u/Hert_Z

i see a lot of posts asking if PIH actually fades. from my exp, yes it does… but the timeline is way longer and honestly less linear than anything i had read before. this is what it actually looked like for me

month 1-3: nothing changed. like literally nothing. i almost quit here tbh month 4-6: lighter marks started fading a bit, the ones that were already faint. the obvious ones looked exactly the same

month 7-10: this is where i finally saw real progress. medium marks maybe 50-60% lighter. deeper red ones still very visible tho

month 11-15: the stubborn marks finally started moving. slow, but noticeable if i compared properly

month 16-18: at this point most of my PIH is either gone or faint enough you wouldn’t notice unless you’re rlly looking for it. still have like 2 marks on my left cheek tho

what i used: tret 0.025% the whole time. no other actives. SPF every single morning, no skipping. that’s literally it

what didn’t help (for me): vitamin c irritated my skin and honestly slowed things down. niacinamide was fine but didn’t seem to do much. keeping things simple worked way better than anything else i tried

the part ppl don’t say clearly enough: month 3 is where most ppl quit. month 4 is when things start to move. that gap is where consistency actually matters

how far into PIH treatment are you and what does your progress look like?

I’ve been getting more one-person interview/doc pickups lately where there’s no AC, no audio assist, no slate, and sometimes the “B cam” is basically just a second angle grabbed on the same phone setup.

I can make it work, but I’m curious what other working editors are doing to make these shoots less annoying before the footage hits the timeline.

The recurring problems:

• one angle starts a second or two later
• frame rates don’t always match what was promised
• orientation gets mixed if the shooter was moving fast
• audio is technically on both clips, but one track is useless for sync because of handling noise
• filenames/metadata are not always helpful

My current bandaid is basically:

• ask for one loud clap at head and tail
• ask them not to stop/restart unless absolutely necessary
• have them verbally ID the take before rolling
• in post, sync by waveform first, then slip by eye if needed
• once it’s lined up, I make a synced sequence and never touch the raw clips again

It works, but it still feels more fragile than it should be.

For those of you cutting this kind of material regularly, what instructions do you give producers/shooters so the footage comes in more edit-friendly? And in post, do you have a preferred method for keeping dual-angle phone material organized when it arrives as separate files with messy metadata?

Not asking about gear purchases or rates — just trying to tighten up a workflow that seems to be showing up more often.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]