Fractional Treatment for Acne Scar

Various Treatments Have Been Available

Traditionally there have been a variety of treatments available to patients with acne scars, depending on the type of scars a patient has Acne Scar Types. We can use abrasion or sanding methods, to sand down the scars and smooth the skin. We have used fillers to plump up the scars and make them more level with the surrounding skin (see Dermal Fillers). Subcision may be used to break up the scar tissue, allowing the skin to lay flatter or we can use excision to cut out some of the deeper scars.





New Treatment Available

My treatment of choice for acne scars is a new laser treatment called fractional resurfacing. Currently there are several different modes of fractional resurfacing. I tend to like what we call “ablative fractional resurfacing”, which uses a laser with a wavelength that is highly absorbed by water and can actually create vertical holes within the tissue as opposed to just coagulating the tissue. New, scar-free skin then heals in its place.

In early studies, we tend to get an average of 50-60% improvement with most acne scars (except for the “ice pick” scars) in a series of two to three treatments, with a minimal risk of side effects and a reasonable amount of downtime, maybe about a week or so. We can use other coagulative fractional technologies using the infrared lasers in the fractional modes that go fairly deep over a series of 4-6 treatments to get about 30% average improvement in most acne scars. We can use this treatment in conjunction with fillers, excisions, punch excisions or the cross technique to enhance results as well.