Acne scars deeper after microneedling? Should I stop the sessions?

Acne scarring takes numerous treatments to get improvement and often each treatment looks immediately worse and then better as collagen production occurs weeks late.  See an expert in scarring who does a unique combination of TCA cross, subcision, fillers, lasers, microneedling +/-RF for the types of scars you have.  Best, Dr. Emer.

Hello, and thanks for your question. Although it’s not likely that microneedling is making your scars deeper, it is possible that a combined treatment method would help you to get the result you’re looking for. What makes improving acne scars so complex is that there are a number of different types of scars, which means that you may need to use more than one treatment option. Additionally, acne scars typically take several treatment sessions in order to improve, which could be why you haven’t seen the outcome that you want just yet. I would suggest contacting your microneedling provider to discuss your concerns. Best of luck!

First of all it is early days, scars take months to remodel. Secondly pictures are needed for objective comparison. Also the MOST important question is what type of scars are you treating? Acne scar revision is a specialised field. For the best results, one should target the acne scar type with ideal treatments. The web reference below will take you to a resource. I embedded all the videos in one page to help.

For example deep ice pick scars, and narrow box car scars can be treated with TCA CROSS peels, mixed scars, rolling, and atrophic scars treated with fractional devices such as Fraxel, fractional lasers, PRP and INFINI radiofrequency. Atrophic scars (depressions) can be treated with either fat grafts, or with HA dermal fillers. Tethered and anchored scars are best treated with surgery.

The majority of patients will have a collection of different scar types, and hence a tailored treatment METHOD will be best. Careful examination, especially under angled lighting with scar mapping will give you an understanding of what are the best options for your scars.

All the best,

Dr Davin Lim. Acne scar dermatologist specialist. Brisbane, Australia.