Track Marks - and a quick, effective treatment for reducing and diminishing!
Hello.
This thread is to discuss track marks, and how to reduce their appearance quickly.
To be clear, a track mark begins at the very first puncture. This is not to be confused with already formed scar tissue, the result of many track marks along the same vein, for which there is a separate treatment. If that becomes a question, feel free to add any personal experience with scar reduction. Additionally, please post any home remedies you have used, that you have found to be effective in reducing the initial track.
Just so i make sure i'm reaching the right audience:
I'm a junkie. A closet junkie, who gets off on reading Wikipedia articles about designer drug pharmacology. I literally lead two lives. One of work and conformity, and the other of sleepless nights, cocaine, and 30ga 1cc 1/2". I've spent a lot of time mastering a u-100. Probably not as long as some of you degenerates, but I've been injecting on and off for 12 years, and I've put a lot of drugs in my arms. and feet. and hands. and yes, in moments of sheer desperation and self-loathing, my neck. Maybe you did too. To this day, the only mark I have was a vein in my forearm that was too small and blew, leaving a scar from an ischemic lesion from cocaine.
(well, crack with vinegar. but cocaine sounds classier.)
I'm telling you this not because i'm higher than thou for not having a mark.
I'm telling you this because it is only by sheer grace that i found a method that works, and that there is someone googling "how to make track marks disappear", who may be able to save their job, marriage, or girlfriend if they act quick. I have never read about this treatment online. Never saw it on Bluelight or any other forum. I've been using it for 5 years, and it has never let me down, but still, no one ever mentions...
....ARNICA!!!!!!
Five years ago i went on an iv crack binge with my ex, after not using a syringe or any heavy drugs for a couple years. We both had really good jobs, and needed to show up for them, but in two weeks, we demolished what we both had left of our veins from our revisited lives as IV users. She, a nurse, heard of Arnica Gel and Cream somewhere in the hospital, and at the 23rd hour, the night before work we went and desperately bought bottles of the gel. (its located near any bacitracin/neosporin type aisle of any chain pharmacy, if you dont want to ask.) By the next morning, all bruising was gone. We both kept using it, and if i remember correctly it took 3 days before it wasn't noticeable.
If you've ever been an IV user of cocaine, you know that you leave the Long Island Rail Road across whatever appendage your poking. It's just so god-damn compulsive. Flakka too, but lets not go there..
Here is my personal treatment- you will need at least 12 hrs:
1) "Oh ****. The drugs are gone, and I just looked at my arms. I am ****ed."
2) Don't beat yourself up, and stay positive.. keep yourself motivated to taking care of the wounds.
3) Clean your site of injection with warm water and mild mosturizing soap as soon as you are finished. This will soften the tissue around the puncture and clean them free of any surface bacteria. Surface bacteria will contribute both to immediate tissue damage and contributes to permanent scarring.
4) Apply copious amounts of Arnica gel (~$12.50USD - I find the gel works quicker) along the veins you used. as it dries it may flake up. this is normal. just keep reapplying.
5) Apply a small dab of neosporin or bacitracin to the puncture site, while allowing for a generous coating of the Arnica. Triple-antibiotic creams will do nothing for bruising or redness, but keep the wound moist and healing.
6) You must stay on top of steps 4 and 5, hourly.
7) A heating pad at night may also help reduce swelling, redness, and bruising.
8) Go to sleep, and promise God you'll go to church if these go away.
9) If you did this for 24-hrs, and see a noticeable reduction in all aspects, continue it for as long as you can before whatever obligation requires you. If after two days, you see a big difference, then tell your junkie buddies about it, and hopefully help out the next guy.
I know there's things wrong with this thread, like "You didn't talk about site rotation, or gauge size, or any other number of nuances that will impact how bad its gonna look." You're right, I didn't, because proper injection technique has been discussed many times over already. Proper technique is really 50% of this whole thing, but..
as I type this, I must admit that even after years of knowing better, I still ****ed up. I used the same pin several times in a session, after a long night of cocaine, so my veins were already severely constricted. you can see the biforcation of my vein in my left hand, glaring at you with puncture wounds. I just lost it at some point and couldnt hit, but that didnt stop me from making an awfully valiant attempt to do so. And you know what..
Maybe you ****ed up too, and are desperately searching for a solution.. well, this is for you.