Many acne scars fade with time without treatment, particularly if you keep your acne under control by not picking or squeezing, but for deeper scars that don’t seem to fade over time, dermatologists offer several therapies that may help make them smoother looking.
Over-the-counter bleaching products and moisturizers containing shea butter may help lighten dark spots on skin, while professional treatments tend to work faster and are more effective than home remedies.
Chemical Peels
Chemical peels can enhance skin tone and texture while diminishing acne scarring. Furthermore, chemical peels have proven successful at treating numerous conditions including hyperpigmentation (including freckles and melasma), fine lines/wrinkles, dry skin and sun damage.
Chemical peels come in several varieties, from light (“lunchtime”) to deep. Your doctor will help determine which will best meet your goals and skin condition.
Procedure begins by cleansing the skin thoroughly. Next, a chemical peel is applied to either your face or other body part; you may experience some slight discomfort while it works; when completed, the doctor will wash and neutralize its effects.
Although estheticians and spas can perform light peels, stronger ones with TCA should only be conducted by physicians who specialize in skin care to ensure optimal results and to avoid complications like discoloration or uneven texture.
Dermal Fillers
Acne scarring can leave depressed, discolored marks on your skin long after acne breakouts have resolved, often making treatment ineffective. Creams sold over-the-counter for deep scarring often fail.
Dermal fillers are widely used to reduce wrinkles and fill in sunken areas of the face, but they’re also an effective solution for acne scarring. Hyaluronic acid fillers like Restylane and Juvederm can be used to inject depressed areas of skin to make scars less obvious.
Polymethyl methacrylate microspheres with collagen (Bellafill) is another semi-permanent filler used to treat acne scarring, stimulating your body’s natural production of collagen and diminishing scarring over time. A combination approach using laser resurfacing and dermal fillers may optimize results of this therapy; alternatively Sculptra uses poly-L-lactic acid to correct volume deficits – another option.
Minor Surgery
If you believe surgery means only hospital-based surgeries, it’s worth remembering that minor operations can also take place at clinics – this allows patients to reap its benefits without extensive resources, longer recovery times or higher costs.
At our clinics, the vast majority of minor surgical procedures involve the removal of small lumps or bumps under local anaesthetic. Numbing cream usually takes 20 to 30 minutes to become effective; after which most people can resume their daily activities without further interference from pain.
Prior to coming in for your appointment, it is imperative that you inform us if there are any known allergies to anesthesia. Also important to inform us is any concerns with scarring after surgery as this varies according to individual cases and cannot be predicted accurately. Although all surgeries carry some risk of infection, this risk can be reduced by keeping wounds clean and following instructions given by our Nurse.
Laser Treatments
Acne-induced scabs can leave permanent marks on your skin that last a lifetime, from very small and subtle indentations to large indentions with sharp edges – also known as atrophic scars. Laser treatments are an effective way to assist the healing process, by extracting damaged cells and decreasing discoloration.
Fractional laser resurfacing can be used to treat atrophic scarring by heating rows of tissue with short bursts of laser energy and stimulating collagen production in your skin, encouraging new, healthy growth that will cover up old scars more effectively. Furthermore, this procedure can also remove pigmentation or redness on its surface and can even remove pigment from scars themselves.
Radiofrequency microneedling, while not technically a laser treatment, is another in-office treatment used to help smooth atrophic scars by using an in-office device with heat-controlled needles to stamp over your skin with a stamping motion and create tiny wounds containing collagen and elastin stimulation that tighten and smooth your skin.