deep acne scars - Skin Problems Message Board

summer411 · 11-12-2005, 02:19 PM

I suffered with acne for years, went through various treatments, etc., LONG story... finally, birth control and elicina cream helped tackle it. Anyways, my skin is clear, with only an occasional zit or two once in a while... but I'm left with cheeks with deep indentations - ice pick scars? I know the dermatological treatments are really pricey but i've been hearing more about microdermabrasion kits or facial peel kits that you can buy at drugstores that are effective for scars like this. Does anyone know more about this? Is it worth a try? Effective? Or does anyone have an idea as to why it wouldn't work and what might? Thank you!

wakkochic17 · 11-12-2005, 06:21 PM

the treatments that are over the counter work for very mild scars. The reason they don't work for deep scars such that you have is that they are only designed to exfoliate a very small amount of skin. The treatments you would get at a dermatologist are much stronger and much more effective because they take off a greater amount of skin to get better results. Legally, they can't sell the type of chemicals needed to get strong results over the counter because it would be too dangerous. The OTC ones are great to smoothe out some minor imperfections.. and I find they make my skin smoother in general, but they have done little for my scars. I don't have them as deep as you do from what it sounds, but I've certainly got my share of bad scaring all over my face.