When the patient no longer experience new acne outbreaks is when acne scar treatment is given. If the breaking out continues, the patient should first look to stop it via treatment. Then comes the treatment of acne scars to which six main approaches are described in this article.
Dermabrasion
Dermabrasion has been in use for acne scar treatment for tens of years. As the name suggests, dermabrasion is basically the removal of the skin that has been affected by acne. Initially, the technique employed sandpaper to remove the diseased skin and letting fresh skin grow from beneath. With these now modern machines, rotatingg diamond edged wheels are used for the same thing. It takes up to an hour to complete the procedure. This technique is recommended well for patients with light or dark skin color but not much for those with wheatish complexion.
Chemical Peels
Chemical peels for acne scar treatment use certain kind of acids that are applied to the acne-affected skin. Their effect is to remove the top layer of the skin and allow a smoother layer from beneath to appear at the surface. This procedure is faster and takes only 15 minutes. The main disadvantage of this method is that it is not very effective in severe cases of acne scars. The acids used also affect the skin by causing some redness and swelling. The skin could turn dry and develop flakes in addition.
Subcision
Subcision refers to the process of detaching the scar from the skin tissues that lie deeper. This cause a pool of blood to form under the scar. This blood clot allows connective tissue to build up under the scar. Therefore the scar is leveled with the surface of the skin.
Subcision is usually applied in addition with dermabrasion or maybe laser therapy.
Laser Resurfacing
This method of acne scar treatment uses laser for removing the acne-affected skin and allowing new skin to grow and replace it. A rather new approach is laser resurfacing- which studies are underway to establish it as an effective acne scar treatment. The results of this method are so far promising. After undergoing this treatment, redness and swelling have been reported.
Punch Techniques
There are three types of punch techniques used as acne scar treatment: punch replacement, punch excision, and punch elevation. By using a punch of the hair transplant type, punch replacement removes the pitted scar. For deep scars, this method is highly successful. Punch excision takes out the pitted scar with tiny incision, that is then closed and let heal on its own. The scar is cut off at the root bit it isn't discarded in punch elevation. Rather it is allowed emerge to the skin's level.
Augmentation
Augmentation is a unique method of acne scar treatment. Material (mostly collagen) is injected under the scar, which causes the scar to float up to the surface of the skin. Sometimes, one's own fat is used as the injecting material. The method doesn't cause any swelling that might take time to recover. Augmentation is expected to become a more permanent acne scar treatment in the future.
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