Acne / Chickenpox scars

There are over a thousand entities in dermatology; it is difficult to understand all in just a few pages. We are going to describe a few common skin problems. This is purely educational; if you have a skin disease, please consult your dermatologist.

When cystic acne and chickenpox heal, they often leave a permanent pitted scar behind. Some scar may even outgrow their original size and become bigger and harder in consistency, we call them hypertrophic scars or keloids. Some scars may turn a purplish colour and give us an altered complexion. Scar is formed when our skin is traumatized; we cannot get rid of a scar completely, the idea is to change its appearance so it looks smooth, even and resembling the neighbouring skin colour.

For hyptertrophic scar, intralesional injection of steroid and pulsed dye laser can effectively shrink the scar size.

For the pitted scar, depending on the depth of the scar, we can use subcision, punch biopsy, chemical peeling, infra-red lasers or hyaluronic acid inections. Often, we may need a combination of the above to get the best results. The purplish colour can be improved with intense pulsed light.