How Punch Excision Treats Acne Scars

Punch excision treatments for acne scars is one of the most common and most popular methods for treating and eliminating scars from acne. Ice pick acne scars are best treated with punch excision treatment, whereas punch excision treatment with derma grafting is more preferred for larger areas of acne scar treatments. Your plastic surgeon will determine the best punch excision acne scar treatment for you.

Determining Acne Treatment

Your plastic surgeon or cosmetic surgeon will determine the best type of acne scar treatment based on several factors. These factors will help her decide if you should have the punch excision acne scar removal procedure, the punch excision with derma grafting, or a different procedure to eliminate or reduce your acne scars.

Severity of Acne Scars

The severity of your acne scars will be a major deciding factor when it comes to which treatment is best for you. If the scars are severe, the cosmetic surgeon will likely suggest the punch excision with derma grafting acne scar procedure. In this procedure, the surgeon will use a local anesthetic. By using a cookie cutter type of tool, he will cut out each individual acne scar and then take a graft of skin from behind your ear to cover the area where the acne scar once was. The surgeon will do this for each individual acne scar.

The results will usually be very successful. One thing that may be expected is that the pigmentation of your skin will be different. This is not always the case, but the color of the skin behind your ear may not be the same as the color of your face. Many people who experience this will have a microdermabrasion treatment completed once their initial punch excision treatment for acne scars has healed. Once the resurfacing is completed, new skin cells will produce and the pigmentation of the facial skin will be even.

Type of Acne Scars

If the acne scars are not too severe, the surgeon will likely opt for basic punch excision treatment for your acne scars. In this case, the surgeon will do exactly as he did for the punch excision with derma grafting, except without the skin grafting. What the surgeon will do after removing the scar with the specialized tool is place small steri-strips to close the opening or use small sutures. This type of cosmetic surgery for acne scars is used mostly when a person has ice pick types of acne scars.

Whether you have punch excision with derma grafting or basic punch excision surgery to correct acne scars, the general population of those who have had either procedure done report successful treatment of acne scars. The basic aftercare instructions from the surgeon will be to not allow water to contact the area for at least a week, avoid direct sunlight for the first couple of weeks, and he may suggest microdermabrasion or some other form of skin resurfacing if pigmentation discoloration is highly visible and bothersome to you. Once each procedure is healed, you will notice either no acne scars or a dramatically improved facial skin smoothness and appearance.