Acne Scars: Treaments and Causes – By Dr. Melvin Elson

As previously mentioned, acne is the most common cause of scars in the world. Basically, regardless of cause there are 2 types of acne scars. Distensible scars are those that if you pull on the skin on either side, they smooth out. Ice-pick scars are not distensible and do not move. The edges of these are very hard.

Although, there are topical agents that claim to decrease acne scars and shrink pores, there is no such thing. Those products that claim to shrink pores actually merely clean out some of the plug in the oil glands and the glands appear smaller. Basically all the treatment s for acne scars are surgical in nature.

Acne Scars Explained

If the scars are distensible, filling materials such as Restylane, Juvederm or Belotero can be used to smooth them out. If the scar is one of the ice pick type it is necessary to either cut the collagen underneath the scar and let the scar fill in or to cut it out and replace with a piece of skin from behind the ear. Obviously, the number of scars determines whether or not any or some of these types of procedures can be used.

To make the skin appear a little smoother a chemical peel can be done with salicylic acid, which gets into the oil gland and removes some of the plugs and makes the surface of the skin appear smoother. Microdermabrasion does not help with acne scars, despite some of the marketing being done.

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