I have some acne scars on my face, most are ice pick and rolling scars. Now I know there are 3 companies that provide laser treatment: Fraxel restore/repair, Palomar fractional laser, and Deep FX and Total FX. Which among the treatments is best for me?
April 12, 2009
Answer: Treatment of acne scars is multi-modality approach Treatment of acne scars is never as easy or as straight forward as we would like it to be, or as it is made out to be by some companies and some practioners. The treatment of acne scars, especially when there is a combination of fine pitting, deep ice pick scars and rolling scars usually requires many different treatment approaches. The easiest may be the treatment of fine pitting scars (which your picture seems to be showing). These type of scars can be dealt with various resurfacing modalities to include laser, true dermabrasion and deep chemical peeling. My personal preference is to use Total FX (combination of DeepFX and ActiveFX) because it is the only laser modality that will treat the deeper component of the skin, inducing new collagen (DeepFX) and then fractional resurfacing of the more superficial layers of the skin (ActiveFX). Due to the nature of acne scars, one to three treatments may be needed to get the full desired effect. As for deep ice pick scars, again, there are many ways to treat them as well to include punch raises, punch grafts, chemical acid ablation and a few other less common approaches. The goal in the treatment is to remove, raise or ablate the scar so that can be resurfaced along with the other small pitted scars. It is like filling in pot holes in the road prior to resurfacing the road. Lastly, rolling scars are usually addressed with subcision, which is done by inserting a needle under the skin after anesthesia is injected to cut or break up the deep scars that are tethering the overlying skin, resulting in the scar. I hope you find this information helpful. Good Luck! Dr. R
Helpful 2 people found this helpful
April 12, 2009
Answer: Treatment of acne scars is multi-modality approach Treatment of acne scars is never as easy or as straight forward as we would like it to be, or as it is made out to be by some companies and some practioners. The treatment of acne scars, especially when there is a combination of fine pitting, deep ice pick scars and rolling scars usually requires many different treatment approaches. The easiest may be the treatment of fine pitting scars (which your picture seems to be showing). These type of scars can be dealt with various resurfacing modalities to include laser, true dermabrasion and deep chemical peeling. My personal preference is to use Total FX (combination of DeepFX and ActiveFX) because it is the only laser modality that will treat the deeper component of the skin, inducing new collagen (DeepFX) and then fractional resurfacing of the more superficial layers of the skin (ActiveFX). Due to the nature of acne scars, one to three treatments may be needed to get the full desired effect. As for deep ice pick scars, again, there are many ways to treat them as well to include punch raises, punch grafts, chemical acid ablation and a few other less common approaches. The goal in the treatment is to remove, raise or ablate the scar so that can be resurfaced along with the other small pitted scars. It is like filling in pot holes in the road prior to resurfacing the road. Lastly, rolling scars are usually addressed with subcision, which is done by inserting a needle under the skin after anesthesia is injected to cut or break up the deep scars that are tethering the overlying skin, resulting in the scar. I hope you find this information helpful. Good Luck! Dr. R
Helpful 2 people found this helpful