Facial scars can occur for several different reasons. Occasionally, accidents cause cuts, lacerations or other injuries on the skin that do not heal properly, resulting in a scar. More commonly, though, facial scars develop in the wake of acne and other skin blemishes. Worse cases of acne, such as cystic acne, can leave deep scarring on the surface of the skin that can ruin your complexion and lower your self-esteem. Fortunately, there are several ways to fade and erase scars present on your skin. Different methods are available to treat scarring depending on the type and depth of the abrasion.
Step 1
Try a chemical peel to eliminate raised scars or discoloration scars. These peels use a chemical--glycolic acid is common--to burn off the top layers of your skin. This burning also stimulates your body to produce new skin cells to heal over the minor burn. After the new skin cells come in, you should have eliminated any superficial scarring, and scars that run deep should be faded from visibility. Chemical peels can be received from a dermatologist or at a day spa, but you can also purchase chemical peel kits and do them at home. Just be sure to follow the rules provided by the peel kit--mistakes made when doing a chemical peel can lead to worse scarring on the skin than you previously had.
Step 2
Visit a dermatologist and inquire about a laser resurfacing treatment. This type of treatment is vastly improved over previous forms of laser treatments on the skin. A laser resurfacing treatment shoots a concentrated laser beam at the skin, penetrating deep into the sublayers of your skin and stimulating collagen production. This helps treat deep scars that many other scar treatments cannot reach. The newly improved laser treatments also require little to no recovery time after their treatment, making them one of the fastest treatment options available.
Step 3
Proceed to a radiotherapy treatment if other, milder treatment options fail to erase one of your facial scars. In this case, very extreme deep-layer scar treatments are required. Radiotherapy can treat and prevent the occurrence and recurrence of keloid scars, which are deep and aggressive skin lesions that can change the shape and look of your face and take over a large segment of the skin. Radiotherapy has risky long-term side effects because of the exposure of radiowaves to the body--an increased risk of cancer among them--but it may be one of few options available for certain types of scar tissue.
Step 4
Visit a plastic surgeon to inquire about surgically removing your facial scar. This can be done in most cases, but many surgeries require a recovery period that can last for weeks. Additionally, there is a risk that although your primary scar may be removed, the surgery itself may create a mild scar in its place.
Things You'll Need
- Chemical peel kit
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