Acne scar laser treatment involves using a light beam from a carbon dioxide laser. The latter vaporizes the upper layers of damaged skin at specific and controlled levels of penetration.

The development of selective photothermolysis has caused significant advances in the use of laser technology for skin resurfacing. The improved technology has helped reduce residual thermal damage. By using shorter pulse durations of laser light, the minimizing of thermal damage significantly reduced the risk for scarring on the skin.

The latest procedures involve an intense beam of light to destroy the skin tissue instantly. As of now, carbon dioxide and Er:YAG laser reportedly offer best acne treatments. They are able to perform highly specific vaporization of tissue using powerfully focused light to precisely remove the skin layers. Thus they vaporize the ridges of scars and wrinkles and smoothing out the surface of the skin.

Er: YAG laser offers the best acne scar laser treatment. The benefit of Er:YAG laser for superficial to moderate stems from the fact that this laser produces less thermal damage compared to other types of laser.

The short pulsed Er:YAG laser has a water absorption coefficient 16 times greater than that of the carbon dioxide laser. The water in the tissue absorbs most of the energy of these lasers. That results in minimal optical penetration depth and thermal damage.

The more limited penetration of these lasers into the skin triggers a histo-pathological improvement less pronounced than that of carbon dioxide laser. However, Er:YAG laser shows potential as an acne scar removal treatment especially in the treatment of mild to moderate superficial rhytides and scars. In fact it is the best acne scar laser treatment for acne scars that are not very deep.