Would Halo & Microneedling be effective in treating these scars? (Photo)

Question

Long story short, a mishandled TCA Cross treatment left me with some gnarly scars 8 months ago (it's improved lots thankfully). To correct the error the clinic has offered to do Halo laser resurfacing, but from my research Halo doesn't appear to treat scarring. In your opinion would alternating ~3 laser treatments with microneedling treat the major scars on my cheeks? The clinic only offers halo, microneedling, subcision and said excision is inappropriate. Is this a waste of time?

Jason Emer, MD · Answer

halo does improve scars but is dangerous in your skintype if they do not know what they are doing and should be combined with profractional laser, fillers and subcision. I suggest you only see an expert. you need to do at home rolling and pretreat with cosmelan or enlighten peels (see link).

at home peels like cosmelan, enlighten and aerify along with dermarolling (MTS roller with anteage MD ampules weekly) should be started now

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.

Steven F. Weiner, MD · Answer

I'm sorry about your experience but the icepick scars will best be treated with TCA Cross. The deeper scars need filler. RFM is much better than microneedling alone and would consider that. The Halo can treat acne scarring and I would certainly take them up on the 3 they offered you. I would wait 6-8 weeks at least between the treatments.

Would Halo & Microneedling be effective in treating these scars? (Photo)

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Would Halo & Microneedling be effective in treating these scars? (Photo)

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Everything you need to know about Halo Laser

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.