Do you know what the best acne scar removal or treatment for you will be?
Either way, the first thing to do would be to consult your dermatologist or doctor to establish all the PROS and CONS for each treatment and/or procedure.
Therefore, understanding the different therapies, treatments and procedures that are available before any consultation can only help you to be well informed and in the know!
Types of Acne Scar Removal
1) Collagen Injections to Treat Acne Scars:
This process involves being injected under the scar to bring it to the same level as the surrounding skin area. The filler substances like collagen or other alternatives like the patient’s own body fat, cosmoderm, cymetra and restylane could be used.
Patients are able to return to their individual schedules because very minimal recovery time is needed. The resulting effect is usually temporary and may last 3 – 6 months.
2) Autologous fat transfer:
”Autologous” is the use of the patients own tissue or body fat. The fat is removed from one part of the body ( thighs, jowls, abdomen or buttocks ) then injected back into the facial area that is scarred.
It is therefore, unable to remove acne scars but it rather replenishes it . The fat eventually gets absorbed into the body so that the procedure may need to be repeated again
3) Dermabrasion:
This procedure has been around since the 1950s. It is a process where the top layers of the skin are taken off with the use of a machine that literally abrades the skin.
Acne scars on the surface can be removed completely while deeper scars may become less noticeable. Dermabrasion may provide the skin with a smoother look, however, it is not 100% effective for the removal. of acne scars. People with darker skin may experience pigmentation.
4) Chemical peels:
Another acne scar removal option. This is similar to dermabrasion because it is used to remove the top layer of the skin. However, rather than the use of machinery, chemicals are used instead.
Still, this is not 100% effective for acne scar removal, nevertheless it does give the skin a smoother appearance.
The treatment entails using a substantial amount of potency acid on the patient’s skin. This helps to remove the prime layer of the skin and uncover the smoother layer underneath.
Chemical peel treatments may take up to 15 minutes with several more treatments . Its possible side effects include swelling or redness, dryness or flakiness as the prime layer of skin is removed. Patient recovery time could vary from a day to a few weeks.
5) Microdermabrasion:
This more sophisticated acne scar removal involves a hand-held equipment that emits crystals on top of skin.
These crystals carefully abrade or “polish” the skin’s surface area. Then, a vacuum tube helps to eliminate the crystals and skin cells.
The skin is not damaged because the surface skin cells are removed. However, the outcome can be subtle and scars may continue to be visible, even following a number of consultations.
6) Punch Techniques:
These techniques are usually used for deep acne scars like “ice pick” scarring. The treatment involves the actual removal of the tissue, that contains the acne scar and, either the suture or replacement of the remaining tissue.
7) Intense Pulsed Light (IPL):
Acne can be successfully treated with IPL only or in conjunction with other specialized medical treatment options.
This procedure significantly decrease the amount and seriousness of active lesions, reducing the inflammation and frequency of acne breakouts.
How does IPL Work?
The light released from the IPL system specifically targets the overactive sebaceous glands, hence, significantly decreasing the overall number and seriousness of active lesions, and reducing the inflammation and likelihood of acne breakouts.
The light encourages the creation of fresh collagen to enhance the skin texture, and can also decrease the physical appearance of brown or red areas of the skin that are frequently connected with acne breakouts.
8) Laser Resurfacing
This is suited mostly for shallow blemishes. Compared to other acne scar removal therapies, laser resurfacing is a comparatively new approach for getting rid of acne scars.
It is effective by burning off the prime layers of the patient’s skin to a particular level. The afflicted spot then heals with the scarred skin being substituted by new smooth skin.
The specific technique normally would take only a couple of minutes, however, the patient would typically need a number of treatments. After following this procedure the skin may become swollen and red. This could possibly continue for a number of weeks.
9) Radiofrequency (RF) Therapy:
RF treatment is normally used to reduce cellulite or for skin laxity and tightening procedures. It is seldom used to tackle acne vulgaris or as an acne scar removal.
Nevertheless, at least one study, has shown that RF treatment, may possibly, improve acne symptoms. It has had preliminary tests establishing that it may improve inflammatory acne. The study has shown that RF treatment may be an effective treatment for acne.
This treatment uses radiofrequency technological innovation to provide resurfacing and ablation via fractional tissues heating system at different rates.
The applicator can be altered to personalize the ablation level and degree of skin resurfacing depending on specific individual requirements.
RF treatment is a non-light based or non-laser based device that is able to be tuned for resurfacing and ablation.
