What causes them?
Scars are unsightly marks on the skin with varying depths, colors and sizes. They are the result of skin cell repair, which can take several months, and appear after skin trauma such as:
- A wound
- A surgical procedure
- Acne
- Stretch marks
- A burn
They can make people feel extremely self-conscious, especially if they are on the face, like acne scars, and on certain parts of the body (chest, hips, stomach, etc.), like stretch marks.
The healing process is natural and happens automatically, and is simply the skin spontaneously healing itself. Scar tissue is never the same as normal skin tissue – it is generally of a lower quality and leaves lesions.
What are the different categories of scars?
Hypertrophic or keloid scars: these scars are swollen and look like an outgrowth of skin tissue. They can be larger than the original mark. Atrophic scars: these scars are hollow and can have different shapes and depth, such as “ice pick” or crater scars.
Hyperpigmented scars: they are red, pink, brown or even black. They are a hyperpigmentation mark caused by the stimulation of melanocytes. The darker the skin, the darker the scars will be. They can be hollow or swollen. The center treats brown scars in particular. They are often caused by poorly healed acne or ingrown hairs that have become more serious.
Hypopigmented scars: They are a very light, even white, color because they destroyed the melanin White stretch marks are hypopigmented scars.
“Vascular” scars: these scars form when blood vessels appear.
How to get rid of them?
Scars are generally treatable with aesthetic medicine, but there are some exceptions, such as “ice pick” or very swollen scars, which require a surgical procedure (for example, skin ablation or skin grafts) or which cannot be treated.
- Hyaluronic acid injections: to fill shallow scars such as “gentle sloping” or flat scars, and smooth the skin surface. This treatment must be repeated every year as hyaluronic acid is a resorbable product.
- Fraxel laser: to treat some atrophic, hypertrophic and hyperpigmented scars. By treating the skin section by section with fractional laser beam micro pulses, the fraxel laser will stimulate cell regeneration. Scars will disappear and the skin is left beautiful, smooth and even. Collagen is stimulated for several months.
- Peels: to treat slightly atrophic, hypertrophic and hyperpigmented scars. The chemical substance contained in the peel will irritate the skin and make it peel to help a scar-free second skin form with a clear complexion. Medium and deep peels are chosen depending on the depth of the scar. Collagen will be stimulated for several months.
- Fractional CO2 laser: to treat some atrophic, hypertrophic and hyperpigmented scars. This more aggressive treatment is based on the same principle as the fraxel laser but delivers carbon dioxide micro pulses.
- Vascular laser: to remove vascular lesions (blood vessels) caused by scars.
- The anti-stretch mark protocol: this protocol uses the power of the fraxel laser to eliminate white stretch marks.
Several treatments can be used at the same time. Peels and fraxel lasers are generally used over several sessions to effectively remove scars.
