More than 90 percent of girls believe that beautiful and he althy skin is a significant part of their attractiveness. Fresh, elastic, radiant and always even dermis is the key to a successful career, personal life and many other achievements that our contemporary can be proud of.
The skin of the face requires special attention: if defects on other parts of the body can be hidden under clothes, hair or other style attributes, then the "calling card" should be flawless from the very beginning. Any flaws on its surface deliver a lot of experiences, especially if they are the result of trauma. An atrophic scar is one such cosmetic defect. The reasons for its appearance are mechanical, chemical or other types of effects on the skin of the face, as a result of which the cover acquires this aesthetic defect. Is it possible to fight this phenomenon?
What are atrophic scars on human skin, their features
Skin scarring is an inevitable consequencevarious deep damage to the dermis, whether it be an open injury or surgery. If a noticeable cosmetic defect appears on the face, threatening to remain for life, then it is worth using the entire arsenal of modern means to improve the appearance of the affected area. Unlike a hypertrophic formation protruding above the surface of the skin and a normotrophic scar merging with it, an atrophic scar is a depression with uneven edges, inside which young collagen cells form a colorless connective tissue.
Such skin lesions - soft, mobile formations - most often occur in areas with a missing subcutaneous fat layer. The characteristic appearance of such scars is due to the result of the chaotic construction of connective fibers under them, the lack of a strong “skin frame”, which is formed by the protein compounds of collagen and elastin. Any atrophic scar on the face, even if it does not constrict nearby tissues and does not impair the function of their movement, is subject to treatment, as it is located on a visible part of the body. Its reduced functional qualities are expressed in increased sensitivity to ultraviolet rays, as well as in the inability to restore hair follicles and sweat glands inside tissues. A similar scar on the face or body can be either completely depigmented or have a pronounced color in the center of the scar itself. Translucent vessels can sometimes be seen through an atrophic scar.
Characteristics of scars below skin level
Differentfrom each other atrophic scars on several grounds. This is localization; age of the scar (immature - up to three months, moderately mature - from 3-12 months, finally mature, the prescription of which is more than a year); shape (arc-shaped, curly, stripes, multiple dotted (post-acne) and others); dimensions; color (from pale to dark, pigmented); the effect of the scar on adjacent, he althy tissue.
An atrophic scar on the face is aesthetically unacceptable for a patient of any age: from adolescence (most often for those who suffer from acne) to the elderly, when collagen deficiency provokes the appearance of the deepest and rough scars.
Reasons for appearance
Any damage to the skin that destroys its collagen fibers can trigger atrophic scars: traces after severe lesions of the dermis with acne (post-acne), burns, injuries associated with a violation of the integrity of the skin (cuts, wounds, mechanical damage), certain medical procedures (including surgery), infectious lesions (chicken pox, acne or furunculosis). In the area of the cheeks, on the cheekbones due to pregnancy, due to hormonal imbalance, dehydration or sudden weight loss and gain, microtraumas - striae can also appear.
How to get rid of the consequences of trauma on the face? Treatment
Timely contacting a cosmetologist or aesthetic surgery clinic will help you choose the most appropriate method of scar correction, after which it will become less noticeableatrophic scar on the face. The treatment methods for this skin formation are aimed at restoring the altered texture of the dermis using both surgical and non-surgical methods.
To minimize the trace of an atrophic scar at an early stage, when it is finally formed (but no later than after 3-6 months), the use of ointments, gels and creams helps. Of the professional methods for treating receding scars (whose age is from 6 to 12 months), cosmetologists can offer chemical (median) peeling, mesotherapy or contouring (filling the scar with a filler based on hyaluronic acid), microdermabrasion or laser resurfacing. Among surgical methods, excision of an atrophic scar (with a scalpel or laser) is popular, followed by a cosmetic suture over the old scar, which makes it more accurate and less noticeable. Before leveling an atrophic scar, specialists determine its parameters and select the appropriate treatment, including complex therapy, which allows solving the aesthetic problem using several methods.
External cosmetics to get rid of scars: ointments, gels and creams
In modern cosmetology, there are several types of drugs that help to effectively deal with the effects of injuries on the skin of the face. Such aesthetic defects include an atrophic scar. Treatment may include the use of products that include petroleum jelly and silicone. These components prevent deteriorationcondition of the affected areas of the dermis. Healing of fresh scars is more productive with the help of steroid or hormonal creams, which are prescribed by a dermatologist. In addition, the arsenal of care products for the face with traces of damage to the dermal cover includes: scarring gels, silicone plates, moisturizing creams with SPF (ultraviolet protection), which help accelerate the growth of young cells and restore microcirculation in tissues. These drugs include Contractubex and Mederm, Kelofibraza and Kelo-cat, Fermencol and Dermatix, Zeraderm Ultra and Scarquard liquid cream.
An atrophic scar, the treatment of which depends on the maturity of the scar itself and its size, can be made less noticeable in any case, only by increasing the duration of treatment. For example, using transparent silicone plates "Spenko". The choice of cream should be carried out only on the recommendations of a doctor, since self-treatment of atrophic scars can lead to a deterioration in their condition, the appearance of allergic reactions and a waste of money. The disadvantages of treating traces of post-acne, striae and other atrophic scars with the help of external agents are their long-term use and selective effect. The advantages of using ointments and creams are their availability and simplicity, relatively low cost.
Types of injection scar correction
The most common intradermal methods of treatment and restoration of scar tissue today are: mesotherapy, biorevitalization, plasmolifting and contouring (correction of scars with fillers). Mesotherapy, or the introduction of biologically active substances that improve the quality of the skin and affected tissues, contributes to effective therapy and stimulation of acupuncture points. It makes it possible to direct the medicine directly to the atrophic scar.
Biorevitalization helps to saturate the deep layers of the skin with hyaluronic acid and in the early stages to avoid a lack of formation of collagen fibers. Plasmolifting prevents the formation of post-acne scars by introducing the patient's own blood component (enriched autoplasma) under the patient's skin. Stimulation of tissue regeneration processes with this procedure provides a safe and fast treatment of scars.
Fillers
Intradermal implants based on stabilized hyaluronic acid help solve the aesthetic problem of sunken scars by lifting the skin and giving the corrected area of the skin the necessary volume. How to align an atrophic scar with their help? To do this, you need to introduce a filler with a gel consistency (filler) directly under the surface of the scar and raise it to the level of the outer epidermis. In addition, these drugs increase the ability of tissues to regenerate, which accelerates the processes of their natural renewal. The only disadvantage of this method is the need for regular correction due to the gradual biodegradation (decomposition) of hyaluronic acid, as a natural component.
Microdermabrasion - resurfacing of atrophic scars
For this procedure, a specialequipment that allows under pressure (through the tip) to transfer microcrystals to the surface of the epidermis. Diamond, s alt, organic particles or aluminum dioxide, like sand, exfoliate the outer layer of dead skin cells, evening out its relief.
Some devices are equipped with a diamond tip with nozzles that grind the skin instead of crystals. The standard course of hardware mechanical peeling is 4-6 procedures, but post-acne scars or deep atrophic scars are more often leveled with 10-12 sessions, each of which is carried out no more than 1 time in 1-1, 5 weeks.
Laser resurfacing of atrophic scars: modern methods
Today's popular methods of laser peeling can reduce the depth, size of sunken scars on the face or permanently eliminate the aesthetic consequences of injuries. With the help of a beam of an erbium or carbon dioxide laser, keratinized skin cells are removed in layers and, due to the formation of protein fibers, the process of renewal of the dermis - neocollagenesis is stimulated.
Laser resurfacing of atrophic scars of small depth and size is carried out with an erbium beam, which is gentle on the epidermis. This type of radiation is suitable even for dry and sensitive skin. A deeper and more powerful therapeutic penetration is provided by a fractional carbon dioxide laser. It also starts regeneration processes in tissues, stimulates collagen synthesis, and the result of treatment becomes visible already.after one or two procedures, when the atrophic scar becomes almost invisible.
To get a guaranteed therapeutic effect, when choosing a clinic, it is necessary to pay attention to its reputation and qualifications of a dermatologist, since only trained and certified specialists are trusted to work on expensive laser equipment.
