Burns are generally caused by exposure to chemicals, intense heat or electricity. Skin burns can be mild and easily treated or severe and life threatening. In moderate and severe cases, they can leave behind extensive scar tissue.

The location and extension of a scar will determine its severity. In most cases, especially in the case of fire burns, scar therapy should begin even before the wound has completely healed.

Treatment Options for All Types of Scars

The right burn scars treatment will 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

Usually more than one procedure is used to treat severe scars. However, we will focus our attention on resurfacing techniques which 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. On the downside, it does cause redness in some people but this will usually subside in a couple of days.

Burn Scars and Chemical Peels

This procedure uses mild, moderate and strong chemicals to remove certain layers of the skin. By peeling away the outer layers of the skin, the body is encouraged to produce more collagen and increase the growth of new cells.

The lightest chemical peel is done with 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.

Moderate chemical peels are done with trichloroacetic acid while the deepest chemical peel uses phenol acid. Both will generally produce swelling, redness and scab formation. These treatments produce a certain amount of pain. This is why pain medication is usually prescribed in both cases.

Burn Scar Treatments - 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 this case, micro crystals are used to abrade the surface of the skin. This procedure usually produces redness and some 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.