Acne scars are often more frustrating than actual acne.

Scarring can be difficult to conceal, even with a thick layer of makeup, and it’s visible long after the original acne outbreak has subsided.

Acne is a result of a sebum-clogged follicle that gets infected with acne bacteria. The larger and deeper the acne becomes, the greater the inflammation and the greater the risk of scarring.

Generally, a small acne papule will result in little damage in the superficial layer of the skin and will heal quickly. These may leave a reddish-pink mark that will fade with time. These marks are not considered scars.

However, prolonged acne inflammation can destroy healthy tissues. To heal, the skin reacts by producing collagen fibres, which may pull upon the overlying skin, resulting in depression, or a scar.

Acne scars are commonly atrophic scars, or depressed scars. There are four main types:

•Ice-pick scars are tiny but deep holes in the skin as if the skin has been hacked at by a tiny ice pick.
•Box car scars are crater-like depressions with defined edges. They are deeper and wider than ice-pick scars.

Ice pick scars are typically the hardest to treat, as their tiny sizes make them almost impossible to fully reach with lasers or fillers. These are best treated using punch excision – literally cutting these scars out and suturing the gaps.

Box car scars and rolling scars are best treated with a combination of subcision, resurfacing lasers and collagen-stimulating injectables.

These scars are tethered to the underlying skin tissue by fibrous bands. In subcision, a special needle is used to break these tethered fibres in order to restore the contour of the skin. Some degree of bruising is expected. The resulting healing from the inflammation helps the scar to fill back in.

When subcision is synergistically combined with collagen-stimulating treatments (resurfacing lasers and/or collagen-stimulating injectables), there is more collagen and elastin produced to fill up the scars, hence results are improved.

The other type of scar of acne, albeit rarer, is hypertrophic or keloidal scarring. This happens when the body overcompensates in the healing by producing too much collagen, creating a mass of raised tissue over the wound. Keloids may appear as pinkish-reddish-brownish lumps and are commonly flattened with steroid injections and/or salmon DNA injections. Once the scar is flat, the reddish tones of the scar may be treated with a series of laser treatments.

 

Have stubborn acne marks or scars?
Speak to us at IYAC for your customised treatment plan.