Fractional laser is one of our newest results-driven skin treatments here at Aeternum Aesthetics.
During the treatment small areas of the skin are targeted with the laser light which penetrates down into the tissue, this causes thermal heat damage which stimulates collagen renewal within the skin. With this technology, we can start to treat deeper skin concerns like scarring including surgical scars, traumatic scars and also acne scars. Fractional laser is a resurfacing treatment which will smooth and even out scarring and skin texture whilst also smoothing fine lines and boosting collagen.
Scars are caused by some sort of trauma on the body. All wounds heal with some sort of scar formation, some being raised, pitted or even a completely different colour from the rest of our skin. Fractional laser can treat scarring with the outcome being to improve the appearance, symptoms and texture of all scar types.
Atrophic acne scars are the most common type of acne scars. You can tell an acne scar is atrophic because it’ll look like a depression, crater, dent, or hole in the surface of the skin. These are caused by destruction and loss of collagen. An example of how they might occur would be when you pop a pimple, or if you just happen to get a particularly big or cystic pimple, it damages the surrounding skin and causes inflammation.
The following are some examples of Atrophic scars.
- Ice Pick Scars – These are very small deep holes that look like your skin has been punctured with a sharp object.
- Rolling Scars – These scars are caused when bands of scar tissue are formed under the skin, giving an uneven appearance and “rolling” skin.
- Boxcar Scars – These are round depressions or craters in the skin that have parallel side walls.
Hypertrophic scars are the opposite and present as quite a raised, usually pinkish bump on the skin. These are formed due to an excess of collagen to the area during the healing process.
Hyperpigmentation can also form as darker spots or areas on the skin. When your skin heals from inflammation, too much melanin or skinpigment can be produced during the healing process. This kind of scarring is usually quite superficial and tends to respond to treatment much quicker than Atrophic scarring.
Is laser for acne scar removal safe?
Yes, it is! Our ResurFace treatment using Fractional Ablative Laser is extremely safe. As no thermal damage is created to the surrounding tissue it leads to quicker healing and a much more comfortable treatment than using Fully Ablative Lasers. It also minimises the chances of long-term and serious adverse effects.
During the treatment, the skin can feel quite warm and tight, a bit like sunburn. Throughout the treatment, we regularly apply cold compresses to the skin in between passes to help cool the skin and to alleviate any minor discomfort.
Lasers have been used since the 1980’s for the improvement of acne scars. In a recent study, Fractional laser was amongst the top lasers used for minimal downtime but also for giving the most significant gradual results, with the most improvement seen at 3 to 6 months after the last treatment.
Is laser acne scar treatment permanent?
Fractional lasers aim to stimulate the tissue underneath your scar to remove cells that are darkly pigmented underneath the top layer of the skin. Whilst we can’t guarantee it will completely remove the acne scars it will greatly reduce their appearance, size and colour by encouraging new healthy skin cells to grow and replace the old scar tissue.
Can laser remove deep acne scars?
Fractional laser will most definitely help to remove deeper scars on the skin. The laser itself penetrates to around 0.06mm however the thermal heat will have an effect of up to 0.75mm into the skin. Raised scars and shallow boxcar scars improve the most with laser resurfacing whilst ice pick scars are more challenging to treat and may need a secondary resurfacing treatment.
Here at Aeternum Aesthetics in Ashby de la Zouch, we want to hear from you if scarring is something you would like help with. We can have a look in depth at your skin using our Observ Skin Analysis machine and from there advise on the best course of treatment going forward.
Call the clinic today on 01530 417 897 to book in your skincare consultation.
