Scar Treatments

If you have spent money on scar creams, silicone sheets, pigment correctors or other aesthetic treatments without seeing change, you are not alone. Scars are particularly difficult to treat, and most products only work on the surface of the skin without reaching the deeper layers that are affected by certain types of scars. Treating them effectively means stimulating collagen deeper within the skin using effective, energy-based treatments.

How Do Scars Form?

Scars form when the skin repairs itself after an injury has reached the dermis. Once injured, your body produces collagen quickly to close the wound, but this process creates tissue that is denser than the surrounding area. This process also isn’t always consistent, and the body sometimes creates more or less collagen than is needed to make the new tissue blend in with the old. The scar may be lower than the surface of the skin or rise above it.

Types of Scars

Atrophic Scars

Atrophic scars sit below the surrounding skin because tissue was lost during the healing process. They are most commonly caused by severe acne or chickenpox and create a pitted appearance across the cheeks and temples. There are three types of atrophic scars:

• Boxcar Scars: Boxcar scars are broad depressions with sharply defined edges.
• Ice Pick Scars: Ice pick scars are narrow, deep punctures that look like the skin was pierced.
• Rolling Scars: Rolling scars create a wave-like texture on the skin. They form when fibrous bands of tissue beneath the surface tether the skin downward.

Hypertrophic Scars

Hypertrophic scars are raised, firm and often red. They stay within the original wound boundary and frequently form after surgery, burns or deep cuts. Some flatten with time, but most need treatment to fully resolve.

Keloid Scars

Keloid scars grow beyond the original injury site and can continue expanding for months or years. They are more common in patients with deeper skin tones and require careful treatment planning to avoid making them worse.

Can Topical Products Resolve Established Scars?

Topical products have their place. Silicone sheets can soften fresh scars, and prescription retinoids may help with mild discoloration. Once a scar has fully matured, generally after 12 months, creams and serums cannot reach the dermis where scar tissue is anchored. Established scars are a structural problem. They require treatments that physically and deeply remodel the skin, which is why energy-based procedures have become the standard for serious scar revision.

How Energy-Based Scar Treatments Work

Energy-based treatments use heat from lasers or radiofrequency to create controlled micro-injuries in the dermis. This triggers your body to break down the disorganized scar collagen and replace it with healthy, properly aligned tissue. The two treatments we rely on most at Physicians Laser are DOT Therapy and the Time Machine.

DOT Therapy for Deep and Textural Scarring

DOT Therapy is a fractional CO2 laser treatment that uses our SmartXide system to create thousands of microscopic treatment zones across the skin. Each zone is smaller than a human hair, which means the laser remodels scarred tissue while leaving the surrounding skin intact to speed healing.

What Technology Is Used for the Time Machine?

SmartXide DOT fractional CO2 laser is a computer-guided system that delivers precisely calibrated energy to the epidermis and dermis. We can adjust the pattern density, depth and energy level as we go, for a treatment that is unique to each patient.

Which Scars Respond Best

DOT therapy can be used for severe scarring, especially for atrophic scars. It improves surgical scars, traumatic scars and the pitted texture that is left behind by chickenpox.

What Makes This Protocol Different?

Many devices have a single setting for every face. With DOT therapy, we can map the depth and severity of your scars before your treatment and adjust the laser zone by zone. This treatment also delivers fractional energy, which means that portions of the skin are treated while others remain untouched. While you will still have some peeling and redness with this treatment, downtime is often shorter than treatments that remove the entire surface of the skin.

The Time Machine for Comprehensive Scar Revision

The Time Machine is a proprietary treatment at Physicians Laser that combines some of our favorite technologies into one treatment that treats scars and renews your skin. Depending on the patient, we choose anywhere from three to six different procedures, each providing a specific benefit. Treatments can be used anywhere on the face or body where you would like improvements.

What Technology Is Used for the Time Machine?

Two of the main treatments used for the Time Machine treatment are Fractional Ablative Radiofrequency and Personal Growth Therapy (PGT).  Fractional ablative radiofrequency helps rebuild collagen in the skin while PGT boosts results through the harnessing of your own growth cells. Up to four additional treatments can be added to directly treat your scarring and make your skin smooth and resilient.

Which Scars Respond Best?

Rolling scars, mixed-type acne scarring and aging-related texture changes respond well to the Time Machine. The protocol is also a good choice for patients with darker skin tones who need an alternative to ablative CO2 resurfacing.

Choosing Between DOT Therapy and the Time Machine

Both treatments deliver real results, but they serve different goals. Here is how we generally guide patients during consultation.

• Choose DOT Therapy When: Your scars are deep, textural or pitted and you can accommodate a longer healing window for more dramatic resurfacing.
• Choose the Time Machine When: You want comprehensive rejuvenation with minimal downtime and scarring is part of a broader concern that includes aging or skin laxity.
• Combine Both When: Your scars are severe enough to need ablative resurfacing, but you also want the regenerative boost that PGT provides during recovery.

Why Choose Scar Treatment at Physicians Laser?

Scar revision is one of the most technique-dependent procedures in aesthetic medicine. At Physicians Laser, every treatment is performed or directly supervised by a board-certified physician. Dr. Roy Harris and his team have spent decades refining the energy-based protocols used in the office today, and our exclusive Time Machine program exists nowhere else.

Schedule Your Scar Evaluation in Rocklin, CA

If you are ready to stop covering scars and start treating them, we are here to help. Call Physicians Laser at 916-625-9131 or schedule your consultation online to find out whether DOT Therapy, the Time Machine or a combination of both is right for your skin. We serve Rocklin, CA, and the greater Sacramento area. Real change starts with the right plan and the right team behind it.