Treating Scars using Dermal FillerS

Scar tissue replaces normal skin tissue following skin damage whether caused by accidents, surgery or conditions such as severe acne.

Scar tissue is made up of the same substance as undamaged skin but it looks different because of the way the fibres in the tissue are arranged. Both scar tissue and normal skin are made with the same collagen proteins. They look different however because of the way the collagen is arranged. In regular skin, the collagen proteins overlap in many random directions, but in scar tissue, they generally align in one direction.

This gives the scars a different texture to the surrounding skin. Scar tissue is also not as flexible as normal skin, and does not have a normal blood supply, sweat glands, or hair. Scar tissue tends to produce tethers to underlying tissue which fixes them in position and contracts and pulls in surrounding healthy skin.

How can scars be treated?

It is usually not possible to remove scars completely but there are procedures that we can use to reduce their appearance.

Under local aesthetic, we can gently sever the tethers that anchor the scar. We can then use a dermal fillers skillfully and replace the lost volume and blend the site into the surrounding healthy skin.