Laser Resurfacing: Get Rid Of Your Acne Scars

If you have acne scars you on your face or your back you probably do everything in your power to cover them up with make up but even that isn't enough to make your skin look flawless. Acne scars are also known as ice pick scars because they literally look like someone took an ice pick to your face or back and stabbed.

If you are ready to get rid of your ice pick scars and reclaim your flawless skin, there are more than a few options available to you to investigate towards that goal. Your dermatologist can go over each of your options in more depth but your choices mostly come down to a chemical peel, dermabrasion, collagen injections, antilogous fat transfers, punch grafts or laser resurfacing.

Laser resurfacing has been shown to be up to ninety percent effective and more effective than other choices such as dermabrasion and most patients see a 50% to 80% improvement with laser resurfacing. This procedure is also considered the less bloody alternative to dermabrasion, which is a fairly bloody procedure.

Laser resurfacing works by having a beam of energy from the laser light directed at the area to be resurfaced. The light will vaporize the skin tissue and burn off the top layer of skin. This is very effective in getting rid of the signs of acne scars, blemishes and even fine lines and wrinkles.

This procedure is popularly used to eradicate the signs of aging but it has also been very successful in reducing or eliminating acne scars. In a review of 16 studies on the use of laser resurfacing, the majority of patients saw an improvement in their acne scar visibility with this treatment process.

It takes about ten days for your skin to heal from the treatments and patients are advised to take that time off work to recover since the treated skin doesn't look pretty in the healing process. Treated skin will generally be red with scabs or sores that can ooze and then crust over as they heal. If you can get past the healing period your skin will start to look like what you hoped it would look like.

The only lingering side effect is some redness where your skin was treated and it takes about two months for the redness to disappear completely. The side effects of skin redness can be concealed easily with make up so it won't be obvious to anyone what you had done, just that your skin has an improved appearance.

For most patients the entire recovery period is 18 months but your face will go back to a normal look within a few months when the redness subsides.

The only downside to this procedure is the cost. Since the procedure is considered cosmetic, most insurance companies won't pay for it. However the national average is any where from four thousand dollars to eight thousand dollars.