Causes,
types of acne scars, scar treatment and how to avoid scarring
Scars from acne can seem like double punishment - first you had to suffer through the pimples, now you have marks to remind you. Is there anything you can do?
A scar, or cicatrix
in medical terminology, is a mark left in the skin by the healing of a
wound, burnt or surgical incision in which the normal functional tissue
(skin) is lost (depressed scar) or replaced by connective tissue (hyperthropic
or keloid scar).
To understand scars, you need to understand acne. Acne refers to lesions or pimples caused by hormones, enlarged glands in the skin, or increased oil production and bacteria. It's usually found on the face, neck, and upper body. Acne comes in different forms:
Mild acne, which refers to the white or blackheads that most of us get at various times (usually the worst possible times, like right before the prom or school pictures).
Moderately severe acne, which includes red inflamed pimples called papules and red pimples with white centers called pustules.
Severe acne, which causes nodules - painful, pus-filled cysts or lumps - that appear under the skin. Nodules are more likely to leave permanent scars than other types of acne.
Most serious scarring is caused by more severe acne, and the best way to deal with it is to get treatment soon after the acne appears. If you have nodules, see your doctor or dermatologist right away. He or she will assess your acne and will probably prescribe some combination of topical
creams such as BIOSKINCARE and/or antibiotic pills, oral contraceptives for some teen girls with acne (the hormones in birth control pills can help control acne in some cases), or other medication such as Accutane if the acne is severe. BIOSKINCARE
is a new product and little known to Doctors, for there is no advertising except
in Internet and it is a natural product gathered from live snails -without any
damage to them.
Acne Marks
Some spots on the skin may look like scars but are not scars
for no trace of them will remain after a while. But even though they are not true scars
and will disappear in time, they are visible and may cause embarrassment.
Macules or
"pseudo-scars" are flat, red or reddish spots that are the final stage of
most inflamed acne lesions. After an inflamed acne lesion flattens, a
macule may remain to "mark the spot" for up to 6 months. When the macule eventually disappears, no trace of it
will remain—unlike a scar.
Post-inflammatory pigmentation is discoloration of the skin at the site of a healed or
healing inflamed acne lesion. It occurs more frequently in darker-skinned
people, but occasionally is seen in people with white skin. Some post-inflammatory pigmentation may
persist for up to 18 months, especially with excessive sun exposure. Early
treatment with a topical skin repair cream can minimize the development of
post-inflammatory pigmentation.
Topical treatment with BIOSKINCARE cream can quickly vanish
those acne marks.
Causes of Acne Scars
Scars form at the site
of an injury. They are the visible reminders of injury and
tissue repair. In the case of acne, the injury is caused by the body’s
inflammatory response to sebum,
bacteria and dead cells in the plugged sebaceous follicle. Two types of true scars exist: (1)
depressed areas such as ice-pick scars, and (2) raised thickened tissue
such as keloids.
Repair of Acne scars with BIOSKINCARE
The wound healing process is comprised
of three overlapping phases: inflammation, proliferation, and maturation.
During
the inflammatory phase, blood vessels contract and red blood cells clot the
wound while white blood cells swarm to the damaged area in an effort to clean up any contaminants and protect the site from infection.
Then, during the proliferate phase, both skin cells and connective tissue cells
(fibroblasts) begin multiplying to repair the damage. The fibroblasts form
a framework upon which the skin cells can migrate into and fill in the
wound. It is the balance between the rate of replication of fibroblasts
versus skin cells that is important here. If the fibroblasts replicate too
quickly, they can form a dense network that is not as easily penetrated by
the skin cells and that results in a large scar. If the skin cells keep up
with the fibroblasts, then little scar tissue is formed and the skin has a
more normal appearance after the wound has healed. But sometimes the process does not yield
new tissue and an eroded area is left over. Here is where BIOSKINCARE plays an
important role, because of the allantoin from the
natural snail secretions that it contains in a bio-available form.
Glycosaminoglycans has been termed a cell proliferant, or an epithelization stimulant,
for it speeds up the formation
of new cells and collagen cells.
During the maturation phase of a wound, also known as the remodeling phase, new
collagen is formed to create a scar. Collagen is a fibrous protein which gives
a new scar its
characteristic bumpy look. With
recovery, the collagen is broken down and the scar flattens and shrinks. Scar maturation
left on its own usually takes at
least a year. BIOSKINCARE triggers the proliferation of fibroblasts the cells responsible for creating both
collagen and elastin connective tissue cells,
speeding up the scar maturation process.
Occurrence of Scars
The occurrence and incidence of scarring is still not well understood,
however. There is considerable variation in scarring between one person
and another, indicating that some people are more prone to scarring than
others. Scarring frequently results from severe inflammatory nodule cystic
acne that occurs deep in the skin. But, scarring also may arise
from more superficial inflamed lesions.
Nodule or sometimes called an acne "cyst":
It is the most severe form of acne lesion. A nodule is a large, deep-seated, pus-filled, often painful lump.
Acne with nodules often results in permanent scarring and requires
treatment by a physician.
The life history of scars is also not well
understood. Some people bear their acne scars for a lifetime with little
change in the scars, but in other people the skin undergoes some degree of
remodeling and acne scars diminish in size.
People also have differing feelings about acne
scars. Scars of more or less the same size that may be psychologically
distressing to one person may be accepted by another person as "not too
bad." The person who is distressed by scars is more likely to seek
treatment to moderate or remove the scars.
Prevention of Acne Scars
As discussed in the previous section on Causes
of Acne Scars, the occurrence of scarring is different in different
people. Who will scar, how extensive or deep
scars will be, and how long scars will persist is quite unpredictable. It is also difficult to
predict how successfully scars can be prevented by effective acne
treatment.
Nevertheless, the only sure method of
preventing or limiting the extent of scars is to treat acne early in its
course, and as long as necessary. The more the inflammation can be
prevented or moderated, the more likely it is that scars can be prevented.
Acne treatment
Acne development, in summary, is a situation where
the sebaceous glands get plugged and the sebum that is normally produced is not able to flow out in its regular pattern around the hair follicle. The gland gets trapped and this oily material then ruptures out into the surrounding tissue causing the typical signs of acne i.e. white heads, pustules, and papules.
Those
plugged follicles are also now a rich environment for the uncontrolled development of
the germs which are normally on the skin surface and cause acne, the most
noticeable being: Propionibacterium Acnes, which causes the redness
around acne lesions.
BIOSKINCARE contains enzymes which helps to
unclog the skin follicles. It also has a natural antibiotic action that fights
acne bacteria without causing any bacterial resistance. The enzymes in
BIOSKINCARE allows the skin repairing substances (allantoin, collagen and elastin), and the antibiotics to penetrate
deeply into the skin follicles making it a most effective product for the treatment of mild, moderate
and severe acne (the latter when used in conjunction with the intake of
systemic antibiotics or retinoids and a proper diet to detoxify your skin as
explained here at: acne treatment )
Types of Acne Scars
There are two general types of acne scars,
defined by skin tissue response to inflammation: (1) scars caused by increased
tissue formation, and (2) scars caused by loss of tissue.
Scars Caused by Increased Tissue
Formation
The scars caused by increased tissue formation
are called keloids or hypertrophic scars. The word hypertrophy means
"enlargement" or "overgrowth." Both hypertrophic and keloid scars are
associated with excessive amounts of the cell substance collagen.
Overproduction of collagen is a response of skin cells to injury. The
excess collagen becomes piled up in fibrous masses, resulting in a
characteristic firm, smooth, usually irregularly-shaped scar.
The typical keloid or hypertrophic scar is 1 to
2 millimeters in diameter, but some may be 1 centimeter or larger. Keloid
scars tend to "run in families"—that is, abnormal growth of scar tissue is
more likely to occur in susceptible people, who often are people with
relatives who have similar types of scars.
Hypertrophic and keloid scars persist for
years, but may diminish in size over time.
Scars Caused by Loss of Tissue
Acne scars associated with loss of
tissue—similar to scars that result from chicken pox—are more common than
keloids and hypertrophic scars. Scars associated with loss of tissue
are:
Ice-pick scars usually occur on the cheek. They are usually small, with a
somewhat jagged edge and steep sides—like wounds from an ice pick.
Ice-pick scars may be shallow or deep, and may be hard or soft to the
touch. Soft scars can be improved by stretching the skin; hard ice-pick
scars cannot be stretched out.
Depressed fibrotic scars are usually quite large, with sharp edges and steep
sides. The base of these scars is firm to the touch. Ice-pick scars may
evolve into depressed fibrotic scars over time.
Soft scars, superficial or
deep are soft to the touch. They have
gently sloping rolled edges that merge with normal skin. They are
usually small, and either circular or linear in shape.
Atrophic macules are usually fairly small when they occur on the face, but may be
a centimeter or larger on the body. They are soft, often with a slightly
wrinkled base, and may be bluish in appearance due to blood vessels
lying just under the scar. Over time, these scars change from bluish to
ivory white in color in white-skinned people, and become much less
obvious.
Follicular macular atrophy is more likely to occur on the chest or back of a
person with acne. These are small, white, soft lesions, often barely
raised above the surface of the skin—somewhat like whiteheads
that didn’t fully develop. The lesions may persist for months to
years.
Treatments for Acne Scars
A number of treatments are available for acne
scars. The type of treatment selected should be the one that is
best for you in terms of your type of skin, the cost, what you want the
treatment to accomplish, and the possibility that some types of treatment
may result in more scarring if you are very susceptible to scar
formation.
You can use BIOSKINCARE to prevent and
repair acne scars and/or seek
surgical treatments.
A decision to seek surgical
treatment for acne scars depends on:
The way you feel about scars. Do acne scars
psychologically or emotionally affect your life? Are you willing to
"live with your scars" and wait for them to fade over time? These are
personal decisions only you can make.
The severity of your scars. Is scarring
substantially disfiguring, even by objective assessment?
A dermatologist’s expert opinion as to
whether scar treatment is justified in your particular case, and what
scar treatment will be most effective for you.
Before committing to treatment of acne scars,
you should have a frank discussion with your dermatologist regarding those
questions, and any others you feel are important. You need to tell the
dermatologist how you feel about your scars. The dermatologist needs to
conduct a full examination and determine whether treatment can, or should,
be undertaken.
The objective of scar treatment is to give the
skin a more acceptable physical appearance. Total restoration of the skin,
to the way it looked before you had acne, is often not possible, but scar
treatment does usually improve the appearance of your skin.
The scar treatments that are currently
available include:
Collagen injection. Collagen, a normal substance of the body, is injected under the
skin to "stretch" and "fill out" certain types of superficial and deep
soft scars. Collagen treatment usually does not work as well for
ice-pick scars and keloids. Collagen derived from cows or other
non-human sources cannot be used in people with autoimmune diseases.
Human collagen or fascia is helpful for those allergic to cow-derived
collagen. Cosmetic benefit from collagen injection usually lasts 3 to 6
months. Additional collagen injections to maintain the cosmetic benefit
are done at additional cost.
Autologous fat transfer. Fat is taken from another site on your own body and
prepared for injection into your skin. The fat is injected beneath the
surface of the skin to elevate depressed scars. This method of
autologous (from your own body) fat transfer is usually used to correct
deep contour defects caused by scarring from nodulocystic acne. Because
the fat is reabsorbed into the skin over a period of 6 to 18 months, the
procedure usually must be repeated. Longer lasting results may be
achieved with multiple fat-transfer procedures.
Dermabrasion. This is thought to be the most effective treatment for acne
scars. Under local anesthetic, a high-speed brush or fraise used to
remove surface skin and alter the contour of scars. Superficial scars
may be removed altogether, and deeper scars may be reduced in depth.
Dermabrasion does not work for all kinds of scars; for example, it may
make ice-pick scars more noticeable if the scars are wider under the
skin than at the surface. In darker-skinned people, dermabrasion may
cause changes in pigmentation that require additional
treatment.
Microdermabrasion. This new technique is a surface form of dermabrasion. Rather
than a high-speed brush, microdermabrasion uses aluminum oxide crystals
passing through a vacuum tube to remove surface skin. Only the very
surface cells of the skin are removed, so no additional wound is
created. Multiple procedures are often required but scars may not be
significantly improved.
Laser Treatment. Lasers of various wavelength and intensity may be used to
recontour scar tissue and reduce the redness of skin around healed acne
lesions. The type of laser used is determined by the results that the
laser treatment aims to accomplish. Tissue may actually be removed with
more powerful instruments such as the carbon dioxide laser. In some
cases, a single treatment is all that will be necessary to achieve
permanent results. Because the skin absorbs powerful bursts of energy
from the laser, there may be post-treatment redness for several
months.
Skin Surgery. Some ice-pick scars may be removed by "punch" excision of each
individual scar. In this procedure each scar is excised down to the
layer of subcutaneous fat; the resulting hole in the skin may be
repaired with sutures or with a small skin graft. Subcision is a
technique in which a surgical probe is used to lift the scar tissue away
from unscarred skin, thus elevating a depressed scar.
Skin grafting may be necessary under
certain conditions—for example, sometimes dermabrasion unroofs massive
and extensive tunnels (also called sinus tracts) caused by inflammatory
reaction to sebum and bacteria in sebaceous follicles. Skin grafting may
be needed to close the defect of the unroofed sinus tracts.
Treatment of keloids. Surgical removal is seldom if ever used to treat
keloids. A person whose skin has a tendency to form keloids from acne
damage may also form keloids in response to skin surgery. Sometimes
keloids are treated by injecting steroid drugs into the skin around the
keloid. Topical retinoic acid may be applied directly on the keloid. In
some cases the best treatment for keloids in a highly susceptible person
is no treatment at all.
In summary, acne scars are caused by the body’s
inflammatory response to acne lesions. The best way to prevent scars is to
treat acne early, and as long as necessary. If scars form, a number of
effective treatments are available. BIOSKINCARE cream is very effective in
helping to prevent scars by treating acne at the source and it is very
effective in repairing acne scars by helping
both to trigger new skin cell formation when the skin has been damaged and
to speed up the process of scar maturation.
Nature's
Gift for Healthy Skin
Nature
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BIOSKINCARE®
is 80% what a snail capable of quickly regenerating his skin and calcium shell
whenever damaged leaves behind while crawling. The extract is gathered through a
patented process without inflicting any harm to the cute little creatures.
FEATURES & BENEFITS
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Glycolic acid in combination with Glycosaminoglycans,
Proteins & Vitamins, Natural Antimicrobial Peptides,
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- Daily use of Cream or After Shave
Balm dissolves the "glue" that holds the
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- Natural Antimicrobial Peptides that
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systemic antibiotics.
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scars, regeneration of scar tissue and healing of razor bumps
and burns, and help avoid ingrown hairs and skin irritation after
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