An acne outbreak can be bad enough, but now you’re dealing with lasting reminders in the form of scarring. Acne is the most common skin condition, affecting about 50 million Americans during any given year, and about one in five of these people develop scarring as a result.
To explore this issue further, as well as your treatment options for acne scarring, board-certified dermatologist Dr. Bruce Saal and our team here at Los Gatos Dermatology take a closer look.
When you develop scar tissue, it’s your body’s way of protecting itself. When the skin is breached, collagen floods the area to quickly plug up the damage to prevent bacteria and other foreign substances from entering your body.
Unfortunately, this collagen response doesn’t pay much attention to aesthetics, which is why scar tissue looks so different from the surrounding skin.
If you have acne that goes deep into your dermal tissues, causing damage, you’re likely to develop scar tissue. In general, acne scarring comes in two different forms:
This type of scarring is depressed, creating those telltale pockmarks that acne often leaves behind. Atrophic scarring occurs when your body heals the tissue below the normal surface of your skin.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is hypertrophic scarring, which are scars that are raised. This occurs because of too much collagen flooding the area.
With both hypertrophic and atrophic scars, there’s little chance that these blemishes will go away on their own. In fact, the scars can become more prominent as you age and your skin loses elasticity and tone, making the scar tissue more visible.
There are many ways we can tackle acne scarring. The treatment we use for your acne scarring depends on the type and extent of the scarring.
For example, if you just have one or two pockmarks on your face, we can use dermal fillers to eliminate the depressions.
If your scarring is more extensive, we can use technologies that gently resurfaces your skin, which is sold in a package of 4 treatments to allow healthier skin to come in from below. We can do a micro needling procedure to help soften the appearance of acne scars. For more information and to learn all your options call for a complimentary consultation.
As you can see, there are many ways in which we can reduce acne scarring, and we’re sure to have the right one for your goals.
To figure out which acne scar treatment is best for you, please contact our office in Los Gatos, California, to schedule an appointment.
