Everything You Must Know About Acne Scar Treatment

The most common type of acne scar is known as ice pick where the entire cheek is filled with deep pin pricks and it starts looking like a pin cushion with all the pins taken out. If the scars are shallow and not too dense, an acne scar treatment of a glycol based peel often is enough to remove these. You might have to use these peels over a period of a month or two to till the upper skin of your face is completely defoliated and you are left with a glowing blemish free face. These peels are very easy to use and you can do it at your home without any medical supervision.

But if these ice pick scars are rather deep, a face peel will be hopelessly inadequate and you need to undergo the rather uncomfortable procedure of dermabrasion where the dermatologist uses a high speed brush to remove the upper layer of your facial skin. Since this process is rather painful, oftentimes use of general anesthesia becomes necessary. This acne treatment is very effective if the scars don't get wider at the bottom and are not very deep. This treatment also takes care of blemishes which rise above the skin level.

Dermabrasion, however, becomes inadequate if you have box car scars which are too deep and wide to be effectively removed by this process. Then you would have to opt for laser therapy. Dermatologists are now using carbon dioxide ultra pulsed lasers to remove box car scars which have resulted due to acne. This acne scar treatment does not only remove scars left by acne but also remove wrinkles and other age marks on the face. Lasers basically burn the area where they are directed, so there may be a burning or itching sensation for a couple of days after the therapy is over, but this goes away on its own.

For the most serious acne scars, dermatologists use 'punch technique'. It is an acne treatment where the scar is scooped out of the skin by cosmetic surgery and the resultant tiny scar is removed by dermabrasion.

Surgery however would not be effective if you have keloids in the wake of acne. Any surgery only aggravates the situation - it leads to more keloids. The only treatment available in this situation is steroid therapy, but these days some dermatologists are also prescribing retinoids which are said to be working very effectively.