By Dr Dhananjay Chavan , Dermatology
Acne is a common skin condition which is caused by overproduction of oil as well as dead skin cells, clogging the base of hair follicles. Acne can occur anywhere on your body including your face, back, chest and neck.
Treatment of Acne depends on the severity of the condition and the way you maintain skin on daily basis. It is possible that acne can leave scars on the skin that can be difficult to treat. Your dermatologist can assess your skin and severity of scarring to determine the most appropriate treatment for you.
These are a few standard treatments that are used to repair acne-scarred skin-
- Try a medicated cream. Your dermatologist may recommend tretinoin or glycolic acid based creams to reduce any scarring left from acne lesions, Apply to the affected areas of the skin one to two times a day, under the supervision of your dermatologist.
- Revitalize the skin with a chemical peel. In this cosmetic procedure, an acidic agent is applied to the skin, causing it to peel. After a series of such beneficial chemical peels, the new skin that appears has a reduced appearance of scars.
- Rejuvenate the skin with microdermabrasion. Like a chemical peel, microdermabrasion removes the surface layer of skin. A rotating head with very fine crystals gently sands away the outermost epidermal layer of your skin, leading to skin repair. After successive such treatments, the scars become less severe and are harder to discern from the rest of your skin.
- Resurface the skin with laser therapy. With laser skin resurfacing, the outer layer of the skin is destroyed, while the underlying layers are heated. This can encourage the formation of new skin cells and tighten underlying tissue, thereby reducing the appearance of acne scars. There are other lasers which do not destroy the outer layer but only treat the underlying layers of the skin. These lasers are gentler on the skin and do not have a recovery time but may need more number of sessions.
- Repair the scars by Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy. Your own blood is taken and platelets, which are rich in growth factors, are concentrated. These are then injected at the base of the scars leading to repair of scars and more even skin.
- Use cosmetic fillers to improve the appearance of acne scars. Hyaluronic acid or fat can be injected under scars to fill in depressions, providing a more even texture to the skin.
