Don’t Be Scarred by Acne Scars

Acne Scars can be a disfiguring reminder of our past. There are now a plethora of methods available to improve their appearance. Acne scars can come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours. Here is a round up of the most common acne scars and the best ways to help them vanish from sight.

BROWN

Hyperpigmentation can result from the acne outbreak and the resultant inflammation. They are usually worsened by picking of the skin. The first steps to lighten brown blemishes is to prevent them from darkening by religious use of sun protection.

Try: Pigment Lasers can lighten superficial brown blemishes. Traditionally Pigment lasers are in the Q-switched mode, which is what most doctors are still using. However, the latest Pigment lasers are now in the picosecond mode. These Pico Pigment lasers represent the latest advancement in pigment therapy as they treat pigmentation more efficaciously and safely than the traditional lasers with little downtime. With deeper pigmented lesions, a fractional resurfacing laser that can renew deeper dermal layers is employed for more effective lightening.

Help yourself: Protect your skin from the sun using a broad spectrum sunscreen whether you are at home or outdoors will ensure best results from your lasers.

RED

Broken capillaries can result from the trauma and inflammation of pimple outbreaks, with resultant flushing or redness appearing on the skin. This may look worse when you are hot or under the sun.

Try: The gold standard laser for treating redness is a Vbeam laser which uses pulsed dye technology. As this is not a common laser, some doctors will try to treat with poorer alternatives such as IPL or other generic lasers. The latter may go some way to lessening the redness but not to any significant extent.

Help yourself: Harsh scrubs, strong products containing fruit acids will only aggravate your skin further leaving it red and flaky. Use gentle skin care products and avoid scrubbing your skin.

PITTED & UNEVEN

Cystic acne may leave pitted scars. These uneven scars may be rolling, ice pick or box car. The more severe your textural issues, the more likely you will have to accept that a 100% improvement is out of the question. However, don’t give up yet. There are plenty of ways to give improvements to the skin that will help boost your complexion and confidence.

Acne-Scar-Types — Different types of acne scars

Try: Shallow textural scars can respond to fractionated erbium lasers such as Fraxel Dual. Fractionated lasers are skin sparing as they emit in an ‘airbrush’ fashion which is a bonus for dark skin types such as Asian skins; it also helps to reduce the downtime and discomfort of the laser. Deeper textural scars will respond to fractional carbon dioxide laser such as SmartX which goes deeper into the skin to address the problem.

Help yourself: Picking at your skin, self-extractions will only earn you more pitted scars. Put a stop to these bad habits. If you need to clean our blackheads, opt for a skin-saving option such as Deep Deep Clean facials.