A decade ago, acne was considered a nuisance at best, and an ‘adolescence problem’ at worst. No one cared about pimples beyond that. There are legit reasons for that too. There were not many effective options to treat acne – both medicines and procedural treatments like lasers or peels. In fact, procedures were not even considered safe for darker skin types like our Indian skin, back then.

The scene is very, very different now. A single zit is a calamity, going by the pimple face wash commercials (these face washes do very little, btw). However, acne is a big enough issue, especially when there is a possibility of significant scarring. That is because, while pimples are usually considered a temporary affair, scars are permanent.  So it is very important,to treat the acne, and prevent the scar.

So, what is the best way to prevent acne scars? This can simply be rephrased as – what is the best way to treat pimples?

Pimples treatment needs to be highly personalised  based on the following points – age of the person, gender, type of acne,skin type, scalp condition, the climate of the place where you stay, profession of the person, extent of the acne, underlying hormonal factors and so on. There is no single modality to treat everyone.

However, nowadays very effective treatments and medications are available to treat acne, and prevent acne scars. Is there an advantage of combining procedures with medicines? Yes, more than one, actually!

  1. Adding a procedure like a chemical peel to your regular medical treatment of pimples, gives faster and better results. There is scientific data to support this.
  2. The longer the duration of a pimple, the more likely it is, to scar. Reducing the disease duration by adding a procedure, reduces the chance of scarring.
  3. Procedural treatments like intralesional injections are very useful to shrink deeper cysts. These are actually highly recommended, and are a standard of care.
  4. People want to look better, now. There is a big advantage to be working on the pimples, scars and the pigmentation, at the same time. This saves time, so you can get a clear skin much faster. Also, you can save on the number of procedures when you are target more than one issue. Your treatment, basically multitasks for you.
  5. Prevention is the best way to treat scars. If that cannot be done, then an early scar revision is the next best option. The longer a scar just sits around, the lesser the response to future therapies.

 

A person with acne on the cheek showing baseline image and results after treatment at RENDER clinic Dr Renita Rajan

Currently, most dermatologists do a comprehensive approach. Medical treatment still is the backbone of any acne treatment protocol. Procedural treatments make the process more effective and faster, while providing the much wanted aesthetic appeal. After all most people do not want to just get rid of their pimples alone, they want to simply look great!