How To Get Rid Of Acne Scars

The ugly footprints which acne leave behind are often very difficult to remove and sometimes specific treatment is required to erase them. There are generally three widely accepted methods of removal of acne scars.

But before you opt for a particular treatment, you need to know the various types scars that can be caused due to acne. The most common type of these scars are known as 'ice pick scars'. These scars are, as their name suggests, numerous tiny holes left behind by fading acne. Your face looks like it has been repeatedly dug with a miniscule ice pick leaving a whole multitude of very fine holes. The other type of scars caused by acne are known as 'boxcar scars'. These scars, again as their name suggests, are minute holes on the face which do not taper as they go deeper but their widths remain more or less the same thus giving an impression of pieces of facial skin being shoveled out of the skin surface. The third type of acne scars are known as keloid scars and they are basically rubbery nodules which vary from pink to deep brown in color and sometime spread beyond the area actually affected by acne. These scars represent excess accumulation of collagen.

Dermabrasion is usually the technique adopted to remove ice pick type acne scars. It is a semi surgical procedure where the dead superficial cells are removed through abrasion. It is rather painful process and generally performed under anesthesia. A technically qualified dermatologist uses a high speed brush to remove the topmost layer of the skin (skin, incidentally has seven different layers) and shallow scars and other imperfections which rise above the skin level are generally removed through this process. But if the scars are deeply sunken in the skin, this process usually is not that effective.

Dermatologists have now-a-days started using CO2 lasers of ultra pulsed mode to clear acne scars and other skin imperfections. This method is a sure shot therapy of removal of boxcar scars but sometimes patients complain of a slight tenderness of skin and a reddish hue remain for two or three days after the therapy is over. But this is only a temporary phenomenon without any bad after effects whatsoever.

If the scar is too deep to be removed by even laser, dermatologists opt for what is commonly known as 'punch techniques'. This is a full-fledged plastic surgical procedure where the scar is removed surgically from the skin surface. The resultant scar which remains after removal of the main scar is once again removed by dermabrasion technique.