The Best Acne Scar Treatments Reviewed

The treatment of acne scars is something nearly all acne sufferers face at one point or another. Unless you happen to be in the lucky few that get away with it. But to the majority of us, its just a fact of life, that we've got to get on and deal with. I've been talking to many people recently who have been asking about how to remove acne scars, and i didn't have all the answers, so i thought "hey, lets go and find out for all those lovely people that have been wondering". So here as promised, the best ance scar treatments fully reviewed! Just for you!

Wait! Are you sure you've got scars?

Now a word of warning before you read this, some people think they have scars, when infact its just the healing process your skin goes through after a spot. If you have a red mark where a spot once was, then that's just the skin going through its natural healing process, this can actually take 6-12 months before its fully healed and theres several things you can do to treat this. (i'll see if i can write a proper article on this soon) If however after 12 months, you still have a discolouration in your skin, this is a scar.

Okay, what are the treatments?

Right, lets get to the meat of it! Theres several different treatments for real scars. And for best results a combination of them is sometimes used. So here we go:

Collagen injection: This is a substance thats already found naturally in the body. The procedure involves injecting it under the skin, causing it to stretch out. This is good for removing "ice pick scars". The procedure is reletively pain free (just a couple of injections), and doesn't take very long at all. The downsides are, its fairly pricey, and need to be topped up every 6 to 18 months.

Dermabrasion: This is the popular one. Many people champion it as the best cure for acne scars. The process involves a brush moving at high speeds effectively removing the surface layers of the skin. A local anesthetic is required, though surface scars will be removed altogether, and only deep "ice pick" scars will remain. People with darker skin however will require additional treatment, as the demabrasion can cause changes in skin pigmentation.

Microdermabrasion: This uses the same theory as demabrasion, however the process uses aluminium oxide crystals through a vacuum tube to remove only the very top layer of skin, and works on a much smaller scale that dermabrasion. The process often takes several procedures, however its not nearly as effective as dermabrasion.

Laser treatment: This is probably my prefered method. Its quick and painless. The procedure involves shining a high intensity laser at the skin, to vaporize the surface layers. This destroys the scar tissue to leave clear smooth skin. The downside is, you'll be left with sore red skin for a while after the treatment, though it often only takes a single treatment for permanant results. Definately worth it in my opinion.

Chemical Peels: Involves using a solution of chemicals to burn away the outter layers of skin to reveal clear under layers of skin. Different strengths are available, and post-process healing can take up to 3 weeks.

Now they're the major treatments, i'll do a separate article on each one in the future, with plenty of pictures, so keep checking back :)

If you want to avoid scars altogether, the key is to treat your acne fast! For that i will always recommend AcneZine