ACNE SCAR
Must Know Facts About Acne Scars!
Scars due to acne is a very common distressing problem (in fact the most common cause of scars on the face).
The severity of scars depends on the severity of acne and delay inappropriate treatment. Acne scars are of different types-depressed, raised, or red hot scars and different types of scars can occur in the same patient. Post acne scars usually need some surgical procedure and are not amenable to treatment just by using creams or oral medicines.
Acne scar surgery is the use of various surgical procedures for the treatment of post-acne scarring.
Prior to performing these surgeries, it is important that patients should not have any active acne or any kind of active skin infection. The patient should also inform the doctor about any keloidal tendency (tendency to form scars at sites of trauma/prior procedure).
Acne scar surgeries are of different types. All these procedures are done under topical or local anaesthesia. If using topical anaesthesia there is an extra wait time of 45 mins for topical anaesthesia to work
Get Closer with Us
how we can help you to solve your problems.
For all enquiries, please contact us using the button below
Procedure and Post Procedure
SUBCISION
In this a small needle is inserted in the skin to break the fibrotic strands, which are attached to the scars and are pulling it down in the skin. Individual depressed scars are treated using multiple puncture sites. It leads to immediate upliftment of the scars. Post-procedure there might be some swelling, redness, or bruising which is managed by cold compresses and some oral medicines.
PUNCH TECHNIQUES
These are used for depressed ‘punched out’ scars. Here depending on the diameter of the scar and its surface, either the scar is punched out and stitched, or punched and elevated (but not taken out), or punched out with grafting done from another body part. These are usually done for isolated scars.
SKIN NEEDLING
In this a device called Dermaroller, which has small multiple needles attached to it, is rolled on the affected skin. It is a form of controlled injury to the skin which creates very minute puncture points which in turn send signals to the inner layers of skin to form new and healthy collagen which in turn uplifts the skin. These puncture points also act as conduits that help deliver the topical creams to internal layers of skin. Postoperatively there might be discomfort, redness, swelling, and pinpoint bleeding points which later form crusts that fall in 5-7 days. It’s a cheaper option for patients who can’t afford laser treatment but should always be done by a trained dermatologist. There is an added advantage of skin resurfacing giving more tighter and youthful skin in general.
DERMABRASION
This is done using a manual or electric derma-abrader and can be done as a spot treatment or full face depending on the extent of scars. In this, the skin is removed till the appropriate depth as determined by the physician and there are pinpoint bleeding points seen post-procedure. The idea is to stimulate the collagen in the inner layers of skin to form new skin which is healthier and has a less scarred appearance. There is post-operative redness, swelling, and crusting which takes 7-10 days to subside, thus leading to a downtime.
TCA APPLICATION
In this a chemical called trichloroacetic acid is applied with a toothpick to the base of small scars. In this, there is crusting post-procedure which falls off in 5-7 days. This does not require anesthesia.
At our clinic, we have an advanced way of doing skin needling using ‘NANOPORE’ which is run electrically and in which control on the speed and diameter of the needle to be used is fixed. This gives all benefits of dermaroller but is more accurate and sophisticated.
As post-operative advice to all acne scar surgeries, patients should be practicing strict sun protection and apply creams only prescribed by the treating physician.
There is no single best procedure, and most patients require a combination of different procedures for best results based on types of scars, overall appearance, and expectations of the patient. Also, most of these procedures might require more than one sitting to give appreciable results. It is important to understand that the goal of treatment is improvement rather than perfection, as these procedures work on the upliftment of scars and improvement of skin texture rather than the complete elimination of scars.