Acne Scarring Management

How We Do It

The key to management of patients with acne scarring beginswith a thorough analysis and a clinical examination with an emphasis ondetermining the cause of scarring, preventing scarring, and the types of scars.  Once all these factors have beendetermined, we can design the options for treatment of the scars.

A scar, in the simplest terms, forms at the site of injuredtissue.  In the case of acne, theinjury is due to the body’s inflammatory reaction to sebum, the oily substanceproduced by sebaceous glands as well as bacteria and dead cells in the cloggedsebaceous follicles.  The type ofscarring that results in people who are susceptible to scarring ranges fromdepressed scars such as ice-pick scars, to raised scars such as keloids,  to hyperpigmented scars and dark spots.  Facial scars resulting from acneregardless of how they manifest themselves often give the illusion of facialasymmetry or poor skin texture.  Mygoal in the treatment of facial acne scarring is managing by way of removal orlightening of such unsightly areas for my patients regardless of skin color orethnicity.  My objective is to givethe skin a more acceptable physical appearance with the understanding thattotal restoration of the skin to the way it looked before the occurrence ofacne is not possible . Our treatment approach will accomplish a tremendousimprovement of the appearance of the skin.

Old and new methods in treatment of acne scarring are only effectivewhen taking into consideration the patient’s skin type and ethnic background.  Knowing the patient’s susceptibility isimportant in the choice of techniques for management and effective treatment ofacne scars.  A variety of treatmentsare presented to the patient ranging from old methods such as the age oldhydroquinones and peels to new methods such as laser treatments and fattransfer or adipose accentuation of the sub-dermis. Our approach consist of a combinationof old and new techniques integrating medical strength product regimens, peels,microdermabrasions, laser treatments as well as stem cell laden fat transfer.

The scar treatmentscurrently available include:

Peels Only deeppeels such as phenol based peels work on acne scarring yet are not recommendedfor dark or asian skin types.  Worthmentioning is the new Vi-Peel™, a medical grade peel specifically designed fordarker skin types and works on all skin types, it offers significantimprovement to dark spots, hyperpigmentation and acne scarring in AfricanAmerican, Latin and Asian patients.

Microdermabrasions Asurface form of dermabrasion, microdermabrasion using crystals or crystal freepassing through a vacuum tube to remove surface skin requires multipletreatments and may not have an impact on improving acne scarring.  However, a microdermabrasion performedimmediately prior to a Nd-Yag laser treatment such as the Cutera Genesis,contributes to a better laser procedure. A combination microdermabrasion-complexion blending laser treatment canhelp significantly to improve scars.

Laser treatments Laserand light based treatments for acne scarring and hyperpigmentation haveincreasingly become the appropriate approach where other methods have failed oras an integral part of a combination treatment plan that combines traditionalmethods such as topicals, peels and systemic approaches.  For example the results with the Nd-YagCutera Laser Genesis treatments preceded by a microdermabrasion produce anexcellent result for patients with hyperpigmentation and old acne scarring.  The treatment results in smoothing out skintexture and reducing visible scars and blemishes.  Scar tissue can be recontoured and redness around healedscars and acne lesions can be reduced depending on the type of wavelength andintensity of the laser used.

Fat Transfer Whenused to correct deep contour ice-pick scars resulting from cystic acne, fattransfer where fat is taken from another body site and prepared for injectioninto one’s own skin can elevate depressed scars with the longest lasting resultsthan all other methods.  Recentstudies have proved that the newly injected fat contributes to the healing ofthe surrounding tissue where it is placed due the high number of stem cells inthe transferred fat.  The stemcells are involved in the repair of the skin and a remarkable repair of scarsas well as an enhancement of the quality of the skin underlying the transferredfat.  Multiple fat transferprocedures can achieve more of a permanent result.

Products Patientsseeking treatments of acne scars should also commit to a customized home care regimen that combine cleansers instead of traditional soap which can strip the skin ofits natural oils, with topical retinoids(Retin-A)  to reduce blackheads, whiteheads and induce skin cellturnover with the added benefit of reducing wrinkles, a skin lightening creamor hydroquinone to reduce or removehyper pigmented scars, and has an increased bleaching quality when used incombination with the retinoid.  Noregimen is complete without a moisturizerand a sunblock or a combinationmoisturizer sunblock as the final step to any customized home care regimen.

The decision to seek treatment for your acne scars dependson many factors, the most important one being the way you feel psychologicallyand emotionally about your scars and whether or not you are willing to livewith your scars.  Another importantfactor would be whether you have the budget and discipline to seek thetreatment options presented since acne scar treatments is not covered by healthinsurance.  Most physicians offertreatment package options and patient financing to ease the burden of the cost involved.

The uniqueness of our approach is geared towards making ourpatients feel good not just look good. At Luxxery we take care of your acnescars and surround you in beauty.