Laser and blackheads?

Question

Hi, I'm having Opus Plasma laser for acne scars in three days and have clear skin except for a few small blackheads. Should I try to clear up blackheads first? If they went over the blackheads with the laser could it spread and cause further blackheads or breakouts? Or would the laser actually help? Background - I did Accutane last year and am very faithful with Retin-A every night except glycolic acid exfoliation 2-3 a week but still manage to get blackheads.

Jason Emer, MD · Answer

at home peels like cosmelan, enlighten and aerify along with dermarolling (MTS roller with anteage MD ampules weekly) should be started now and if you do not have the time because your skin is not prepped properly then you should do enlighten or aerify 2 weeks after laser and get on the right skincare immediately.

if you have post inflammatory hyperpigmentation/melasma/discoloration that needs cosmelan or enlighten peels at home which we can do virtually and send to your home along with aerify peels regularly, vivatia foam, restorsea 10x, faith essence serum, and cosmelan 2 cream.

Acne scar treatment needs a combination approach for improvement.  For the best results, one should target the acne scar type.  As everyone has a unique pattern of acne scarring, the best solution is a tailored one.  Typically you need fillers like bellafill and sculptra for atrophic indented type scars with or without subcision.  Subcision for depressed tethered scars.  Vascular lasers like yellow laser, aerolase, excel V or IPL for redness or thick scars. And lasers such as fraxel, erbium, co2 or fractional radiofrequency like venus viva, skinfinity, intensif or fractora microneedling RF for textural issues and superficial scarring.  Deep ice pick scars and narrow box car scars are best treated with TCA CROSS and punch excision.  All lasers are combined with microneedling and PRP to get even better results and improve healing times.   The majority of patients will have a collection of different scar types, and hence a tailored treatment plan is needed by an expert physician.  It is never about the laser or product that gives the results, its about the expert behind the equipment that gets you the outcome.  Scars cannot be cured and will need life-long treatments to maintain and build on the results.  For those at high risk for hyperpigmentation (darker skin types or asian or hispanic or mixed ethnicities) we already pre-treat the skin with cosmelan or enlighten lightening peels to prevent complications from energy-based or chemical-based treatments.  Best, Dr. Emer.

Laser and blackheads?

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