Most adolescents and young adults are likely to experience acne scars at some or other stage in their life. Dr Rinky Kapoor rightly shares that acne scars cause immense physical and psychological distress for which she recommends simple but effective treatments. 

Your visit to the dermatologist will help you assess and understand the extent of the disease, the sensitivity ratio of the skin and the urgency of the treatment along with the economic feasibility and patient compliance. 

Different types of acne, ranging from macular to severe diseases, can be identified either with the naked eye or under the microscope. All these scars have fibrous strands that pull them deeper into the skin. These strands have to be cut off or released for the treatment to be successful. 

While the dermatologist will be able to easily identify the type of the disease or the scar, their classification and popular treatments are as below: 

Atrophic Disease
The superficial scars could be rectified by chemical peels, microdermabrasion or needling. If they are deeper, they can be treated by lasers, tissue augmenting agents like fillers, punch techniques, dermal grafting or a combination of two or more of these. 

Hypertrophic Disease
The deeper scars could be treated with intralesional steroids, silicone gel, cryotherapy, pulse dye laser or surgery. 

Chemical peels are the easiest modality of treatment for superficial acne scars. Multiple sessions are required and post-peel care is mandatory. Sun protection and hydration are of key importance. The most common peels available are salicylic, glycolic, TCS and combination peels, which produce excellent results within a couple of sessions. 

Dermopeel delivers great results as it is a combination of microdermabrasion and chemical peel.

Deeper scars, however, more often than not, require a combination of therapies. One of the reliable combinations is subcision, which releases the scar and induces collagen, followed by hyaluronic acid fillers, which help in raising the scar beds for a better target with a laser. It usually results in the prevention of reattachment of strands to the scar. 

In a nutshell, it is important to assess the acne scars well to judge what line of treatment needs to be taken. Prevention of active acne recurrence is essential. Combination therapies generally work best in atrophic scarring. Oral isotretinoin’s low dose is found to be very effective in collagen remodelling and treating acne scars. Appropriate skin care after the treatment of acne scars is extremely important and photographs are taken regularly to document progress over time.

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