it can scar! The good news is that there are lots of ways to stop
acne from scarring, and many of them are presented in this book.
But if you already have scars, I have more good news — something
can be done about them. In this chapter, I delve even more deeply
into the dermatology tool chest in search of some heavy-duty and
“light” tools that may help you with your acne scars.
The treatments described in this chapter are considered to be
“surgical” in nature because they often involve cutting, abrading
moving, building up, and destroying tissue (skin).
Examining Acne Scars
Acne scars are caused by the body’s response — and sometimes,
overresponse — to injury caused by inflammatory acne lesions.
Most often, scarring results from severe nodular acne that occurs
deep in the skin. But, scarring also may arise from more superficial
inflamed lesions.
The term scarring technically refers to a process in which new
collagen is laid down to heal an injury. Collagen is a protein that
gives the skin its rigidity and strength and is produced by skin
cells called fibroblasts. In Chapter 3, I talk about how scars are
formed by collagen.Scars can take on a number of different appearances: They may be
flat; or sometimes, fibroblasts may work overtime and produce too
much collagen that results in scars that bulge out like lumps. They
can also form indentations (or pits) when there’s a loss of skin that
is replaced by collagen. Scars can be skin colored, whitish, purple,
red, or even darker than a person’s normal skin color.
There are times when “scars” aren’t really scars. After an acne lesion
has healed or even while healing, it can leave a pink, red, purple, or
a darkly pigmented mark on your skin. These marks are actually
macules, spots that indicate a temporary color change of the skin.
These areas of remaining inflammation or post-inflammatory change
aren’t scars because no permanent change has occurred.
Sometimes, especially in darker-skinned people, the spots tend to
be darker than the normal skin color and they tend to hang around
longer. This is known as postinflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIP),
an after-effect from a healing acne lesion itself. These lesions also
tend to fade in time, unless the pigment winds up deep in the
dermis (dermal melanosis). Dermal melanosis is a type of PIP that
is much harder to treat and may never fade away completely. I
cover PIP and options for stepping up the speed at which these
lesions fade in Chapter 12.
Some people endure their acne scars all their lives with little
change in them. Other people are luckier — their skin improves
and the scars undergo some degree of improvement over time, and
they sometimes transform (remodel) themselves and decrease in
size. I guess time does heal some, if not all, wounds.
I characterize the different types of scars next. Keep in mind that
some people have a combination of different types of scars so that
one treatment may not work on them all.
overresponse — to injury caused by inflammatory acne lesions.
Most often, scarring results from severe nodular acne that occurs
deep in the skin. But, scarring also may arise from more superficial
inflamed lesions.
The term scarring technically refers to a process in which new
collagen is laid down to heal an injury. Collagen is a protein that
gives the skin its rigidity and strength and is produced by skin
cells called fibroblasts. In Chapter 3, I talk about how scars are
formed by collagen.Scars can take on a number of different appearances: They may be
flat; or sometimes, fibroblasts may work overtime and produce too
much collagen that results in scars that bulge out like lumps. They
can also form indentations (or pits) when there’s a loss of skin that
is replaced by collagen. Scars can be skin colored, whitish, purple,
red, or even darker than a person’s normal skin color.
There are times when “scars” aren’t really scars. After an acne lesion
has healed or even while healing, it can leave a pink, red, purple, or
a darkly pigmented mark on your skin. These marks are actually
macules, spots that indicate a temporary color change of the skin.
These areas of remaining inflammation or post-inflammatory change
aren’t scars because no permanent change has occurred.
Sometimes, especially in darker-skinned people, the spots tend to
be darker than the normal skin color and they tend to hang around
longer. This is known as postinflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIP),
an after-effect from a healing acne lesion itself. These lesions also
tend to fade in time, unless the pigment winds up deep in the
dermis (dermal melanosis). Dermal melanosis is a type of PIP that
is much harder to treat and may never fade away completely. I
cover PIP and options for stepping up the speed at which these
lesions fade in Chapter 12.
Some people endure their acne scars all their lives with little
change in them. Other people are luckier — their skin improves
and the scars undergo some degree of improvement over time, and
they sometimes transform (remodel) themselves and decrease in
size. I guess time does heal some, if not all, wounds.
I characterize the different types of scars next. Keep in mind that
some people have a combination of different types of scars so that
one treatment may not work on them all.
No comments:
Post a Comment