling. Concerning the nose, ignore the guidelines for needling that are on our website. Make just three pricks into your scar (to the bottom of the scar).

 If it heals well, make four pricks the next time. If it heals well, make five pricks the next time. Continue like this but never do aggressive, dense needling. Just a few, very gentle pricks.

   
You can replace the single needle with a 1.5 mm dermastamp (or shorter length) but the same rule applies. Start slowly and never dermastamp aggressively. Do a test patch first.

Using a 0.75 mm dermastamp every ten days is OK.

[dylanw]

Dear Sarah

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. I will proceed as you have suggested, using the .75mm derma stamp without too much aggression on the area once every 10 days. I pray it makes an improvement

Incidentally as I suspected in my original post the surface area of the scar has scabbed over yet again, which I find remarkable. I believe the area has now scabbed and peeled over some 15 times in the past 4-5 months. I will resist picking the scab and let it fall off naturally

Thank you again