Aug 24 2008
Acne Scar Treatment and how to Tackle it
People suffering from acne sometimes feel that they cannot do anything about the scars the acne leaves, but there are acne scar treatments available that can help reduce the appearance of them. While the acne scar treatment may not completely remove the marks left on your face, it will reduce them tremendously and make them less noticeable.
Acne scar treatment should help the scars both inside and out
Acne scarring does not just affect the physical aspects of a person. It also affects them mentally. Some acne patients suffer very mild acne that does require acne scar treatment. More severe acne like cystic acne can leave very large pockmarks that embarrass the sufferers to no end. They become very self conscious of the way they look and begin to avoid social situations because of it.
Acne scar treatment commonly is used to help treat a condition called ‘post-inflammatory pigmentation’. This follows the healing of acne lesions and leaves the skin where the acne cyst was once discolored. Acne scar treatments work on two different types of acne scars: keloids which are the formation of irregular-shaped scar tissue where the lesion healed and can be hereditary; and ice-pick scars which leave linear or circular marks due to the loss of tissue from the lesion site. Sunken fibrotic scars and soft tissue scarring are variations of the ice-pick type scars.
Acne scar treatments that may work for you
Acne scar treatment takes time to work, especially if the scars are bad. A dermatologist may try different methods of acne scar treatment, from lotions to more advanced methods such as laser therapy treatments. Another acne scar treatment that may be tried is dermabrasion, which can be just as painful as the acne itself. Dermatologists will use skin grafts or a filling agent such as collagen to heal the scars. The skin can be grafted from behind the ears using a technique called punch grafting and this type of dermabrasion is great for treating ice-pick scars.
If the scar is severe, the dermabrasion technique used will remove the stratum corneum from the scar by abrading it. This particular acne scar treatment is usually painful and a general anesthetic will be used on the patient to help numb the tissue being worked on. This method will leave the skin raw and red and it can take months for the skin to heal properly. This acne scar treatment works better when the scar is raised higher than the skin that surrounds it. Dermabrasion does not work well with scars that are sunken or pock marked.
Laser therapy as an acne scar treatment will also leave the skin raw around the scar site. This is due to the fact that laser therapy removes the skin layer by layer and uses carbon dioxide in the process. Peeling, the last type of common acne scar treatment available, also removes the skin – usually the epidermal layer – and is a perfect acne scar treatment for mild and superficial scarring. Acne sufferers should check with the dermatologist for more information about these methods.
