Acne Scar Treatment

Acne often results in scars that can cause significant distress. We offer a number of treatments to help address acne scarring. Depending on the nature and severity of scars, these can include subcision, punch excision, vascular laser and intense pulse light therapy, non-ablative fractionated laser resurfacing, and ablative laser resurfacing. Often different types of scars coexist, and a combination of treatments is often recommended.

 

Your dermatologist will help select the most appropriate combination of treatments for your scars.

Treatments include:

 

  • Subcision and Punch excision
  • Vascular laser and intense pulse light therapy
  • Non-ablative fractionated laser resurfacing
  • Ablative laser resurfacing
  • Dermal fillers and dermal grafting

Subcision and Punch excision

These are minor surgical procedures.

Subcision is an excellent treatment for rolling and tethered scars. After first anaesthetizing the area with local anaesthetic, a needle placed under the skin to loosen scars pulling the skin down. Minor bruising is present for a week.

 

Punch excision is ideal for small ice-pick scars. After a local anaesthetic injection, the scar is excised and suture together, leaving a thin flat scar, rather than the preceding deep depressed scar. The new scar line can then be resurfaced with a laser, to further soften the appearance.

Vascular laser and intense pulse light therapy

Red marks and scars can slowly improve spontaneously after treating the active acne. Vascular laser and intense pulse light therapy can increase the speed of improvement, particularly when it is marked, or spontaneous improvement has been slow.

Non-ablative fractionated laser resurfacing

Non-ablative fractionated laser resurfacing is great for improving atrophic, or box-car, scars, without the downtime, pain or risks of ablative laser resurfacing Several sessions are needed to achieve good results.
Read about ResurFX Fractionated laser.

Ablative laser resurfacing

By ablating the top layer of skin, impressive improvements can be seen with a single treatment. However, the treatment carries high risk of complications than non-ablative treatment, and has considerable downtime.

Dermal fillers and dermal grafting

For certain depressed scars, dermal fillers can use to give immediate improvement. The procedure is quick, with essentially no downtime. However, the fillers are temporary, and need to be repeated after several months. They can be combined with other treatments to give more sustained benefits.

 

Dermal grafting involves insertion of a small dermal graft taken from skin elsewhere on the body, under the scar, to lift a depressed scar. The advantage is that the effect is sustained. However, it is a surgical procedure, with a scar at the donor and recipient site.

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