At some point between adolescence and early adulthood, about 80% of people develop acne, a chronic inflammatory skin condition that occurs when clogged pores give rise to pimples. Out of those 80%, about 1 in 5 end up with acne scars.
If you feel that your acne scars diminish your self-confidence, make you less outgoing, limit your opportunities, or all the above, it’s time to seek treatment — and we can help.
At Cosmetico MedSpa in Highland, Indiana, and Orland Park, Illinois, board-certified physician Dr. Nidal Hasan specializes in acne scar reduction using collagen induction therapy, also known as microneedling. Here, we explain how acne scars form, and how microneedling can minimize their appearance.
As one of the most durable and plentiful proteins in your body, collagen has been called the “cement that holds everything together.” Its two central functions? To help facilitate cellular repair and renewal, and to give body cells and tissues structure, strength, and stability.
Collagen accounts for about 30% of the protein structures in your body and is a primary building block of your skin.
Essentially, collagen is the strong inner scaffolding that gives your skin its shape, firmness, and resilience. Along with other structural proteins in your epidermis (elastin and keratin), it does a superb job of keeping your skin supple, smooth, healthy, and in a continual state of renewal.
Cell by cell and layer by layer, healthy skin regenerates itself and renews its collagen reserves every 27 days. Unfortunately, the inflammation associated with acne — especially during the pimple clearance and repair part of a typical breakout cycle — can disrupt this process and lead to abnormal skin healing that results in scars.
When your skin is working to clear acne, it produces more collagen to repair the lesions and heal the wounds. During this process, acne scars can form in two ways:
A raised acne scar occurs when your skin tissue makes too much collagen as it heals. Known as hypertrophic or keloid scars, raised acne scars are often itchy or tender. They tend to appear on the chest, back, shoulders, and jawline most often.
Atrophic or pitted “ice pick” scars occur when your skin doesn’t produce enough collagen during the acne repair process, leaving shallow crevices behind once healing is complete. These depressed indentations commonly appear on the forehead, cheeks, and jawline.
Fortunately, not all acne scars are permanent, and various treatments can help minimize their appearance. Collagen induction therapy — commonly known as microneedling — is one of the least invasive and most effective scar reduction techniques.
Microneedling aims to smooth out acne scars by prompting your skin to heal and smooth out its irregularities with its own collagen repair mechanisms. In short, it gives your skin a “repair do-over.”
The collagen induction process begins and ends with microchannels. Specifically, Dr. Hasan uses a pen-like microneedling device fitted with a tip of tiny, sterile needles to create small, superficial “wounds” in your skin surface across the treatment area.
These tiny surface channels prompt your skin to ramp up its production of reparative proteins, leading to a powerful and sustained influx of collagen and elastin.
As this microchannel-induced collagen renewal process unfolds over time, it actively fortifies, smooths, and tightens your epidermal tissues. As your epidermis remodels its building blocks from the ground up, pitted acne scars become more filled in, raised acne scars start to flatten out, and your skin looks smoother and healthier.
The superficial microchannels created by the microneedling device trigger a cascade of healing responses within your epidermal tissues that begins right away and continues to build on itself in the days and weeks following your treatment.
We can accelerate the skin repair process by smoothing PRP — a serum of healing growth factors made from a small sample of your blood — across your skin. As the PRP filters into microchannel openings, its growth factors get to work, sending the collagen renewal and scar reduction processes into high gear.
While you can expect your skin to be noticeably smoother after just one microneedling session, most people obtain optimal acne scar reduction results over a series of collagen induction treatments.
Ready to say goodbye to acne scars? We can help. Schedule a visit with Dr. Hasan at your nearest Cosmetico MedSpa office in Highland, Indiana, or Orland Park, Illinois, today.
