Is There a Cream for Acne Scars?
Even very mild acne can sometimes leave pitted scars behind. Unfortunately, there is no cream for acne scars. Dr. Schweiger explains that, “In order to improve pitted acne scars, you must fill in the pitted area of the skin to even out the skin’s texture. This can be done with laser resurfacing, dermal fillers, subcision, and some chemical peels. However, the only permanent solution for acne scars is to have laser resurfacing.”
Laser resurfacing lasers provide a permanent solution for acne scars, because they stimulate your own collagen to fill in the pitted areas. These lasers use their energy to poke tiny holes in the skin’s surface, which stimulates the collagen regeneration. Some improvement is seen soon after the laser treatment, usually within one week, while the majority of the improvement takes months to fully present. However, once improved, the pitted scars will never return.
The most commonly used lasers for the treatment of acne scarring are the Fractional CO2 laser and the Fraxel laser. These lasers each use a specific type of energy to resurface the skin. The Fractional CO2 laser is an ablative laser, meaning that its energy actually ablates the surface of the skin. Therefore, this laser has approximately 5 days of downtime after each treatment, but it only requires one treatment in most cares. The Fraxel laser is a non-ablative laser, meaning that its energy does not ablate the skin. This results in a much shorter downtime (2-3 days), but the Fraxel laser requires a series of four treatments for most patients. Both lasers are very effective for treating acne scars in all skin types.
