Types of acne scars

Types of acne scars
First, some good news about the healing process. As an acne blemish heals, the inflamed area flattens, leaving behind a reddish spot. Though it may look like an acne scar, it’s actually a macule — the final stage of an acne lesion. Macules may last for up to six months, but leave no permanent acne scar.

The same holds true for post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, a darkening of the skin at the site of a healing acne lesion. Most prevalent in African-American, Asian and Latino populations, these spots can last up to 18 months — but may disappear more quickly if you stay out of the sun. Both macules and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation are considered "pseudo-scarring" because they eventually disappear completely.

There are two kinds of true scars left behind by acne: acne scar caused by increased tissue formation, and acne scars caused by tissue loss. The former, called keloid or hypertropic scars, are less common and appear to be hereditary. These are found primarily in African-American, Asian and Latino patients. Keloid scarring occurs when the skin cells respond to injury by producing an excess of collagen, which forms into lumpy fibrous masses most frequently along the jaw line and on the back or chest. These acne scars appear firm and shiny, and may persist for years.

Acne Scars caused by tissue loss are much more common, and may take many forms:


Soft acne scars have gentle sloping rolled edges that merge with the surrounding skin. They are usually small, circular or linear in shape, and soft to the touch.

Ice-pick acne scars. Most often found on the cheek, ice-pick scars are usually small but deep, with a jagged edge and steep sides. If they are soft to the touch, they may be improved by stretching the skin; hard ice-pick scars are difficult to treat.

Depressed fibrotic acne scars. Over time, ice-pick scars may evolve into depressed fibrotic scars. These also have sharp edges and steep sides, but are larger and firm at the base.

Atrophic macules, a form of acne scarring most common in Caucasians, are soft with a slightly wrinkled base. Blood vessels just below the surface of the scar may make them appear purplish when they are recent, but this discoloration may fade over time to a pale ivory. Atrophic macules are usually small when they occur on the face, but may be a centimeter or larger elsewhere on the body.

Follicular macular atrophy is more likely to occur on the chest or back of a person with acne. These small, soft white lesions resemble whiteheads that didn’t fully develop; they may persist for months or years.

Physical Effects of Acne

The effects of acne — both physical and emotional — can last much longer than your breakouts. Even after lesions have healed, they can leave behind permanent reminders. While it’s difficult to avoid acne scarring completely, understanding the inner workings of your skin can help you minimize long-term damage.


What causes acne scarring?
In the simplest of terms, acne scars are visible reminders of injury and tissue repair. When tissue suffers an injury, the body rushes its “repair team” to the injury site. This specialized team includes white blood cells and an array of inflammatory molecules that work to fight infection and heal damaged tissue. Once the infection is gone, however, the tissue can’t always be restored to its former state.


Who is most susceptible to acne scars?
How and why people end up with acne scars is not completely understood. There is considerable variation between individuals, suggesting that some people are simply more prone to acne scarring than others. Acne Scar-susceptible people often find a genetic connection, as well — both the degree to which you scar and the kind of scar you get can "run in the family." There is also considerable variation in the “life history” of individual scars; some people bear acne scars for a lifetime with little change, while others watch their scars diminish with time. We do know that scarring occurs most frequently in patients with the most severe forms of inflammatory acne, involving deep nodular lesions.


How can I avoid acne scarring?
Because we know so little about what causes one person to scar more easily than the next, the best way to avoid scarring is to prevent acne. It's important to treat the condition early in its course, and for as long as necessary. The more inflammation you can prevent, the less likely you are to scar. In the event that you do get acne lesions, it’s important to treat them with the proper medication rather than squeeze or pick at them. Handling the skin — squeezing with your fingernails, poking pimples with a pin, or whatever — significantly increases damage to surrounding tissue, and thereby increases the chance that the lesion will leave a permanent scar and acne scar treatment will be necessary.

Remember: A pimple that's bothering you today will go away soon if you let it be; if you pick at it, it could stick around forever. If you have a particularly troublesome lesion, see your dermatologist or aesthetician for safe, professional scar treatment or extraction.

Another thing to remember: A healthy body heals faster and more completely, so never underestimate the power of a healthy lifestyle. Eat a balanced diet, get plenty of rest and drink lots of water. If your work or play takes you out in the sun, protect yourself against harmful UVA and UVB rays with oil-free sunscreen; too much sun exposure can make scars stick around longer. Another habit that you know is bad — smoking — depletes your skin's valuable oxygen collagen reserves, causes free radical damage and deposits toxins, making it more vulnerable to aging and acne scarring.

The Emotional Effects of Acne

You've been anticipating — and possibly dreading — the "big day" for weeks. The nature of the event isn't important; it may be a first date, an important job interview, or your own birthday party. You try to hide behind hair or heavy make-up. But you can't ignore the face in the mirror.
Sound familiar? For acne sufferers all over the world, these scenarios are all too common. Even routine social interactions — a day at the office, a trip to the market — can be a nightmare of stress and self-loathing. Yet, due to the "merely cosmetic" nature of acne vulgaris, these very real emotions are widely dismissed as oversensitivity. Clear-faced friends and co-workers say, "Really, it looks worse to you."
And they're probably right. But they're missing an important point: Acne is as much about how you feel as how you look. Over the years, the research methods and medical treatments may have changed, but the answers to the question "how does your acne make you feel?" have remained alarmingly constant: Ugly. Angry. Dirty. Depressed. These answers are consistent across gender lines, age barriers and national borders.


What is being done?

Every year, millions of dollars are devoted to the medical study and treatment of acne; millions more are spent on the development and marketing of over-the-counter remedies. Comparatively little energy, however, has been spent determining the psychological and social effects of the condition. Consider the following statement:
There is no single condition which causes more psychic trauma, more maladjustment between parent and children, more general insecurity and feelings of inferiority and greater sums of psychic suffering than does acne vulgaris.
Made by Sulzberger and Zaidems in a 1948 article, this statement rings true today. Despite acne's limited impact on overall patient health, several studies have concluded that it produces a similar degree of emotional stress to skin conditions causing significant physical disability.


The problem of measuring emotion.

The difficulty lies not in validating acne's negative affects, but in quantifying them. For years, researchers have been struggling to find an accurate means of measurement for this particular kind of study. Scientists use psychometrics to measure conditions of the mind, but have yet to develop a scale for evaluating the psychological effects of physical conditions such as acne. And the use of psychometric scales for evaluating acne patients has been largely inconclusive.
Why? Emotional symptoms — depression, anger, low self-esteem — are influenced by an incredible number of variables. So it's difficult to know for sure whether one's depression is caused by acne alone or a combination of factors, ranging from trouble in school to on-the-job stress. At the moment, the best way to understand the psychosocial effects of acne seems surprisingly simple: Listen.

How is Lser Hair Removal performed?

Laser hair removal is a time-consuming but relatively straightforward process. You may be given a prescription for topical anesthetic cream and may also be instructed how to apply this cream (BLT) at home. We can also apply the cream in the office if desired. This cream greatly reduces the discomfort associated with the laser hair removal process. Prior to treatment the hairs will be shaved and the laser treatment will proceed. Treatment times vary from a few minutes for areas such as the chin and neck to a few hours for extensive areas of the legs, back and chest.

After the procedure cool compresses and soothing gels are applied to the treated area and patients spend time relaxing before being discharged. Patients are asked to return in one week for a follow-up visit and then are examined monthly in order to determine when it is best to re-treat the involved areas.



Risks Associated with Laser Hair Removal

Laser hair removal has proven to be a very safe procedure when performed in physicians offices, not at spas and strip malls. Since laser pulses are a constant energy, there is little chance of scarring associated with this process. In certain instances temporary increased or decreased pigmentation will be noted within the lasered sites, especially in more darkly pigmented patients. In certain cases there may be some degree of crusting during the postoperative period which is treated by the use of bland emollients or topical antibiotics.

Hair Laser Removal Virginia

Are you tired of spending endless hours shaving, waxing, tweezing, and covering unwanted hair? Now there is an FDA Approved alternative: Laser Hair Removal.

When you look in the mirror are you constantly pulling and tugging on loose skin? Tired of seeing large pores, dark spots, acne scars and irregularities on your skin? Now there is something that you can do to help turn back the clocks of time: Laser Skin Care.

At the present time four laser wavelengths are available for the treatment of unwanted body hair. In essence, these wavelengths target pigment granules in the hair (melanin) in an effort to destroy hair follicles. Hair follicles are capable of producing hairs of various thickness and colors. Dark hair contains the pigment melanin which serves as the target for energy at these wavelengths. Four wavelengths, 694nm. produced by the Ruby laser, 755nm. produced by the Alexandrite laser, 800nm. produced by the Diode laser, and 1064nm. produced by the Neodymium-YAG laser, have been shown to be effective in the removal of pigmented hair. The pulsed laser energy is absorbed by the pigmented hair shaft and transferred to the surrounding follicle. The heat build-up caused by the absorption of energy by the hair itself is capable of creating follicular damage and retard or prevent future hair production by that follicle.

Laser Hair Removal is the second most popular cosmetic procedure in the United States and continues to grow in popularity. Laser Hair Removal removes unwanted hair by emitting a low energy laser that gently that passes through the skin, is absorbed by the pigment in the hair follicle and gently removes the hair. Laser hair removal treatments can last a from a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the size and area to be treated. The most popular areas selected by men and women for laser hair removal include: face, upper lip, neck, chest, breast area, underarms, back, abdomen, bikini line and legs.

Laser hair removal does not require needles or creams like other hair removal treatment methods and is a non-evasive procedure. Laser hair removal is best performed by a licensed and trained medical professional such as dermatologist or plastic surgeon.

According the Food and Drug Administration, laser hair removal is not permanent. However, it can SIGNIFICANTLY reduce unwanted hair growth for up to seven years, according to your body's natural hair growth cycle. The hair that does grow back after treatment is usually "finer" and "lighter" in color. Because hair growth occurs in 3 stages (this is the normal hair growth cycle), not all of the hair can be removed at one time. Therefore, three to seven treatments for up to six months could be required.

About Structured Settlements

The Periodic Payment Settlement Act of 1982, passed by Congress, amended the Federal tax code to recognize and encourage the use of structured settlements as a payment solution in personal injury cases.

Prior to this, damages paid due to lawsuits stemming from accident, injury, or workmen’s compensation cases were generally paid as a lump sum; the injured party received all of their payment at one time. This required that the injured party not only adjust to living with a disability, but also to adjust to having a large sum of money.

Even if you do not have a crippling injury, it can be a burden to suddenly be presented with a large sum of cash. The money must be invested, and invested wisely. If you cannot or will not administer the sum yourself, then you must find someone to do it for you. A friend? A relative? A stranger? Can you find someone honest to make this money work for you? Often, these situations did not work out well, and many victims of personal injury or accident found themselves penniless after just a few years, when their settlement was intended to support them for life.

The structured settlement came about as a result of too many people being awarded large sums, only to find themselves poor and unable to take care of themselves as a result of careless spending, unscrupulous investors or greedy relatives.

In a case involving physical injury and a suit involving a responsible party, an annuity system may be negotiated as an alternative to a lump sum payout for taking care of the victim’s long-term needs. The responsible parties will meet to discuss what the victim needs in terms of care or assistance, and to determine the length of time, anywhere from a year or more to life, that the victim will need financial assistance. Once a present-day value is determined, a or a representative of the insurance company that will facilitate the payments will perform the necessary calculations to determine the long-term value of the payments. The party that pays the damages will then purchase an annuity to fund the agreement. From this annuity, the injured party will receive their stream of payments.

Some types of injuries are well-suited to long term payment plans; others work better with a lump sum payout. Annuity plans are ideal for situations where the injured party will be incapacitated for several years or perhaps their lifetime, or when they will require long-term medical care. Such a financial arrangement might have worked well for Terry Schiavo. Mrs. Schiavo, a resident of Florida, was in a hospice and unable to care for herself for fifteen years. She received a lump sum payment for the negligence that led to her persistive vegetative state, but a structured settlement might have provided a better solution. Structured settlements are particularly useful in cases where the guardians or parents of minor children are injured or killed, leaving the children without adequate financial support or funds for their education.

What is Structured Settlement

Many people have been compensated for injuries sustained in an accident Until 1982, such compensation was usually accomplished by payment in a lump sum. A change in Federal law that year created what are now known as structured settlements, an alternative to lump-sum payments where the injured party receives monthly or annual payments over a period of time.

A structured settlement is a financial or insurance arrangement, including periodic payments, that a claimant accepts to resolve a personal injury tort claim or to compromise a statutory periodic payment obligation. Structured settlements were first utilized in Canada and the United States during the 1970s as an alternative to lump sum settlements. Structured settlements are now part of the statutory tort law of several common law countries including Australia, Canada, England and the United States. Although some uniformity exists, each of these countries has its own definitions, rules and standards for structured settlements. Structured settlements may include income tax and spendthrift requirements as well as benefits. Structured settlement payments are sometimes called “periodic payments.” A structured settlement incorporated into a trial judgment is called a “periodic payment judgment."