will my white-ish scars fade? really depressed about it

hey this is reassuring ! were your scars white like mine and do you have fair/tanned skin? did you do anything to help speed up the process ?

hey, yea mine were white and imfairly pale but i also had scars on the top of my arm (other side of my wrist) and they faded too, also got a really big one on my ankle which hasnt faded due to the severity

also no i didnt do anything. didnt think theyd fade so just forgot about them

can i ask were they self inflicted cuts or injury scrapes etc?

they were all self inflicted

My skin's so light anyway they're not that obvious on me but think mine have faded a bit over 5+ years, some have anyway. Can see them if you look for them or if I've got sunburnt or something, also feel them running fingers over them. They're not that bad though and I've only ever had one person comment I think. The pink/red ones if anything seem to be getting darker but these are mostly a lot more recent, hopefully they'll go eventually.


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Had my second session of laser therapy today. Did about 1/3 of my arm. It hurt so much but it worked well on the test patch so I'm hoping for replication on this area..

Just thought you might be interested.

great! can i ask how much it cost?

laser isn't really an option for me but thanks for the head up. my scars are literally flat and just lighter then my skin. however they are in tight clusters like a razor which make them noticeable as its like patches. do you think theres any hope for me in them fading if I'm applying bio oil and a scar serum 2/3 times a day each product? i really want them to go everytime i remember them being there it makes me feel really agitated and resentful

Mine are flat and I'm pale so the color difference isn't too large luckily. The laser therapy is $100 a session (I live in the US) and I'll probably need 5 more. I saved money for a fair while to pay for it, I thought it'd be around $2000 total so I'm happy with the price.

How long has it been since you self-harmed? I'd say if it's been a while you could talk to your GP about a referral to a dermatologist who can advise you about options - like what kind of cream and how often etc.

i can't really remember it was last year late summer/early autumn. maybe, i just dont think they have any advice apart from what I'm doing at the moment and will probably tell me they are often permanent (like the website says) which is not what i want to hear

If they're flat have you thought about tattooing them to the color of your skin? My dermatologist mentioned it to me if I decided against the laser, apparently it can have very good results.

If they're flat have you thought about tattooing them to the color of your skin? My dermatologist mentioned it to me if I decided against the laser, apparently it can have very good results.

Bio oil is good.

Even if it takes a few years for the scars to fade, I think that you should be kinder to yourself about them..I know a few people with visible self harm scars and as visible as they are and as cheesy as it might sound, they're not seen as a blemish but something on the body that tells a story about it's journey. They are absolutely nothing to be ashamed of for any reason and I think it's really important to remember that rather than hate on them and yourself.

thanks for your kind words do you have any personal experience with bio oil/results?

It seems pretty severe to me to tattoo id much prefer natural methods.
maybe when I'm older and nothing improves i will do that. is it the same cost as a normal tattoo?
But u seem to have quite a lot of knowledge about scars due to your experience and your doctors. did they ever suggest to you that scars can heal naturally with oils and creams when they are like mine and go back to the natural skin pigment? also do you know if vigorous exfoliation could help 'shed' the skin and replace it with healthy cells? (sorry if that sounds ridiculous)

also why did you choose laser over tattoo? tattoo seems like the easier and cheaper option.

My psychiatrist said that rubbing dermatix in twice a day could make the scars "fade". When I first started using it, my scars were red and raised - I did the dermatix for a couple of years and now they're flat, white and just look smaller - like not as wide for instance. I read on the internet about dermatix and that's where I found research that it's more the rubbing in than the actual substance that counts. I don't think that the scars will return to totally natural skin pigment, that's actually why I picked the laser over tattoo, it makes a bunch of tiny pricks which encourages the damaged skin to recover, whereas a tattoo just covers it up and makes them less noticeable. After the dermatologist did the test patch in December the 3 scars he targeted with the laser are a lot less noticeable, they blend into the surrounding skin and it looked improved enough that I went back to have a second session today. Tbh, from a layperson's pov, I think the exfoliation might be helpful as it's a rubbing motion and I think you might be right about helping shed the damaged skin. You could try looking on the internet to see if there's any research into exfoliation and scars? I just googled it and there seems to be a lot of pages where that question is asked.

thanks for all the advice. I'm going to carry on with bio oil and this boots scar serum i got recently and do that for 3 months.hopefully it will help them fade further. would u say rubbing for 3-5 minutes two or 3 times a day is enough?