Acne Scar Laser Treatment

The technology used to treat acne scars is similar to technology used for wrinkle reduction and is based on the same idea. Although we use a collective name “laser treatment” for all the therapies, it is good to remember that there are three distinct types of acne scar laser treatment.

The first is based on the Carbon Dioxide laser; the second is based on Erbium laser and the third on N-Lite laser. N-lite laser is the brand name for a special medical Helium-Neon laser. Designed specifically for non-ablative removal of rhytids, static wrinkles and collagen rejuvenation, this gives excellent effects also in acne scar laser treatment.

Acne Scar Laser Treatment - the different technologies

To understand why the laser therapy works you must first understand some basics about acne scars. The most important thing is that the acne scar is deeper than surrounding skin. They are visible because the light their cast shadows. If we can manage to flush scars within the skin level the eye will not see them, as there will be no shadow cast.

This is the principle of the laser resurfacing used in acne scar laser treatment. As we said above, there are 3 different types of lasers used in the process. The first type are Carbon Dioxide Lasers, these give a short burst of high energy that literally vaporizes surrounding skin and stimulates collagen production making the scar less deep.

A similar effect is used in Erbium laser treatment. However in this case it is more important to stimulate collagen production than vaporizing the skin. Because of lower energy used by erbium–based lasers, recovery time after treatment is shorter than in the case of CO2 lasers.

The entire procedure is more comfortable, because there is usually no need to use anesthetics. CO2 laser treatment demands at least two weeks of recovery time after procedure (probably with a bag on the head), compared to only a couple of days in the case of Erbium acne scar laser treatment. The Carbon Dioxide laser is more effective, but newer technologies take advantage of a shorter recovery time and have become more popular. Neon–Helium lasers are based solely on stimulating collagen production and therefore acne scar laser treatment based on N-Lite technology does not require recovery time after the operation, since there is no need of rebuilding the skin. N-Lite therapy does not need special preparation before a laser can be used, and overall discomfort is low. No anesthetics are usually needed.

Acne Scar Laser Treatment - the recovery

Carbon Dioxide and Erbium lasers require several weeks or days of recovery after the treatment. The skin looks like it has been sunburned and additional pain relievers may be necessary.

Treated areas should be protected from sun for a couple of months; the minimal SPF necessary is 15. Masking redness of treated areas requires intensive makeup. No recovery time is necessary after Helium – Neon N-Lite laser treatment.

Types of acne scar laser treatment and their effectiveness

Although generally CO2 lasers give better results in plastic surgery than erbium and HeNe, in the case of acne scar laser treatment this is not entirely true.

Typical improvement in CO2 laser acne therapy is 20-30%, while erbium lasers give results 15-25%, and N-Lite about 10-30%. As the difference is not so big, the most popular type of laser used in acne scar laser treatment is N-Lite. No recovery time and a much lower cost of treatment are serious advantages over other laser therapies that can be used in acne scar treatment.