You breathed a sigh of relief when you noticed that the frequency of your pimple breakouts have lessened. You thank your lucky stars that the hormonal surge has died down and your oil glands have ceased being hyper.  But to your consternation another problem has besieged you. No, they’re not the temporary red or brown marks left by the pimples but the pits, crevices, holes, and tunnels that do not seem to go away.  No amount of creams or lotions or massaging technique seemed to iron them out.

So what are you to do?

Approaching a competent dermatologist, one who has finished three years of residency and is board-certified, is already one major step in the right direction. He or she will ascertain the depth of the scars and institute measures to lessen them or even totally remove them. Hereunder are some of the proven techniques to treat scars.

The old fashioned way

Shallow, broad, and soft depressions can be smoothened out by dermabrasion. A diamond-encrusted fraise, which is like the dental burr used to drill our teeth, is fanned gently across these scars. This lessens the contour difference between the normal and the depressed portion of the skin.

Now as the skin heals in two to three weeks, collagen is deposited and makes the scars less shallow. This is unlike the most talked-about diamond peel which only causes a minimal removal of the top cells of the skin to improve skin texture only and not scars.

For very deep, box-like scars and tunnels which have edges which dip almost perpendicularly to the skin surface, more aggressive measures must be taken. The scars may be totally excised or cut-out and closed with sutures. This process is called scar revision. Instead of having a box-like scar you convert it to straight line mark. This is less noticeable and later on can be dermabraded to be less obvious.

Likewise deep, box-like scars can be floated through subcision. In subcision, a gauge 19 Nokor needle which looks like a tiny spear will be introduced at an angle beside and beneath the scar to release the tight fibrotic bands which hold the scar down. Again, the process of wounding beneath the scar can incite new collagen to form and float the scar.

Lastly, using a biopsy puncher, which is originally used to take skin specimen for diagnosis of skin problems, can also be useful to float the scar or remove it.

So far, all the above mentioned techniques need local anesthesia or nerve blocks. Downtime will be about one to three weeks depending on the extent of the procedure. Patients need dressings on their faces for at least two to three days and their social life becomes a doldrum.

A skillful breakthrough

But there is another option. Thanks to the fast- paced technologies in skin therapeutics, we have specific lasers to address the problem. More specifically, the 2940nm erbium-YAG laser (Pixel) is tasked to deliver minute tunnels of laser energy at a controlled rate and depth to the skin and can stimulate new collagen formation. As the handpiece is moved across the face, only a fraction of the skin mosaic is targeted leaving spaces in between to allow quick recovery.

This laser can correct fine wrinkles, acne scars and vaporize skin tags. It takes about 10 to 20 minutes to treat the whole face. It can likewise be used on the neck, chest, back, hands and other body scars. The patient will experience redness and a sunburned-feeling for a couple of hours or up to two days, if aggressive settings are used.

Sun exposure is avoided before and after treatment. Pale (conservative) to dark-brown (aggressive) pixel patterns (like the lines of cross-section paper but markedly scaled down) and a leathery feeling on the skin for three to five days are observed. Flaking or peeling occurs on the third to the fifth day.

There could be minimal swelling in aggressively treated areas through day five.  Full recovery comes in a week. Subsequent sessions, spaced three to four weeks apart, will have shorter recovery periods.

The controlled wounding technique delivered by the Pixel laser works on the same principle as the other techniques above but it is unique because of the lesser downtime. The patient won’t look hideous for three to five days but will be just a little tan or pinkish.

Likewise, the deposition of collagen to plump up the skin will still continue for even up to six months. Patients with deeper scars may need three aggressive treatments or five conservative treatments spaced two to four weeks apart.

The Capitol Medical Center Skin Center is equipped with this innovative equipment and is staffed with competent, boarded, and fully certified dermatologists. Waste no time in achieving a smoother skin this summertime and visit our skin center.