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Can Acne Scars Be Treated With Laser Skin Rejuvenation?

Acne scars can be frustrating, to say the least. Not only are they impossible to hide or cover up, but they are also difficult to get rid of.

Likely you’ve tried multiple acne scar removal methods without seeing results, and now you’re wondering if laser skin rejuvenation can help. This laser procedure is commonly used to treat signs of aging by reducing the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines, age spots, and skin elasticity, but it can also be used to treat scars. This includes many forms of acne scars, so let’s take a look at what can be treated with laser skin rejuvenation.

Ice Pick Acne Scars

Ice pick acne scars appear on the skin as small, pin-sized marks. They are extremely deep, as they take up the entire dermis layer of the skin. These kinds of scars can look like oversized pores if you only have a few marks, however, the more scars you have on the skin, the more obvious they are. Unlike other forms of acne marks, ice pick scars are easier to cover with makeup or hide with facial hair. This is because they don’t alter the skin’s texture as much as other atrophic acne scars, but that doesn’t make them any less frustrating. Fortunately, they can be treated and ultimately eliminated with laser acne scar removal.

Boxcar Acne Scars

Boxcar acne scars are far more noticeable than the icepick variation. They appear on the skin as misshaped oval depressions that most commonly appear on the cheekbones, but can also pop up on the chest, shoulders, and back. Unfortunately, boxcar acne scars cannot be covered up or hidden, as they change the texture of the skin making it appear bumpy, and uneven. Laser skin rejuvenation can help to reduce the appearance of these kinds of marks significantly, and completely transform your face.

Rolling Acne Scars

Rolling acne scars will look like a ripple in the skin, and are often the most frustrating kinds of acne marks. Caused by the development of fibrous bands of tissue between the skin and the tissue below it, they pull the skin in such a way that creates crater-like depressions. These deep depressions alter the skin’s surface, often affecting a large portion of the face. Laser treatments from a professional can completely eliminate these imperfections, leaving the skin soft and smooth in the process.

How Acne Scars Develop

Considered atrophic scars, icepick, boxcar, and rolling marks all develop the same way. It all starts with a blemish that becomes infected or is picked at, creating an open wound and damaging the outer layer of the skin. Our body naturally reacts to this damage, whether it be from a zit or a small cut, by forming collagen. Often this process can heal the damaged skin cells, leaving little or no evidence behind. Unfortunately, not everyone’s body can perform this healing process properly, and some will end up producing too much or too little collagen. When too little is created and sent to heal an infected blemish, the result is a pitted mark or atrophic acne scar. Those whose bodies have this issue with the healing process are far more prone to acne scarring than others. When the opposite occurs, and too much collagen is produced, hypertrophic acne scars will develop instead.

Hypertrophic Acne Scars

Hypertrophic acne scars appear on the skin as firm, raised bumps and appear far larger than the original blemish. While men are more prone to hypertrophic scars, women have been known to experience them as well. They commonly develop on the chest, shoulders, and back after a wound heals improperly. Rather than too little collagen production like with atrophic acne scars, hypertrophic scars are caused by too much collagen production, and can also be treated with laser skin rejuvenation.

How Laser Skin Rejuvenation Works

Laser skin rejuvenation gets rid of acne scars by targeting the damaged skin cells that make up your acne scars. By creating microscopic wounds, lasers are able to eliminate unwanted skin cells while also encouraging the healing process to be redone, and properly this time. The body will naturally work to heal these microscopic wounds by ultimately producing the proper amount of collagen that will give your skin a smooth, flawless appearance.

As a noninvasive procedure, laser skin rejuvenation requires little or no downtime after each treatment. Laser for acne scars requires average sessions of 15 minutes, and patients walk out the door with few signs that the treatment ever occurred. See how it’s done in this video of Miss Universe Bahamas, Toria Nichole, as she receives her first laser skin rejuvenation treatment at Body Details:

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Paul A. Boulos
Dr. Paul A. Boulos is an excellent and versatile cosmetic surgeon, passionate about his vocation and helping others. Dr. Boulos is an alumni of Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine and completed his General Surgery training at Inspira Medical in Southern New Jersey. He studied and learn under Dr. Joseph Castellano, one of the premier breast and body Cosmetic Surgeons in South Florida. He currently works as a Cosmetic Surgeon at Jolie Plastic Surgery in Miami, FL.