(Reposted in dermabrasion topic)
Does anyone had experiences with excision and primary closure, or the more complicated teqhnique punch grafting. I have "ice pick" scars and in this case I know that lasers cant help much. Also if anyone had autologous collagen injections performed for depressions.

Hey Dim20 - I've had two 'test' excision done by two different doctors (does that make sense?). Mind you, the excisions were closed by a suture and not by skin harvested from the back of my ear for example. I too have ice pick scarring and was advised by these two dermatologists that just using laser resurfacing or dermabrasion would not be as effective if not combined with this procedure. I mean you can only so deep with those procedures before it affects the healing and final outcome. With the results of the excision the scarring is reduced to a slight indentation making it amiable for these other procedures to give the finishing touches so to speak. Hope this helps and good luck. Let me know what you do or find out.

Jesse

Jessie,

Who was the dermatologist in L.A. who did your test excisions? Were you happy with the results? Has anyone else had a good or bad doctor in L.A. who had performed a punch graft, punch excision or subcision? Please share your experience.

I had punch excision on an acne scar and was disappointed in the results. I had skin removed from the back of my ear and placed in the area. The only problem is sometimes the graft doesnt survive and dies, but they have to make the initial scar larger to put in the implant. I was left with a larger and more sunken in scar due to the death of the implant.

It is very successful for many people, but that is just a risk. My surgeon (or I should say surgeons since I have seen so many) suggest punch excision followed by dermabrasion for the best results. In some of his other patients the results were amazing