Acne Scars & Depressed Scar Subcision

Solutions

Subcision is a surgical procedure which is used to treat certain types of scars in particular acne scars. A surgical instrument is used which depending on the extent of the scarring could range from a small sized subcision needle called the Nokor needle to a specifically – designed subcision instrument with an incisor sharp end.

Acne scars can be divided into several subtypes. These include ice pick, boxcar, and rolling scars. Each subtype of scar is best treated with a certain method and a patient may have one or more than one subtype of these scars and it is therefore possible that different treatment methods are needed in a single patient given the diversity of the acne scar subtypes.

One particular type of acne scars that would benefit from subcision is the rolling acne scars subtype. These scars appear with shadows that change with the angle of lighting and a description of “hills and valleys” appearance on the skin. These rolling scars may or may not necessarily be associated with volume loss of the deeper part of the skin. The base of these scars is adhered to the deeper layers of the skin structure called the fascia. This tethering pulls the scar downward which gives this depressed appearance often referred to as “valley”. A common description by patients is that these scars appear to be accentuated with different angles of light which is due to the shadows appearing as a result of the scars.