H E A LT H & B E AU T Y
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the Mark imples may disfigure a face for a few days, but the scars they leave behind can last a lifetime. There is a psychological factor that adds to the physical scarring. You feel less-than, like something bad happened to you. There are feelings of guilt, hopelessness, lack of confidence and low self-esteem. To make things more complicated, acne scars are notoriously difficult to treat. They are some of the most challenging conditions we have facing us as aestheticians. Treating acne scars has been a major challenge due, in large part, to the lack of effective tools. Wrinkles were relatively easier to deal with, but there was no efficient way to resurface acne scars.
P by Christy Howell Certified Medical Aesthetician Azalea Center for Plastic Surgery
Voted South Georgia’s Best Aesthetician 2013!
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ValdostaScene | SEPTEMBER 2013
The good news is that today aestheticians and plastic surgeons can turn to a growing array of sophisticated tools and strategies to treat acne scars. Now we can use lasers and other energy-based systems. Fractional lasers and fractional radiofrequency systems seem to be the best we have in 2013. We have had quite a bit of success using the fractional technologies for many scars, no matter what type, since we can vary the depth of penetration. Fractional lasers can be ablative be ablative or nonablative; the non ablative therapies work over several treatments, from four to six, and the ablative usually require one or two. How successful are the treatments for acne scars? We aestheticians never promise complete clearance, but we are seeing improvements of 80% to 90% in some of the patients we are treating. This is a good thing, as we can never make 100%, but we want patients to be realistic going into the treatment. Patients who do well are the ones that understand the limitations we have, which are that we cannot be perfect. Fractional ablative lasers really are a game changer and are emerging almost as a gold standard. They are especially useful because they can reach deeply into the layers of the skin. You need a tool that can reach that deep, and chemical peels just weren’t getting far enough down, and that isn’t the only benefit to laser treatment for acne scars. The other powerful thing about fractional ablative therapy is that it vaporizes the scar and, over three to six months; normal-appearing collagen fills in the hole. Potential side effects of ablative laser resurfacing include itching, swelling and redness. This normally only lasts 5 to 10 days and varies in patients depending on depth and skin type.