Hydroxy acids, such as salicylic acid and glycolic acid, are widely used as exfoliating agents and for skin peels. They eliminate dead skin cells and also loosen and slowly minimize or dissolve skin lesions such as surgical scars, keloid scars, moles, stretch marks, age spots, burn scars, skin tags, acne scars, and sun damage marks.

The secret of hydroxy acid's actions is that your healthy, normal skin has an elevated resistance to such acids. In contrast, most skin injuries have less structural integrity and are more easily broken down by the acids. The repeated application of such acids over periods of one month or longer slowly minimizes and even dissolves most skin lesions. This is essentially a modification of the classic skin peel procedures where a very strong hydroxy acid (or other peeling agents such as TCA or phenol) are applied as skin peels. Such methods work very well under ideal circumstances. However, hydroxy acids can be highly irritating if the subsequent healing response of the skin is insufficient to fully heal the acid-treated skin. If there is too little skin rejuvenating, then the peeling substance can cause further scarring or inflammation.

Skin Abrasion Also Speeds Scar Reduction

Procedures that mildly abrade skin such as microdermabrasion and subcision (needling) also are useful in speeding scar reduction in concert with Hydroxy Acids. Some old scars are very hard and persistent and physical breakdown allows the hydroxy acids to start reducing the scars. For raised or flat scars, microdermabrasion works well. For depressed scars, such as pitted acne scars, subcision with needles is often performed by estheticians to break up the deeply buried scar tissue.

Skin Remodeling - A Solution for Reducing Scars

The removal or reduction of scars, lesions, and stretch marks from the skin depends on a process called "skin remodeling". The skin is designed to treat wounds quickly to avoid blood loss and infection. Scars are manufactured from a quickly formed "collagen glue" that the body deposits into an injured area for protection and strength. In ideal skin healing, the wounded skin is quickly closed, then the healed area is slowly rejuvenated to eliminate the residual collagen scars and blend the skin area into surrounding skin. Scar collagen is removed and replaced with a mixture of skin cells and fine collagen fibers. This skin remodeling can continue in a skin area for 10 years. In children the remodeling rate is elevated and scars are usually rapidly removed from damaged skin areas. But as we reach adulthood, this rate diminishes and small scars can remain for years. One way to accelerate remodeling is to induce a small amount of controlled skin damage with a needle, laser, or other procedures, and then let the body's repair processes rebuild the skin area. A second procedure is to use skin healing accelerators that increase the body's natural healing processes to obtain an even better final result.