Atrophic, sunken or depressed scars, whether the result of acne, trauma or prior surgery can be quite distressing. To add insult to injury, their appearance is often exaggerated by what has been described as the "craters of the moon" effect, whereby shadowing of the base in side lighting can accentuate the appearance of the depression and even make it seem deeper than it may in fact be.
Subcision, a technique that uses a small, sterile needle cutting device, can help elevate the depression. This in itself is a welcome improvement. However, the very act of releasing the bound down tissue serves also reduce the shadowing effect.
The procedure is quick, simple and relatively inexpensive. Following local anesthesia, the needle is inserted directly below the depression and is used to break up the thick fibrous bands of scar tissue that pull the surface downward. As a secondary benefit, this process leads to production of new, healthy collagen fibers to replace the abnormal, severed fibrous bands. In general, between two to four treatments spaced at six week intervals are required to obtain the desired elevation and smoothing of the indentation. Since true, native collagen synthesis is promoted in this fashion, the results of treatment are typically permanent.
If the surface of the indentation is off-color, a series of medical microneedling treatments might prove useful for evening out the color and matching it more closely with that of the surrounding skin.