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

The severity of the scar depends on its location and extension. Scar therapy should usually begin even before the wound has completely healed, especial in the case of fire burns.

Treatment Options Applicable for All Types of Scars

As mentioned before, the right burn scars treatment will always 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.

Burn Scars and Laser Therapy

You can choose from ablative or non ablative laser therapy. The first treats the upper layer of the skin. It requires a certain period of recovery because it can cause erythema, edema, and serous discharge.

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

Burn Scars and Chemical Peels

This procedure uses 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 type of chemical peel is done by using alpha hydroxy acids like glycolic acid and lactic acid. The skin will redden and might flake so you'll require some recovery time, if any.

Phenol acid is used for deep chemical peels while more moderate versions use trichloroacetic acid. Both treatments will usually 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 is similar to chemical peels because it removes the outer layers of the skin, promoting collagen production and new skin cell growth. In this case, micro crystals are used to abrade the surface of the skin. This procedure will usually cause redness and some pain.

If you want to get rid of a minor burn scar then you should try scar removal with microdermabrasion. This is because microdermabrasion is too gentle to deal with moderate and severe scarring.