Acne Scars

Acne Scars: Causes & How To Get Rid Of Acne Scars

Acne Scars-Overview

Acne scars are usually caused due to the blemishes being inflamed as a result of skin pores having dead skin, excess oil and various bacteria. As the pore swells, it causes a break in the wall of the follicle, this forms lesions or scars that are quite minor, and they do heal quickly. Deeper breaks in the wall pore allow infected material to move into the surrounding tissue, and create deeper lesions or scars. The skin does attempt to repair this skin damage by the formation of new collagen. But, these repairs do not seem the same as the original skin.

Various kinds of acne scars include –

• Box car acne scars
• Ice pick acne scars
• Rolling, atrophic, and depressed acne scars
• Mixed acne scars
• Red acne scars
• Keloid scars

Out of the above, there are two types of acne scars viz.

Hypertrophic or Keloid scarring

When the body produces too much collagen for acne wounds to heal, it forms a bump or raised tissue on the surface of the skin.

Atrophic Scars

These scars are formed when there is tissue loss in the skin. Atrophic scars can be classified into two type’s viz. Icepick and Boxcar.

• Icepick scars are smaller in size, but do form holes in the skin
• Boxcar scars are depressed areas that are round or oval in shape with angled sides

Best treatments for acne scars

• Soft tissue fillers
• Laser resurfacing
• Pulsed light lasers
• Dermabrasion
• Chemical Peeling
• Needling or rolling

The symptoms of acne depending on the severity of the condition include –

• Blackheads
• Whiteheads
• Papules (Red Tender bumps)
• Pimples
• Solid and painful lumps beneath the surface
• Pus-filled lumps beneath the surface

Causes of acne are

• Bacteria
• Surplus oil production
• Hormone imbalance
• Clogging of hair follicles with bacteria and dead skin

Video

Please watch this video to know more on how acne scars are caused, and how you can actually get rid of acne scars.

We are going to talk about acne scars, if you were disturbed with your acne, but you seemed to get medical help and treatment for acne. But what do you do about the scars that are left behind due to the acne?

Before taking treatment for acne scars, it is very important to understand the type of acne scars you have. There are 3 different types of scars that are observed viz. icepick scar, rolling scar, and boxscars. Depending on the type of scars you have, your dermatologist would prescribe the most suitable treatment or technology that would generate the best results.

Multiple sessions are required to get rid of the scars. If you have icepick scars, which are thin scars, then there is a technique called TCA cross or trichloroacetic acid which is an inexpensive technique to treat acne scars or atrophic scars. If your scars are rolling scars then, your dermatologist would perform subcision before they perform laser treatment that would decrease the extent of the rolling scar.

After the subcision, the dermatologist would use lasers like nano-fractional RF, carbon-dioxide or MNRF laser also called Micro Needling Radio Frequency Laser to make the scars shallow. But, this requires multiple sessions to give positive results.

If patients have boxscars, then MNRF lasers are used, or another technique called the punch technique can be used to shallow or reduce the boxscars. Before you start the treatment for your scars, it is very important to know what kind of scars you have, for the right kind of technique and laser to be used for the treatment. Your dermatologist will prepare a list of treatments to reduce scarring to a great extent.

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