Many had acne as teens. And while the breakouts and the embarrassment they caused eventually went away, some were left with a reminder. About a third of adults who experienced acne in their youth now have noticeable acne scars. Fortunately, there are therapies that really work. Here in Inland Empire you can receive effective acne scar treatments even for severe scarring. Let’s discuss a few.
Why do some get acne scars?
It seems like getting pimples is part of being a teenager. For about two-thirds, they clear up completely. Why does the other third develop acne scars? The American Academy of Dermatology says this is more likely to happen when you:
- Have a blood relative with acne scars
- Develop inflammatory acne (a reddish, painful and swollen breakout)
- Delay treatment or don’t treat inflammatory acne
- Pick, pop or squeeze pimples
The breakouts that injure your skin and cause scarring are not those on the surface. They’re the ones that go deep into lower layers of tissue. As your body repairs the damage, it produces more collagen. Normally that’s a good thing. Problems occur if you generate too much or too little:
- Produce too much collagen and you get raised acne scars
- Produce too little collagen and depressions or pits appear
This is often due to heredity. Everyone has something in their DNA that doesn’t work just right. Some inherited genetic conditions, like sickle cell disease or muscular dystrophy, can be life threatening. And while a tendency to develop acne scars can be embarrassing, there are definite things we can do about it. Effective acne scar treatments are available here in Inland Empire. Here’s what I often recommend at STC Plastic Surgery in Ontario, CA.
Mild Acne Scar Treatment
There’s no better treatment for mild acne scars than PicoSure®. It focuses very short, highly concentrated bursts of laser light to break up scar tissue. Your body’s natural healing process will remove the debris and make extra collagen and elastin to properly rebuild your damaged tissue. You’ll be left with clearer skin.
If you have acne scars on your face, neck, back, upper torso or arms, PicoSure® can treat it. There’s no downtime at all. The best candidates for this acne scar treatment are those with lighter skin with no active acne. Those with darker skin aren’t usually good PicoSure® candidates. Good results can be seen after 3 or more sessions.
Moderate Acne Scar Treatment
We can effectively treat acne scars that are a step higher on the scale with Fractional CO2 Laser Resurfacing. Like peaks and valleys, acne scars often have sections that are above and below your skin’s surface. Laser resurfacing eliminates the peaks and levels out the valleys.
Traditional laser resurfacing achieves this by removing an entire layer of skin. Fractional CO2 laser does it much more comfortably by making microscopic holes in your skin to flatten it out. Research finds that this acne scar treatment is just as effective as vaporizing a layer of skin with traditional laser therapy. Deeper scars may be softened rather than completely removed. After about a week of downtime, your skin will be substantially smoother. And since this process stimulates collagen and elastin production, your complexion will continue to improve.
Patients with darker skin tones or ongoing cases of acne are not usually good candidates for fractional CO2 laser. However, one acne scar treatment often works well for those with olive complexions or even dark skin.
FDA-approved moderate acne scar treatment – even for darker skin: Bellafill
Rather than leveling your skin to reach a smoother layer like laser therapy, Bellafill fills in pits and lowered areas to achieve smoother skin. It’s an FDA-approved moderate acne scar treatment. Your physician will inject Bellafill into depressions to smooth your facial skin. You’ll see immediate improvement.
Unlike CO2 laser, Bellafill doesn’t make your skin temporarily more sensitive to sunlight. That means you can use it year-round. That makes it an especially good treatment for acne scars in Inland Empire.
Unlike many popular fillers, Bellafill’s results last for years. It uses natural bovine collagen made from cows, once many plastic surgeons’ favorite filler. Suspended in that collagen are millions of microspheres (tiny balls) of PPMA, commonly used in bone cement. This gives you instant results that last.
While your body is absorbing the bovine collagen, Bellafill stimulates your own collagen production. The PPMA microspheres provide a scaffolding on which your collagen will form. That collagen can last a long time. How long? Well, Bellafill is FDA-approved to fill nasolabial folds for 5 years or longer. So, improving your acne scars for 3-5 years before needing more injections certainly seems reasonable. You can have a much smoother complexion that lasts.
People with darker skin can safely treat their acne scars with Bellafill. That includes African-Americans. Thirty days before treatment you’ll need be tested for allergies to its ingredients. Good candidates will look substantially better after just one treatment.
Severe Acne Scar Treatment – Renuvion
PicoSure®, fractional CO2 laser and Bellafill work well for mild to moderate acne scars. Severe acne scars need something stronger: removing the damaged top layer of your skin. The most effective way to do this is Renuvion. Renuvion uses electrified cool helium gas to safely melt away your injured skin surface. This is a far more effective treatment for acne scars, deep lines and wrinkles than traditional CO2 laser resurfacing.
The same J-Plasma process used in Renuvion is also used in abdominal surgery procedures that require precisely obliterating diseased cells without damaging surrounding tissues. Renuvion accomplishes this by raising the temperature of treated areas quite high and then instantly cooling them. This not only gets rid of many acne scars, but also strongly accelerates your collagen and elastin production.
Your doctor will wipe off the damaged outer layer of your skin, leaving smoother, fresher skin exposed. The new collagen and elastin generated will continue to enhance your new look. And while no currently available acne scar treatment can completely eradicate severe acne pits, you’ll have a substantially better complexion you can expect to enjoy for years.
After Renuvion resurfacing, you’ll experience skin weeping that will last two weeks. You’ll then have redness like a sunburn that can last up to a month, but you can cover it with makeup. Your skin will lighten to pink for one more month and then return to your normal coloring. And your complexion will be considerably smoother and more attractive.
What’s the best option to treat your acne scars?
Only a qualified facial plastic surgeon, plastic surgeon or cosmetic dermatologist can truly pinpoint the best acne scar treatment for you personally. But here are some general guidelines:
- Bellafill is best for olive or darker complexions
- Acne pits and depressions can be improved by any of these therapies, depending on their depth and severity
- Raised acne scars must be smoothed out by PicoSure®, fractional CO2 laser or Renuvion resurfacing, depending on your skin condition and the amount of downtime you can accept
You don’t have to live with the embarrassment of acne scars. Inland Empire physicians offer some or all of these treatments, depending on the practice. We have them all at STC Plastic Surgery. Please feel free to contact me for a free consultation.