Acne and Acne Scars Treatment

Acne is unfortunate part of life for every person young and old; it is the severity of our Acne and the way which we treat it that has plagued many of us since our teenage years. And while acne often comes and goes the fact remains that many people do continue to get acne for any number of reasons. Hormone changes and oil secretion are two of the most prevalent reasons that people would continue to be afflicted by acne past their adolescence. However menstrual periods, use of birth control pills, use of too much oil based products and just outright stress are other reasons that people may need to treat acne later on.

And while many people were just forced to live with this there is new hope for people still grappling with persistent acne or acne scars. "There are a number of different treatments that can be used for the more than 12 million Americans suffering from varying degrees of acne scars," says Dr. Raffi Dishakjian. As we spoke at great length about a variety of topics he told me about many of the common acne scar treatments.

Injections: "Whether you have shallow or deep acne scars there are a number of fillers which can be injected into the area which can soothe depressions. Collagen, Cymetra, Restylane, and Hylaform are four of the more popular types of injections available."

Dermabrasion: "This is often recommended for severe acne scars and works well whether the area is either raised or grooved in the skin. Treatment with dermabrasion begins with an aesthetic and then the top layer of skin would be "sanded down" with a wire brush," (that actually looks like a drain cleaner!)

Micro-Dermabrasion: Almost a "skin polishing" - "micro-dermabrasion uses crystals which are vacuumed over your skins surface to remove damaged skin cells."

Chemical Peels: Using "a chemical solution which burns away at the fine outer layers of the skin, chemical peels are a common treatment for acne scars."

Non-Ablative Laser and Intense Pulsed Laser treatment: These treatments are truly a revolution; not painful, not requiring anesthetic, and with zero downtime this is a series of treatments (approximately 5 depending upon the severity of the acne scar) where improvements seen can be dramatic.

Laser Resurfacing: Laser resurfacing allows your physician to have ultimate control over the whole procedure. The lasers will gently vaporize the damaged skin to reveal smooth fresh skin underneath. Laser scar removal is often performed with local anesthesia in smaller target areas but if there are larger target areas which are required then oftentimes laser resurfacing will be performed with intravenous sedation.