Downtime for Punch Excision of Acne Scars?

Thank you for your question and for sharing your concerns with us. Your approach is very reasonable. I would recommend that consider a direct excision of an icepick scar using a punch.  The downtime is on the order of days to a week.  It will certainly help create a flatter scar. Afterwards, you can consider lasers to help blend it in to the background. The right laser for you would depend on your skin type.

There really is very limited down time involved with punch excision of acne scars. Very fine sutures are used and can be covered with a dressing to make them maintenance-free over the first 5-7 days. At that point, they should be well healed and normal activities could be resumed. After any facial skin surgery, I recommend that my patients wait at least one week before resuming any exercise routines or heavy lifting. After the excision areas have healed, laser skin resurfacing or other treatments can be performed to improve the appearance of the scars even further.
All the best,

Acne scars that have a high depth to width ration can be improved with micro-technique acne scar revision including punch excision with or without suture. In most cases, reepithelialization occurs within 24 hours, but the sutures will remain on the skin for 5 to 7 days. I use a very fine suture that is barely noticeable in order to minimize downtime. I encourage patients to return to work following the procedure.