LAM FACIAL PLASTICS

Dr Lam, I was just wondering in regards to acne scarring, is silicone micro droplet something that everyone responds to or is it like fraxel where some people get great results and others get not so great results depending on their wound healing ability etc.??? thank you nick

I think Fraxel is really plus or minus for acne scarring. Sometimes decent results sometimes less than stellar. Silicone works really well but only for deeper holes. Silicone does not work well for very shallow areas. What constitutes shallow versus not? I would have to see it to decide. Even silicone will only get a deep hole into a shallow one not into one that does not exist. To finish it off, I use plasma resurfacing with or without fat transfer (if you have signs of aging). Generally, these treatments are also only moderately successful and I would undersell them to you. In general, I prefer to do plasma +/- fat if you are going that route. But fat only for anti-aging purposes not so much just for acne scarring otherwise you might be disappointed. I can't make predictions (at least accurately) on how fat will impact the scarring. Acne scarring is disappointing because on a good day I can only get it 80% improved.
best,
sml

Thank you Dr Lam. I was just wondering why silicone cant be used to eliminate shallow indents? is it because it has to be placed deep in the skin? Even so you would think that with enough applications it would remove the indent altogether. If silicone can be used to build extra connective tissue in lips that prevuiously wasnt there you would think that is could correct a loss of tissue that had previously been intact before the acne. If you could help clarify this that would be great . thank you

Yes, it can do all that, but if it starts to increase the bulk of the area and all you really had to begin with was shallow scarred skin, then the result is an unfavorable bulge rather than a flattening of the area. Picture a central bulge surrounded by tethered and etched scars around it. That's bad. The shallow scars really are a product of etched, scarred skin and not a hole per se. Silicone is used to fill holes.