Stretch Marks!!

[Guest]

Thanks J, for your help. I too am nervous to try TCA for the very same reasons you stated. However, I don't see any peeling when using GA. I realize I only use 30% but it doesn't seem to be doing anything. I don't know if I should continue with my current routine or switch to a TCA peel...

What do you do with your skin between peels?

Shoo

I use olive oil on my skin during and after peeling to keep it moist. Emu oil and copper peptides would be better, but I have only a little of that left and use it on my face. Its really up to yourself regarding tca, you could buy 15% and try it on a test area for a few months then decide whether to use if everwhere. Alternatively you could stick with GA. Only thing I would say regarding tca is buy from a reputable supplier if you decide to try it.

J

[Guest]

That's good news!
I started my first microdermabrasion treatment yesterday (and it will probably take a year to remove them totally according to them - and of course thousands of pounds) but I was just curious if I can use a very diluted TCA in combination with microdermabrasion in between treatments (every 2 weeks). Wouldn't it speed up results a bit? My skin is not red anymore from the treatment, it just lasted for a few hours, and i only have a couple very small scratches. I don't see why not, since they would remove the extra skin anyway with the machine?

If you have the money, then go to ebay (you can get them from UK, US or China/Hong Kong sellers). Have a look about because there are many of them from all over the world. You could get a machine for around £500/£600. Make sure it's the Crystal version because Diamond is crap. Because you'll have had a treatment or 2, then you know exactly how to run the wand over your skin on the marks. If you want more experience, then you can take a one day or weekend training course for a couple hundred pounds.

In the long run it has 2 added benefits:

1) Works out far cheaper than having it done at a salon.
2) You can do unlimited treatments on your skin with it.

As to the other part. Sorry to say this but every 2 weeks isn't enough! That may be okay for light sun damage, wrinkles, acne or anything like that. To remove the marks, or any form of deep scarring you have to be far more aggressive with your skin. The absolute minimum you need to be doing this is once a week! Although, I'd strongly recommend doing it twice a week for 3/4weeks to get the ball rolling. Then revert to once a week after that!

Realistically & honestly, 20 sessions is the absolute minimum before you'll start to see acceptable results. If the marks aren't as bad, then they'll respond well to fewer treatments. However if they are deep, then you'll be looking at anything from 30/50. Which is gonna cost you big time!!!!

So in the long run, it's much, much cheaper to buy your own machine & do it at home yourself!

Lastly, If you want to be using MD & a peel. I'd advocate applying 30% Glycolic, then using Emu Oil followed by Copper Peptides straight after. Leave it on all night & wash off in the morning, or vice versa. Rather than buying 10/15% TCA & watering it down so much that it's not gonna peel/flake your skin. I'd also advise not putting any Glycolic on your skin for 48 hours before your Microdermabrasion treatment is due to be carried out. As well as not putting any on it for 24 hours after your Microdermabrasion has been performed.

So for example - You get Microdermabrasion done on a Monday. Apply it on the Fri morn/night, then no more. Only moisturise your skin on the Sat & Sun. Get Microdermabrasion on the Mon. Only moisturise on the Mon night. Start Glycolic on the Tue again, etc, etc.

Good thing about combining Microdermabrasion & Glycolic is that you don't need to worry about Hyperpigmentation because the MD treatment will remove it all before it gets a chance to build up to noticeable levels.

[Guest]

I would skip the microdermabrasion routine all together. I went to a person who was really trying to experiment with treating stretchmarks. She used the machine on me with very deliberate hard motions so that I almost bled. Her intention was to get down as deep as she could without actually making me bleed. It didn't hurt all that much while she was actually doing it, but it left me red and sore for a couple of days. Still nothing after many many treatments. I mean absolutely nothing. Not even a slight difference. The machine just doesn't go down deep enough to create stimulation to the dermis. It left my skin surrounding the stretchmarks soft.

[Guest]

hey everyone

can anyone recomend a reputable seller of TCA?

I appologise if this question has been asked before but i cant find it and i want to be sure that the stuff im buying is up to scratch as ive heard many negative things about suppliers.

thanks

[Guest]

hey everyone

can anyone recomend a reputable seller of TCA?

I appologise if this question has been asked before but i cant find it and i want to be sure that the stuff im buying is up to scratch as ive heard many negative things about suppliers.

thanks

I ordered from platinumskincare, which sells good quality products, however there may be other suppliers people can recommend as this one is based in the US. Please stick to the lower strengths though because this stuff really is dangerous, I cannot stress that enough. I would never dream of using stronger than 20% and have seen 100% advertised which would probably damage the skin permanently.

J

[Guest]

Def don't pick it skin following TCA peel... it's soooo tempting (like super glue on skin) but I've been left with horrible hyper-pigmentation as a result. I think it will go eventually but well.....! None of the TCAs have ever done me any good though (I'd hasten to add) - well except maybe on one knee.

RK

[PAULINE124]

Hi guys!

I want to share my techniques with you and hopefully it will help someone out there. I'm not sure if you remember my previous posts as to why I wasn't peeling after the TCA. Well it took me almost 3 weeks to start peeling. I was so scared that I had ruin my skin cause it was all wrinkly and feels so awful. But as I peel I could see that the stretch marks fading. Just with only 1 peels I so a 60% improvement. The marks that was not indent are still visable but the white lines are gone. I'm confident that with about 2 to 3 more peels I will be marks FREE. I can finally undress infront of my bf. I'm right now letting my skin heel before the second peel. (3weeks). But currently I've done another peel in a different area (behind my knees).

For those who thinks TCA is tooo risky you are missing out. Over 1 year ago I have tried TCA from a different vendor and as I put it on it was like acids. Burned my skin badly. (50% TCA). Just recently I did my research before I applied anything. I but TCA from NOVA skin care this time (50%) and duiloted down to 25%. It did nothing. I went up to 35% PERFECT. You can also do a lower % but try layering it to get the marks to really peel.

My abdominal area now looks really good and it's gets better everyday because I think the skin is still healing. NO discoloration at all.

Hope this information will help someone. I know how you feel.

[Guest]

Def don't pick it skin following TCA peel... it's soooo tempting (like super glue on skin) but I've been left with horrible hyper-pigmentation as a result. I think it will go eventually but well.....! None of the TCAs have ever done me any good though (I'd hasten to add) - well except maybe on one knee.

RK

as TCA peels make your skin 'like super glue' what is everyone doing about clothing?

surely clothing will rub and pull against the peeling skin, so is there any specific method anyone is using to combat this?

thanks very much any help is greatly apreciated as always

[Guest]

Thanks for your responses about microdermabrasion. I've booked 6 treatments only so far, which are bloody expensive at £1800 (even though I only paid half this time because I had some spare laser hair removal treatments which I transferred). If I don't see improvements in my thin stretch marks by the end of the 6th treatment I won't continue. The first time I tried it, it seemed...too soft on my skin. So I have now ordered 100% TCA (from nova clinic on ebay if you're interested) which I'm gonna dilute down to about 10%. It seems cheaper this way. And yes, I agree about the temptation to pick! lol I had tried it in the past for a few times and I was left with hyperpigmentation for months, because I couldn't resist picking! lol So be careful and let it fall by itself perhaps.

S

[Guest]

Thanks for your responses about microdermabrasion. I've booked 6 treatments only so far, which are bloody expensive at £1800 (even though I only paid half this time because I had some spare laser hair removal treatments which I transferred). If I don't see improvements in my thin stretch marks by the end of the 6th treatment I won't continue. The first time I tried it, it seemed...too soft on my skin. So I have now ordered 100% TCA (from nova clinic on ebay if you're interested) which I'm gonna dilute down to about 10%. It seems cheaper this way. And yes, I agree about the temptation to pick! lol I had tried it in the past for a few times and I was left with hyperpigmentation for months, because I couldn't resist picking! lol So be careful and let it fall by itself perhaps.

S

Then there is no point in doing it & save yourself money!

By the end of the 6th treatment & I'm being 100% honest. You'll be lucky to see any improvement at all unless your marks are very small/shallow. 10 is where you will notice then looking a bit better. 20 is around the point in which you'll start seeing some good results. 30 - 50 & your sorted. It all comes down to the type of marks you have. Small/Shallow will require 10 - 20. Medium is around 30 & deep ones will need about 50 (basically 1 peel a week for a year).

Microdermabrasion on it's own can work. The problem is you need a heck of a lot of treatments & if your getting it done at a salon, then they're very, very expensive. It's better to go to ebay (can get sellers from all around the world), or search the net for a supplier in your own country. Get 1/2 done at a salon & watch carefully how they treat the area(s), or pay £200/£300 for professional training that will take either a whole day or a whole weekend depending on who you choose.

[Guest]

as TCA peels make your skin 'like super glue' what is everyone doing about clothing?

surely clothing will rub and pull against the peeling skin, so is there any specific method anyone is using to combat this?

thanks very much any help is greatly apreciated as always

It depends on the area that it's been applied to & how strong the TCA is.

Loose fitting & light is the way to go.

You do not want anything chaffing against your skin & equally as imporant. You do not want to make the area sweat either when your up & about or sleeping (I learned that the hard way).

So if your putting it on your legs. Then I recommend combat trousers. If you look around, you can get the ones that are thin like paper. They allow your skin to breathe meaning less risk of sweat developing & they are baggy as well.

Upper body, then a very baggy t-shirt.

It's about general common sense! While the skin is healing, you need to treat it as extremely fragile. Don't let anything (clothing or otherwise, brush & bang against it).

[Guest]

hey everybody thanks for all the great info recently

on page 410 there was a great post about peels outlining a routine to follow and pre peel treatment, at the end there was mention of a very good 'post peel treatment' needed in order to look after the skin, get better results and keep damage to your skin to a minimum.

could someone please tell me what to apply after the peel has been done as this is the only part of the procedure im unsure about and it is probably the most important? *by after the peel i mean immediately after and during the healing process.

thank you so much guys i really feel like we're making progress

[Guest]

I ordered from platinumskincare, which sells good quality products, however there may be other suppliers people can recommend as this one is based in the US. Please stick to the lower strengths though because this stuff really is dangerous, I cannot stress that enough. I would never dream of using stronger than 20% and have seen 100% advertised which would probably damage the skin permanently.

J

You put 100% on your skin & VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY bad things are gonna happen. Which is gonna mean you heading off to the hospital after a few hours for serious burn treatment.

50% first time, depends on the type of skin. There is a good chance of scarring occuring & a very, very high chance of hyperpigmentation developing.

That's not to say you could never go that high. You should never need to, but it could be done if you built up your skin over the months/years.

You should start off as a first time with a minimum of 10%, but I think 15% is better. Do 2/3 peels at that strength. 2 mins for first time. 3 mins for second time. 3 1/2 - 4 mins for 3rd time etc. Move up to 20%, then 25, then 30. If you need to go higher, then 35 should be the highest you need to go.

If your skin was still super resistent, then you go to 35% TCA & either 70% Glycolic or Jessner's as a combination peel. Combination peels have actually replaced 50% TCA now.

Anything under 35% is classed as superficial. Even 50% TCA is medium-depth that only penetrates the upper dermis. However you should never start with anywhere near levels as strong as this because there is a good chance of you doing good amounts of damage to your skin.

Don't think of how high you need to go in the beginning! Start off slow, build the strength up over the months ahead & see how you get on. If you need to go higher, then do it slowly! A minium of 5% increase between strength's - maximum of 10%

Before you start on TCA, use Retin-A/Retinol, Tretinoin, Glycolic/Lactic/Salicylic Acid for a minimum of 4/6 weeks prior to using TCA. This pre-peel treatment ensures a much more even distribution of TCA into the skin. It thins the epidermal barrier down, meaning it accelerates wound healing & reduces the risk of hyperpigmentation occuring.

Lastly, if you plan on exposing peeled skin to any sort of sun. Then you need to regularly apply a sunblock with a minimum of 30 SPF.

[Dot.....]

Hey ive read through the forum and am going away to the beach in december

i have mostly white stetch marks mainly on my hips that are on the same layer as my skin and i also have a few red ones around that are not to bad

my question is what sort of peel and lotion or whatever combination do i use to get rid of them

ive been trying for so long so it would be greatly appreciated if someone could give me a step by step as it would change my life

[Guest]

Hey ive read through the forum and am going away to the beach in december

i have mostly white stetch marks mainly on my hips that are on the same layer as my skin and i also have a few red ones around that are not to bad

my question is what sort of peel and lotion or whatever combination do i use to get rid of them

ive been trying for so long so it would be greatly appreciated if someone could give me a step by step as it would change my life

As someone has posted above there is a good peel routine on page 410.

J