What Are Scars?
Scars from acne, surgery, or trauma can cause an individual to feel self-conscious and are often very bothersome to patients.
Many procedures are available to improve the appearance of scars significantly, and the permanence of unwanted scars is decreasing as more and more improvements are being made in laser technology.
Dr. Lina Naga and Dr. Terrence Keaney of SkinDC are specialists in laser cosmetic treatments that can reduce or eliminate the appearance of scar tissue.
Acne Scar Treatment
What to Expect
Depending on the severity, discoloration, and depth, there are a wide range of treatment options for acne scarring.
First, we need to clear the acne that’s causing the scars. However, attempts to correct scarring while inflammation is active reduce the effectiveness of treatment.
The type of acne scarring also influences the best techniques. For example, acne scars that are lower than the skin’s surface respond best to resurfacing techniques, including:
- Chemical peels
- Laser treatments
Collagen induction methods can also treat lower-level scarring. These treatments may include:
- Microneedling
- Subcision
- Fillers
Raised scars may respond better to injections — such as corticosteroids or interferon — as well as lasers or cryosurgery before conventional surgery is attempted.
Surgical & Traumatic Scar Treatment
What to Expect
While the appearance of scars resulting from surgery or an accident may look quite different from the pits and bumps of acne scars, many of the same treatments provide improvement.
Chemical peels remove and regenerate the surface layers of skin. This can sometimes be all that you need to improve skin color variations and minor skin level irregularities.
Microneedling and subcision are treatments that induce collagen by the method of direct, controlled skin injury to stimulate collagen that fills in scars and makes them less noticeable.
Laser treatments work at the deep dermal level, and in most cases, patients can return to daily life immediately after treatment. Intense pulsed light and radiofrequency devices may also produce similar results as lasers on some types of scars.