Whitening Cream Update!

In my last post I talked about starting an experiment to try and eliminate some VERY stubborn pigmentation spots on my right cheek, right below the eye, with a new product called "elure" and a 0.25 mm derma roller to help speed up the process, and I promised to update on the progress - so here I am :)

To tell you the truth, at first I didn't think my spots have faded at all. But then when I took a picture of my face this morning and put it side-by-side with the picture from the last post... Well I was positively surprised!

Take a look:

I guess that when you examine your skin every day it's hard to notice progress if it's very slow.

(I would like to stress out that I do not "photoshop" these pictures in any way! I take the pictures with my Galaxy S3 camera in my bathroom, with the same lightning and the same position of the myself & the camera, then I upload it to my computer and the only thing I do is resize and crop it.)

At this point I am a lot more optimistic than I was at the beginning of this month. I think that if I keep doing what I'm doing I might actually get to a point where my spots are finally entirely GONE.

In case you'll want to try it yourself, here's what I've been doing these last few weeks:

• Applying the "elure" cream twice a day (morning and evening), after cleansing.
• Every now and then, before applying the cream I rolled the spots several times with a 0.25 mm Dr.Roller. It made my skin red so I did it only at night, about an hour before going to bed (the "elure" cream is active for about an hour, then you can just wash it off if you want).
• Prior to applying the cream I cleansed my face and some of the times also applied a gentle peel (either with a peeling cream or simply by applying Salicylic Acid 2%).
• Stayed away from the sun as much as I could, and when I had to go out I'd always apply a 30 SPF sunscreen!
• Oh, and I still continued to use the SVR products every second night or so (and also sometimes during the day if I knew I was not going out in the sun at all).

Now I'm worried because in a few days I'm going on vacation to a SUNNY place where it will be very difficult to avoid being under the sun... I hope I don't come back with spots returning to the state they were in the beginning... Oh well... I guess I would then just have to start the process all over again. At least now I believe it can work!

The next update will be when I come back (about 3 weeks time).

Elure: A whitening cream that actually WORKS?

Hi everybody! I haven't updated this blog in a very long time because, well, I was done with using my derma rollers. I got some nice results on my stretch marks over the year, and I also managed to pretty much vanish a scar I had on my leg.

So what brings me to write another post, almost half a year after my last one?

Hyper-Pigmentation Revisited

If you've ever had pigmentation marks (or sun spots) anywhere on your body then you know how difficult they are to treat. I've had a really stubborn spot under my right eye for as long as I can remember. I think I tried just about every cream on the market. I can't remember all of them but here's a list of the creams I do remember trying:

1. Mederma - I had high hopes for this one, what a huge disappointment. It caused my skin to breakout, while doing NOTHING for my pigmentation. It's expensive. And it simply did not work for me.

2. Bio Oil -  I originally bought it to try it on my stretch marks, but also used it on my face. When you read reviews online you might believe it's a miracle oil. The bottle says it will "even out your skin tone". Didn't happen to me! Waste of money and time, really.

3. SVR Clarial - This is the most recent cream I've tried. It is very expensive (around $80) but it was recommended to me by a dermatologist. I've been using both their C-10 Cream (vitamin C) and Clarial Cream (for de-pigmenting) for about 2 months now. I'm not sure it did anything to my sunspots. They perhaps faded just a little bit, but this could have been simply due to time passing by, and the fact that it's winter now where I live.

4. No7. Lighten & Brighten -  I ordered this along with the SVR Clarial and I've been using them both actually. This company has been in the news recently for their anti-wrinkle cream which, it is said, does miracles. I am not to impressed with their anti-pigmentation cream, though. It has a gel texture, a little bit like glue only too watery. It causes breakouts, and - so far has made no difference in my sunspots.

I've also tried a few hydroquinone-based creams. They make your skin red and irritated, and you can't go out in the sun AT ALL otherwise it makes your marks even darker !! So stay away from those, this stuff gave me no good results.

Elure - Finally a whitening cream that works?

I stumbled upon the name of this cream on a pigmentation forum. It is a new product (2012) allegedly created after an 8-year research in an Israeli university:

"Elure is the only clinically proven, topical skin lightening product that contains Melanozyme(TM), an enzyme derived from a mushroom, which effectively reduces the dark-colored pigment in skin. Many topical skin lightening products decrease melanin overproduction but they don’t target existing melanin. Additionally, many contain hydroquinone, which can irritate skin. Elure addresses all causes of skin discolorations while remaining safe and non-aggravating"

This cream is very expensive (about $150-200), but it received very good reviews so I bought it. It comes in 2 (attached but separate) bottles, labelled "1" and "2".  You use it by first applying some of the "1" bottle, then waiting for one minute,and finally applying the same amount from the "2" bottle on the same area. This 2nd cream is the "activator" - it interacts with the first cream to start fighting the Melanin (pigment) on your skin.

The approach here is very different from any other products on the market: instead of just inhibiting the production of *new* melanin in the skin, it works against *existing* Melanin in the skin. This means that you don't have to wait weeks or months for skin turnover. The company says results are visible in just 7 days and continue to improve up until day 28.

Elure + Derma Roller = ?

The connection between the two is quite obvious: if the cream works directly on the skin pigment, why not "help" it by first needling the skin with a dermaroller to create the micro-channels into the deeper layer of the skin, and then apply the cream?

Now you understand why I'm back posting on the blog - - I have a new experiment to make!

I'm going to use "Elure" with a 0.25 mm derma roller (might switch to 0.5 mm later) to see if I get any fast results with this combination on my facial sunspots which I've suffered from for the last 8+ years (!!)

So, here's my (almost) "before" picture (I took it today but I started using the cream 2 days ago):

Sunspots under my right eye. Will "elure" help fade them? Stay tuned!

What do you think? Will it work? If you are reading this and you've ever tried any product (successfully or unsuccessfully) on your sunspots or hyper-pigmentation PLEASE share your experiences in the comment-section below!

Dermaroller Scar Treatment - My Results

I promised to show you the results with the dermaroller on my scar.

About a year ago I wrote that I was going to try treat a (wound inflicted) scar on my left leg with a derma roller. Since then it has greatly improved.

Here's what my scar looks like now, compared to a year ago (the small pictrue).

I believe the derma roller (Sometimes I used a 1.0mm - sometimes a 1.5mm) was responsible mainly for improving the skin's texture. On its own, it was a bit less effective with the hyper pigmentation involved, so I had to also apply a skin-lightening serum + my own made vitamin C.

As you can see the scar has almost totally faded, you can barely see it any more!

1 Year of my Blog! Year Summary!

This month my blog is celebrating its first year (can you believe it?), so I think it's time for me to try and sum up my whole derma roller experience and tell you what I think about it so far. (After all, you might remember, this blog started as an experiment to see if derma rollers really work!).

Allow me to begin at the end: My stretch marks have improved so much that lately I don't even feel I must continue and roll them anymore! If I had to talk in numbers I would say their appearance improved by 50%-60%.

See for yourself: (click a picture to see it in full size!)

Pretty neat, eh?

And to think just a few months ago my stretch marks looked like this:

Of course, the stretch marks are still there, but they are a lot more shallow and visible only when you look at it up close (which is, luckily, something that most people don't usually do ;)).

The following pictures were taken using the "macro mode" in my camera:

Derma Roller for under-eye dark circles?

If you suffer from dark circles under the eyes then you know how frustrating they can be. They make you look older than your age, and people constantly tell you that you look tired (even if you just woke up from 12 hours of sleep).

I myself suffer from this, as you can see in this pic:

<---- My panda eye :-(

So I have been doing some serious research about this issue. Here are some key facts I mangaged to gather:

1. There is no one cause for this problem
2. Like varicose veins, dark circles under the eyes are usually an inherited trait. Other cause is (what else) aging: As we age the sensitive skin under our eyes gets thinner, we also lose some fat in this area which gives it volume. The result is a depressed area that casts a shadow.
3. Dark circles sometimes look worse because dark (usually blue) veins start to show through the half transparent skin.
4. In rare cases the cause for dark circles are clogged capillaries.