There are several treatment modalities available for Acne scar treatment. Skin needling is effective across a range of acne scars, however this is not universal.

Acne scars are a persistent defect of the skin left after injury from acne. They never disappear completely, although some improve with time, most will worsen. What are the different types of acne scars and what treatments are available to improve your skins appearance?

acne scar treatment before needling Needling acne scars after 2 clinic treatments.

What are the different types of acne scars:

1. Macular scarring - is not really a scar, but a flat area of increased or decreased pigmentation that occurs after the acne lesion has healed. If left alone this will improve or even disappear all by itself.

2. Boxcar scars - are surface punched out acne scars that appear oval or round.

  • This type of acne scarring can be effectively improved with skin needling

    • 3. Rolling scars - are caused from tethering of the skin to deeper structures. These acne scars cause the skin to undulate in appearance (hence the name).

  • skin needling can improve this type of scar.
  • Subcision is another technique that is suitable for treating depressed acne scars. It involves putting a special needle under the depressed scar to help release it from the underlying structures. It is often combined with skin needling.
  • Other treatments for removal of rolling acne scars include plasma regeneration treatment.
  • Laser acne scar removal is rarely used.

    • 4. Deep divots/Ice pick scar - both result from deep scarring and loss of tissue under the skin. Ice pick scar appear as small holes where as the divots are a larger hole.

  • Skin needling can help improve some deep scarring
  • Deeper scarring may also require filling with dermal fillers.
  • Subcision is used to release deep tethering

    • 5. Hypertrophic scarring/keloid scars are similar in appearance, both are thick lumpy scars and often have increased pigmentation.

  • Injection of steroids
  • Silicon gels may aid in healing of raised scars.

    • acne scarring and pigmentation before treatment acne scarring and pigmentation after treatment

    Acne scar removal summary

    1. Skin Needling.
    Skin needling uses a medical roller or tattoo gun (without the pigment) to puncture the skin and stimulate collagen production and lift up indented acne scars and flatten raised acne scars.

    2. Laser acne scar removal
    Because of the downtime and risks of scarring ablative laser treatment is not generally considered the best option for treatment of acne scars. Newer fractional lasers are being used to treat acne scars.

    3. Plasma regeneration treatment is considered a more viable treatment for acne scar removal.

    4. Subcision

  • used to treat deep depressed acne scars often used with skin needling.

    • 5. Superficial Chemical peels

  • can achieve some improvement with milder scarring.

    • 6. Microdermabrasion

  • generally not the most appropriate treatment for acne scarring.
  • Sometimes with very mild acne scarring some improvement can be achieved with multiple treatments, however other methods are considered more appropriate.

    • 7. Cortisone injections

  • useful for treatment of thickened raised hypertrophic and keloid scarring
  • silicon gel treatments have been used alone or combination with cortisone injections.
  • The effectiveness of silicon gels is anecdotal at this point however considering it is relatively inexspensive and safe treatment it is worth trying.

    • 8. Dermal fillers

  • very effective for some forms of acne scarring to improve cosmetic appearance.
  • generally used for isolated lesions


    • Acne Scar Assessments Are Claimable On Medicare

    Call 33505447
    For A Consultation For Acne Scar Removal.

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