Concern · Acne
Why am I still breaking out, and what can aesthetic treatment realistically help?
What you may be noticing
Active breakouts that keep appearing, sometimes in the same areas. Redness or marks left behind after a breakout clears. In some cases, textural change or scarring from acne that happened months or years ago. These are related, but they are not the same problem.
One concern, two different problems
Active acne and what it leaves behind are not the same target.
Acne management may require medical evaluation and appropriate acne therapy before procedural treatment of residual redness, pigmentation or scarring is even considered. Treating the aftermath while the underlying disease is still active rarely holds — and treating with a scar-focused approach while acne is active can make things worse.
What Dr. Lancho assesses
- Active lesion pattern
- Inflammatory activity
- Post-inflammatory pigment or redness
- Scarring
- Current medications and skincare
- Previous treatment
- Suitability and timing for procedures
Clinical reasoning
Two phases. Two different treatment targets.
Phase one
Active disease
Inflammatory activity and sebaceous-gland biology are the target while acne is active. Procedures should not be positioned as a universal substitute for appropriate acne medical management — but where a device-based approach addresses the biologic component driving breakouts, it may occupy a defined role.
Phase two
What acne leaves behind
Post-inflammatory redness, pigment, texture and scarring are their own targets, assessed and treated according to their own biology — not as an afterthought to the breakout that caused them, and not with the same tool used to treat the active disease.
Treatment approaches
Treat active disease first when appropriate.
A device-based approach aimed at sebaceous-gland activity may occupy one role in a broader plan — addressing the biologic driver of active acne — while other treatments, when appropriate, are reserved for residual pigment, vascular change or scarring once the active disease is controlled.
When combination treatment makes sense
A patient may have active breakouts, post-inflammatory pigment, and early scarring at the same time. Rather than asking one device to solve every stage of acne, each component is assessed and, where appropriate, treated according to its own biology — sequenced so active disease is addressed before the marks it leaves behind.
What treatment can — and cannot — change
Not every breakout requires an energy-based procedure — medical acne management or another approach may be more appropriate depending on acne type, severity and patient factors. Results depend on the underlying activity, the treatment selected and individual biology; a device-based approach to active disease does not by itself resolve pigment, redness or scarring already present from prior breakouts.
Related treatments
Sebaceous-gland-targeted laser treatment — Addresses active acne biology — a role within a broader plan, not a universal substitute for acne medical management.
Accure
Once active disease is controlled, residual redness, pigment or texture may be addressed separately — through vascular-targeted, pigment-targeted or resurfacing treatment chosen for what remains — and scarring is assessed on its own terms.
Before your consultation
Bring what's active and what's left behind.
Understanding whether the priority is active disease, its aftermath, or both is the starting point — not which device treats acne.