Acne Scar Revision

Scar revision or correction can be done in many ways. The outcome of the treatment and the choice of the treatment depend on the characteristics of the scar. These factors include skin type of the patient, extent of scarring, duration of the scar, cause of the scar – acne, post surgery, chicken pox etc, depth of the scar, and type of the scar itself. Also, it is important to know whether there are keloids/ exuberant scars elsewhere on the body. Similarly, it is important to assess the general health of the person undergoing scar correction, since all these factors are important in achieving good results.

Treatment options for acne scars include the following.

Subcision – where a needle is used to lift the floor of the scar, and release the scar from its attachment to the surrounding skin. This is the best option for rolling scars, and works even better when combined with suction. 

Dermaten – where multiple needles mounted on a hand held device, are used to create tiny wounds in the skin, which when they heal, lift up the acne scars with them.

TCA CROSS – this is a popular and easy technique, where a high concentration of TCA is applied to the base of the scar to lift it. This is a great option for very deep scars like ice pick scars, and also is very useful in smoothening the scar edge, which can be a problem with boxcar scars.

The crucial requirement is complete and strict sun protection, after a treatment session. 

Dermabrasion – where a manual/ motor dermabrader is used to remove the superficial layers of the skin in a controlled fashion, to improve the textural aberrations caused by acne. This procedure involves some downtime, and so needs to be planned with that in mind.

Chemical Peels – are very useful in managing superficial scars, and often require to be combined with another procedure for deeper scar correction. They can also be used in combination with procedures like subcision and after dermaten, to improve the final outcome.

Fractional resurfacing – this involves the use of LASER/ radio-frequency energy to create tiny wounds in the skin, which lift the scars as they heal.

Scar excision – sometimes, a scar can be easily removed, while still maintaining the cosmetic outcome.

Punch floatation – in deep scars, the floor of the scar is raised using this technique.

Filler therapy – this technique involves the use of hyaluronic acid fillers/ fat/ silikon to lift the scar base.

Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy is one of the latest advances in scar revision techniques. While this modality can be used as stand alone treatment for antiageing, wrinkle reduction and hair growth on the scalp, its true potential lies in its ability to step up the results of other resurfacing procedures like subscision, radiofrequency needling, LASERs and so on.

Adequate local anesthesia helps to minimize pain greatly, and so the treated area may feel numb for up to an hour after leaving the Clinic. There may be some swelling of the treated area for up to 24 hours, but this hardly interferes with routine activities. Patients resume work the same day of the treatment on most cases.

An ideal course of treatment for scar reduction involves a session every month for about 4- 6 months. Results will typically start to be apparent within a week to ten days after the procedure, but maximum results will continue to accrue over a period of 6 – 8 months. Since the tissue for rejuvenation comes from the patient, this treatment is much less expensive than fillers.

Often, it is not possible to use one single technique to treat all the scars, that a person has. A combination is often required. Further, scar correction is not an overnight process. Procedures may require downtime, which is different from the time required to see the results of one session, before going for another. Often, it is not possible to predict how many sessions will be required, or how much time will be enough to give results, simply because a lot is dependent on the skin’s ability to recover as well! And this ability differs from one person to another. So it is very important that patients have realistic expectations in terms of results, time and expenditure, considering the drawn out process of scar correction.

For more information about  acne scar revision treatment please call us or visit our clinic at Kokapet, Narsingi