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Acne treatment is incomplete without removing the dirty looking acne scars. Acne may go away but the scars remain for a lifetime. Many treatments are suggested for treatment of acne scars. Out of these chemical peeling and laser are very popular. Let us compare both of them.

Acne scars- treatment with chemical peeling-

Chemical peeling is one of the popular cosmetic procedures to remove old skin and get a fresh new skin. Chemical peeling is also called derma-peeling or chemexfoliation. As the name implies, in this procedure, the skin is peeled off with chemicals and when the new skin grows it is fresh and with lesser sun damage and wrinkles. Depending on the strength of the peeling chemical, the peeling procedure may be called- superficial, medium-depth or deep. The name refers to the depth of the skin to which the chemical peels off the old skin.

The common chemicals used for chemical peeling are alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs), trichloroacetic acid and phenol. Your doctor may also choose other chemicals to get the desired result. With superficial peeling, you can go back to work immediately while after getting medium or deep peeling done, you may have to let the new skin grow for some days before you go out. The pain and trouble associated with peeling also depends on the depth to which peeling is done. Superficial peeling will remove fine lines, wrinkles etc. while with deep peeling, deep scars and pre-cancerous sun damage gets removed.

Acne scars- treatment with lasers

A laser is focused high energy light. The scientific name of LASER is 'Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation'. Ordinary light emits photons in all the directions and consists of many wavelengths. Unlike that, laser emits photons in a single direction and consists of a single wavelength. Laser therefore has very high energy and can be focused on any object or in any direction. In laser skin resurfacing, the laser burns away the unwanted skin tissues bloodlessly and gives a new shape with precise control.

Laser resurfacing is a bloodless process and doctors can control the resurfacing more accurately with it. The risk of infection is also low with this procedure. With latest lasers available, this process is revolutionizing the procedure of facial resurfacing and scar removal.

Both lasers and chemical peeling give good results. Lasers are more expensive than chemical peeling. Lasers can also be controlled much better than chemical peeling. But chemical peeling is much cheaper.