Scars, whether they be of surgical or traumatic origin, new or old, raised or depressed, red or brown, can all be made better with today’s advanced laser therapies. Thicker red scars after a cosmetic procedure are rare but if the patient is genetically predispositioned to form a less than desirable scar, it can be made to look much better. The newest scar therapies involve using fractional ablative lasers that actually remove a very tiny column of the scar over a fraction of the area of the where the scar is located. Because these lasers produce little damage to the surrounding skin, the message by the body to make more scar tissue is lessened. After several sessions of laser application, the scar can be removed and replaced by normal appearing skin. Sometimes the scar is just to red. Here, both light sources and lasers can be aimed at the skin with the energy being absorbed by the blood in the scar. The heat transferred to the blood closes off the vessel making the red color disappear. Acne and other depressed scars can also be treated with lasers that make tiny holes in the scar. For this type of scar, a little heat is added to the hole to make in contract. Collagen is stimulated to be formed thus filling in the depression. I tell our patients that, in the unlikely event that the scar we make is unappealing, we have every laser that has ever been described to make scars better. I think that no one today has to live with a bad scar.
