While skin problems like pigmentation and prominent blood vessels can be concealed with make-up, scars are not.
Scars appear as a result of skin damage during the process of the skin healing; when the damage is down to the dermis of the skin layers. The most common cause is due to acne.
There are two types of acne scars, depending on whether there is a loss or accumulation of collagen: atrophic and hypertrophic. In 80-90% it comes to scars with loss of collagen compared to smaller number of hypertrophic scars and keloids.
Atrophic scars are classified into ice pick, rolling and boxcar type. Dotted, ice pick represents 65-70% of atrophic scars, rolling type 20-30% and boxcar type 15-25%.
Ice pick scars are narrow (2 mm), dotted and deep scars, with a wide opening and a deep infundibulum in the form of the letter V.
Rolling scars are wider (up to 5mm) and they reach to the subcutaneous adipose tissue. They give a distorted appearance to the skin, in the form of the letter M.
Boxcar scars have clearly visible vertical edges; they are wider than ice pick scars and U shape with a broad and visible base.
Laser technology has progressed continuously. The application of fractional carbon dioxide (CO2) laser in the treatment of acne blemishes was approved by the FDA in 2007.
Until today, the gold standard laser for treating acne scar is still our beloved fractional CO2 laser!
Numerous researches on the impact of fractional laser on acne scars indicate great success of the treatment. Most patients who participated in the researches noticed improvement of the face condition and loss of blemishes. It gives fast and practical result to most patients.
Fractional CO2 laser is an effective and safe method for treating acne scars. Numerous scientific researches have confirmed this repeatedly. Depending on the severity of the scars, it usually takes 4 – 6 treatments to achieve best result. The time period between two treatments is one month. At the end of the day, it will significantly improve the look of the scars.
Add-ons:
Other treatment modalities which can be coupled with fractional CO2 laser to further enhance the treatment results are subcision and PRP. Subcision can be performed prior to the fractional CO2 laser and PRP can be applied onto the post-laser skin where the laser has created hundreds of microchannels to allow the perfect absorption of the PRP into the skin to promote skin healing and collagen production. Promoting the growth of collagen is a very crucial factor in improving scar tissues. Other complementary treatment to promote healing will be phototherapy (LED) and scar serum to speed up the healing process.
Over the years in practicing aesthetic medicine, I have developed a personal interest in treating acne and acne scarring. In combining various oral and skincare protocols together with laser treatments, chemical peels or PRP, we can bring forth the best to benefit our patients.
I hope you find this article useful. While I still have your attention, please like & follow Elegance Clinic’s Facebook Page and website blog for future medical updates. 😉
Written by,
Dr. Tan
