Acne is the most common reason patients visit dermatologists in the United States. There are a variety of treatment options including topical creams, oral antibiotics, chemical peels, accutane and most recently lasers. Lasers are the most effective new therapy in the treatment of acne with 80-90% of patients seeing improvement .

Our office uses lasers for active, persistent acne in patients that have failed conventional topical and/or oral therapy or cannot tolerate topical and/or oral medications. In addition, many patients reluctant to use accutane have found the laser to be a safe non-invasive alternative to reduce their recalcitrant and severe acne. The laser works by delivering a short, intense burst of light that is selectively absorbed by the acne causing sebaceous glands in the skin. Using a topical anesthetic, once monthly  laser treatments shrink the sebaceous gland leading to less secretion of acne causing sebum resulting in less acne. A total of 3-4 treatments are performed for an average improvement of 80-90%.  

The majority of patients resume full work and social activities immediately following their treatment. For patients with both active acne and acne scars our laser helps improve both. As stated previously, the laser treats active acne by shrinking sebaceous glands and improves acne scars and skin tone by creating new collagen.