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

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

Skin Abrasion Also Accelerates Scar Reduction

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

Reduce Scars with Skin Remodeling

The elimination or reduction of scars, blemishes, and stretch marks from the skin depends on a mechanism known as "skin remodeling". The skin is designed to cure wounds quickly to avoid blood loss and infection. Scars are made from a quickly formed "collagen glue" that the body gathers into a damaged area for protection and strength. In ideal skin healing, the wounded skin is quickly closed, then the healed area is slowly reconstructed to eliminate the residual collagen scars and blend the skin area into nearby skin. Scar collagen is eliminated and replaced with a mixture of skin cells and fine collagen fibers. This skin remodeling may continue in a skin area for 10 years. In children the remodeling rate is high and scars are often rapidly eliminated from injured skin areas. But as we reach adulthood, this rate diminishes and small scars may remain for years. One way to accelerate remodeling is to induce a small amount of regulated skin damage with a needle, laser, or other means, and then let the body's repair processes rebuild the skin area. A second procedure is to use skin healing accelerators that elevate the body's natural healing processes to obtain an even better final result.