About Acne Scarring And Getting Rid of Acne Scars

 

Acne refers to skin lesions or pimples caused by the clogging of dead skin cells and oils on the skin’s hair follicles or pores. A clogged follicle is a perfect breeding ground for bacteria called Propionibacterium acne. These bacteria cause the inflammation of the papules, pustules and nodules. During adolescent years, these bacteria increase due to hormonal changes and enhanced oil production.

There are three forms of acne – mild acne which are commonly called whiteheads or blackheads, moderately severe acne are red inflamed pimples called papules and red pimples with white centers called pustules, and severe acne which are painful and pus-filled cysts or lumps called nodules.

Acne affects up to 80% of adolescents and up to 5% of older adults. Some people recover from acne without permanent effects or scars, but some are left with blemished face due to severe acne scars. Some topical skin care products and medications can improve mild scaring but severe acne scars can only be treated with surgical procedures or skin resurfacing.

For more serious marks of acne, there are clinically-proven effective means to remove it. The basic objective of scar treatment is to improve the physical appearance of the skin damaged by the acne scars, if not totally restoring the skin back to its natural state. Major procedures, sometimes a combination of sorts, are applied to correct acne scars.

How to get rid of acne scars:

• Dermal Fillers or collagen injection. Dermal fillers such as fat, bovine collagen, human collagen, hyaluronic acid derivatives, etc. are injected into the scars to raise the surface of the skin and offer a smoother look.
• Dermabrasion. Under local anesthesia, a high-speed brush or fraise is used to remove surface skin and erase the contour of scars. Superficial scars may disappear totally but deeper scars may just be reduced in depth.
• Microdermabrasion. This new method is a surface form of dermabrasion. Instead of using a high-speed brush, microdermabrasion uses aluminum oxide crystals passing through a vacuum tube to remove surface skin. Surface cells of the skin are removed, so no additional wound is created. Multiple procedures are often required to significantly improve deep scars.
• Laser Treatment. This technique uses lasers of various wavelength and intensity to remove or recontour scar tissue and reduce the pigmentation of healed acne lesions. The type of laser to be used is determined depending on the severity of the scars to be removed or improved. In some cases, only a single treatment is necessary to achieve permanent results. Because the skin absorbs powerful bursts of energy from the laser, there may be post-treatment redness for several months.
• Skin Surgery. Some scars may be removed by "punch" excision of each individual scar. Under local anesthesia, the scar is excised down to the layer of subcutaneous fat; the resulting hole in the skin will be repaired with sutures or with a small skin graft. Subcision is a technique in which a surgical probe is used to lift the scar tissue away from unscarred skin, thus elevating the deep scar.
• Skin grafting. This is sometimes necessary for certain cases — for example, instead of suturing the skin edges together after the surgery, skin grafting may be needed to close the obvious large defect. The color and texture of the grafted and normal skin may differ noticeably after the procedure, so a skin resurfacing may be applied four to six weeks after the grafting to correct the difference.
• Treatment of keloids. A person who is prone to keloids from acne damage will be most likely to suffer from keloids in response to skin surgery. This surgical removal is seldom used to treat keloids. In these cases, keloids are treated by injecting steroid drugs into the skin around the keloid to smoothen the appearance. Topical retinoic acid can also be used to correct the keloid.
• Chemical peels are other options for acne scar treatment.

However, the most effective way of preventing or limiting the extent of scars is to treat acne immediately. The sooner you prevent the inflammation, the more likely that scars can permanent acne scars can be prevented.

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