Treating Acne Scarring - The Untold Truths
Treating acne scarring is not easy as the available cures involve many risks. The acne scar treatment article will give you a good lead.
Nobody wishes to have a face with acne scars, so treating acne scarring becomes essential. Acne scars can lead to depression and inferiority complex, directly affecting ones life. There are several treatments for acne scarring today to help you out but you simply cannot expect an overnight magic.
Before discussing the treatments, let us gather some information on how acne scarring develops. Actually in some people, severe acne gradually gives rise to permanent or occasional disfiguring marks. Scarring is a process where collagen within the skin gets damaged due to inflammation, causing a permanent change in skin texture.
Treatment For Acne Scars
There are a number of cures for acne scarring, but the ideal cure will be the one that depends on the type of scarring. Scar-treatments are normally costly and may not have an insurance cover. A good piece of advice for you will be to get your scars treated only when all the acne is clear. Else, new zits and marks will develop and the entire procedure will be wasted.
The most effective treatments are surgical in nature:
1. Dermabrasion - It involves resurfacing of the skin mechanically. For this, some abrasive tools are used to remove the outer layers of the skin. This method is effective but needs weeks of healing time and has higher risk of complication.
2. Laser Resurfacing - It is an ablative technique for the treating acne scars and involves destruction of the outer layers of the skin like Dermabrasion. Lasers used as part of this acne scar-remedy are high-energy beams of light that target specific structures in the skin. Though quite effective, the method is not very popular because you need long recovery time.
3. Subcision - It is specifically used in case of atrophic scarring. In this method, at first local anesthesia is used and then a needle is placed under the scar and smoothly moved underneath the skin to release the scar tissue. Recent studies show this technique has been tested and is quite effective.
4. Punch Excision and Grafting - It is used mostly to treat deep ice-pick scars. Deep and large scars are turned to tiny line scars - first they are removed and then filled with a skin graft. (The line-scar can later be treated to remove it fully).
5. Fillers - Scar is treated by adding volume to the skin. It can be used either alone or along with the above procedures. They can improve the appearance of your skin by flattening the acne scar but the effect is not permanent.
Apart from these surgical methods, some chemical peels and topical treatments, etc. are resorted to for removing acne scars. The chemical procedure is known as chemical resurfacing. Most chemical-treatments are based on glycolic acid, trichloroacetic acid (TCA), salicylic acid, "Jessners" solution, and phenol. Treatment of hypertrophic (and keloid) acne scars commonly involves silicone dressings, topical steroids, injected steroids or cryosurgery.
Although there are various treatments for acne scars but none of them are sans side effects. There is a need for extensive research work in this area.