Burns are usually caused by accidental exposure to chemicals, intense heat or electricity. Skin burns can be mild and easily treated or severe and life threatening. It is common for moderate and severe cases of burn scars to leave behind extensive scar tissue.

The severity of any scar will depend on its location and extension. Usually scar therapy begins even before the wound has completely healed. This is generally the case with fire burns.

Treatment Options used on All Types of Scars

As previously mentioned, the right burn scars treatment will generally depend on the severity and location of the scar. Nevertheless, treatment options are various and difficult to understand sometimes, that's why the most common ones have been listed below:

*Surgery (excision and grafting)

*Steroid Injections

*Compression Therapy

*Resurfacing Techniques

More than one procedure is usually used to treat severe scars, however, we will be focusing on resurfacing techniques. These techniques include laser therapy, chemical peels, dermabrasion and microdermabrasion.

Laser Therapy for Burn Scars

When trying to treat burn scars you can choose from ablative or non ablative laser therapy. Ablative laser therapy treats the upper layer of the skin, and may cause erythema, edema, and serous discharge. This implies a certain period of recovery to avoid complications.

Non-ablative lasers treat the dermis of the skin. For this reason, it requires less down time than ablative laser therapy. It does, however, cause redness in most people but usually subsides quickly.

Chemical Peels & Burn Scars

This procedure uses different types of chemicals to remove certain layers of the skin. This technique encourages the production of collagen and the growth of new cells.

The lightest type of chemical peel is done by using alpha hydroxy acids like glycolic acid and lactic acid. It usually requires very little if any recovery time. The skin will redden and might flake.

Phenol acid is used for deep chemical peels while more moderate versions use trichloroacetic acid. Both will generally produce swelling, redness and scab formation. In order to deal with the pain associated to both treatments, pain medication will be prescribed.

Dermabrasion and Microdermabrasion for Burn Scars

Dermabrasion has a lot in common with chemical peels in that they both remove the outer layers of the skin to promote collagen production and new skin cell growth. In the case of dermabrasion, micro crystals are used to abrade the surface of the skin. This procedure may cause some redness and pain.

Scar removal with microdermabrasion is recommended if need to get rid of a minor burn scar. This is because microdermabrasion is gentle and cannot deal well with more severe scarring.