Suffering from acne is no fun. Aside from making your face look horrendous, it can also bring you a lot of pain-especially cystic ones! Plus, your battle does not stop after getting rid of your acne completely! You still have those ugly scars to deal with.
If you have encountered acne once in your life, you can definitely relate to this. You might still be looking for ways to remove your acne scars that’s why you landed on this page. You are in luck as this article is written exactly just for that reason.
A lot of patients that come to dermatologists to have their acne scars treated have tried several “cheaper” ways to banish their scars. To be honest, you cannot expect something cheap to provide you with optimum results. That is just too good to be true. Likewise, cheaper does not always mean you are saving money. Mini treatments in facial spas that offer smooth and scar-free skin would probably require you to repeat a certain procedure several times. Over a long stretch of time, the money you have paid for these treatments add up—but are you getting your money’s worth?
Maybe it is time to get the right value for your money. Read this article from start to finish and find out how you can achieve improvements on your acne scars using the methods that have been tested and proven to work. Also, there is a very informative and valuable post about acne scar treatment by Healthascent describing how to fight acne by Singapore doctor.
Acne scars or acne marks?
What is it exactly that is plaguing your skin? Some people generalise acne scars and acne marks as one and the same. However, this is not the case. Let’s differentiate both to have a better understanding of their composition and the accurate treatments that can be done to remove them.
Acne marks are temporary skin discolouration that occurs as soon as a pimple heals. They are also called post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Acne marks are easier to remove than scars. You can use topical creams or retinoids to get rid of them quickly. These are the characteristics of an acne mark:
- Brown or reddish in colour
- Can appear as small dark spots on the skin
- Naturally disappears from the skin after 3 to 6 months
Meanwhile, acne scars become a permanent figure in the skin. The traits of acne scars can either be of the following:
- Depression or elevation on the skin
- Can appear in different shapes and depth
- Does not disappear on its own, unless effective aesthetic procedures are applied
Stop touching that pimple!
Prodding your inflamed skin can only bring more harm than good. Popping your pimple is even worse as it can leave a nasty hole on your face!
One of the main causes of acne scars is pimple popping. Aside from this, scarring can also be a result of cystic acne or pustular acne. The inflammations caused by these kinds of acne go through the depths of the skin. Hence, when you pick on a pimple the damage that you cause the skin affects the layers beneath the epidermis, causing scar formation.
Acne scars come in different shapes and sizes.
You read it right. The effect of acne scarring is the same (they make your skin look bad), but the types of scars differ from each other. It is crucial to know which types of acne scars are present on your skin because there are specific procedures that work well to address each kind.
Types of acne scars, you ask?
Yes, acne scars can generally be classified according to:
- Depressed scars
- Elevated scars
Depressed scars are the most common type of scarring that you can find on the skin. This can be further subcategorised into three kinds:
- Boxcar scars
- Ice pick scars
- Rolling scars
Boxcar scars appear as wide, well-defined depressions on the skin that are sharp and rectangular in shape. Ice pick scars have narrow openings and go deep into the skin. Rolling scars are similar to boxcar scars, only that their edges are either sloping or round.
Elevated scars appear as humps or bumps on the skin. They can either be keloid scars caused by acne or elevated hypertrophic scars.
What are the most effective ways to get rid of acne scars in Singapore?
Thanks to the continuous development of aesthetic technology, there are a lot of effective treatments for acne scars available in Singapore. Depending on the type of scars that you have on your skin, your doctor may recommend any of the following:
- Chemical peels – TCA CROSS is a method used for this and is effective on ice pick scars.
- Dermal fillers – this treatment makes use of substances that are injected into broad, shallow depressed skin to raise it. An active ingredient that makes dermal fillers effective is called Hyaluronic Acid.
- Laser treatment – different kinds of laser treatments are best to address the removal of atrophic acne scars and acne marks with minimal to no downtime.
- Punch excision or grafting – Punch excision is done by punching a small hole to around the acne scar to remove it. Once the scar is removed, the skin is stitched closed and allowed to heal. Punch grafting also requires removal of the acne scar, however, a tiny piece of skin is placed in the hole and then sutured to heal. This technique is ideal for icepick scars.
- Radiofrequency microneedling – best for improving the appearance of atrophic, rolling, mixed, and tethered scars. The skin’s recovery time is faster as compared to laser procedures.
- Subcision – this method is perfect for broad-based shallow scars. Subcision uses a small needle that is inserted into the scar to release fibrous tissues that hold the skin down, causing the depression.
Your doctor may recommend a combination of these treatments, especially for skin that has more than one type of acne scars present, to be able to achieve optimum results. Repeat sessions may also be advised, depending on the severity of the scarring.
Costs of acne scar treatments.
Here are the average costs for each acne scar treatment in Singapore:
- Chemical peels - $350 for 3 sessions
- Dermal fillers - $700 to $1,000 per syringe, depending on the brand used
- Laser treatments - $250 to $1,000 per session, depending on laser procedure used
- Punch excision or grafting - $200 to $400 per session
- Radiofrequency microneedling - $1,000 to $3,000 per session
- Subcision - $150 to $350 per session, maximum of 5 sites
You can end your acne scar agony the right way.
Now that you know the effective methods that can remove those pesky acne scars, there is no reason why you should waste your money and efforts on treatments that have no proven track record in improving your battered skin. Remember to only get treatments from licensed skin specialists to be sure that your skin gets the most excellent kind of care it needs. Your skin will definitely thank you for it. Good luck!
