McKeown Medical
167 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4SQ
Date posted — 11.08.25
Acne scars can feel like a stubborn reminder of a skin condition you’ve long since left behind, and one that was pretty unpleasant, we’d all rather forget. Even when your breakouts are under control, pitted marks, uneven texture, and pigmentation can affect how you feel about your skin, and, in turn, your confidence.
While no treatment can completely erase acne scars, the right approach can make a dramatic difference to skin texture, tone, and overall smoothness. Two of the most popular treatments for acne scarring are microneedling and laser resurfacing, but which is more effective for you?
Both Microneedling and Laser Resurfacing are designed to stimulate collagen and improve long-term skin quality, but they work in different ways and suit different scar types. Understanding how Microneedling compares to Laser Resurfacing is key to choosing the most effective treatment plan.
Microneedling works by creating thousands of controlled micro-injuries in the skin using fine needles. This stimulates your body’s natural wound-healing process, triggering the production of collagen and elastin, the key building blocks of healthy, smooth skin.
Microneedling is often chosen by patients looking for gradual improvement with minimal disruption to daily life. While Microneedling can significantly improve mild to moderate acne scarring, it may not deliver the same level of correction as advanced Laser Resurfacing for deeper or more complex scars.
It can be effective for superficial textural irregularities and newer scars, and can be used on most skin tones with minimal downtime.
Pros of Microneedling:
Cons of Microneedling:
For patients with more established or severe scarring, Laser Resurfacing may offer more dramatic structural improvement than Microneedling alone. In some cases, Microneedling can be used as part of a staged treatment plan alongside Laser Resurfacing to maximise results.
Laser resurfacing uses concentrated light energy to remove damaged layers of skin and remodel collagen beneath the surface. It can treat a wide variety of acne scars, but is particularly effective for more significant scar types and complex mixed patterns that involve both texture and pigmentation.
Laser Resurfacing works by delivering controlled thermal energy into the skin, which can remodel deeper scar tissue more aggressively than Microneedling. This makes Laser Resurfacing particularly effective for atrophic, boxcar, and rolling scars that require more intensive collagen remodelling.
At McKeown Medical, we offer a full suite of advanced laser technologies so we can match the treatment to your exact skin concerns:
Pros of Laser Resurfacing:
Compared to Microneedling, Laser Resurfacing typically requires fewer sessions to achieve visible improvement, although downtime can be slightly longer depending on the technology used. The choice between Microneedling and Laser Resurfacing ultimately depends on scar depth, skin type, and your tolerance for recovery time.
Cons of Laser Resurfacing:
Acne scars are as individual as fingerprints; no two people have the same pattern, depth, or distribution. For that reason, there is no universal “best” treatment.
During consultation, we assess whether Microneedling, Laser Resurfacing, or a combination of both will provide the most predictable improvement for your specific acne scar pattern. Often, combining targeted Laser Resurfacing with adjunct Microneedling can optimise collagen stimulation at multiple skin depths.
In many cases, combining different laser resurfacing techniques delivers the best results: different laser types can often be combined in the same session to deliver maximum results.
Our approach at McKeown Medical is to assess your skin in detail, discuss your priorities, and create a personalised treatment plan that addresses both the physical scarring and your concerns about downtime, cost, and results.
You can read more about acne scar treatment options in our guide:
➡️ Can You Get Rid of Acne Scars? Your Questions Answered
Living with acne scars can be frustrating and emotionally draining, especially when you’ve already worked hard to clear your skin. At McKeown Medical, we understand that you want maximum improvement, which is difficult to achieve – but we will guide you on the best course of treatment to get you the best results we can.
That’s why we offer a comprehensive range of laser resurfacing treatments, all carried out by a medically led team. There’s no guesswork, no one-size-fits-all packages, just a plan tailored to your skin, your scars, and your goals.
If your scars haven’t improved, or you’re not sure what your next step should be, book a consultation today. You’ll get honest advice, medical expertise, and a clear plan tailored to your skin.
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Discover what ‘True Skin Age’ means, how it’s measured using VISIA, and the evidence-based ways to improve your biological skin...
Pigmentation, redness and texture issues all have different causes. Learn what’s happening beneath the skin, and why VISIA analysis helps...
Skin quality is the missing piece in aesthetic medicine. Discover why tone, texture and clarity matter—and how lasers and VISIA...
Here is another beautifully balanced deep plane face and neck lift by the skilful @bramhallplasticsurgery.
The deep plane technique, as the name suggests, works at a deeper level, repositioning the underlying structures of the face and neck rather than simply tightening the skin. By addressing the deeper tissues, we can restore more natural proportions, refine the jawline, and create a smoother, more defined contour beneath the chin - especially when the patient moves or bends their neck forward.
To achieve this impressive improvement in the neck, even in flexion, Russell reduced the deep fat (from under the muscle), trimmed and shaped the salivary glands and reconstructed the muscles of the neck to create a rejuvenated result. This is a much more sophisticated procedure compared with a standard face and neck lift.
At just 2 months post-op, her result is already beautifully balanced. The jawline is sharper, the neck more sculpted, and everything sits in harmony with the rest of her features. Scars are settling well and will continue to soften over time.
She may choose to refine things further with laser resurfacing for skin quality and subtle volume restoration in the mid-face, but even at this stage, the transformation speaks for itself.
Thank you to our patient for allowing us to share her journey.
What do you think?
Thank you to this lovely patient for allowing us to share her beautiful result from the talented @bramhallplasticsurgery.
This patient is just 2.5 months after upper eyelid surgery, and already looking incredibly fresh and natural. The scars are settling very well and will continue to soften over the coming months.
The incisions are carefully placed within the natural eyelid crease, making them very difficult to see once healed. Excess skin has been removed to open up the eye area, while maintaining a soft, natural appearance.
A small amount of muscle was reduced at the outer part of the eyelid to address hooding, without affecting the central area. This helps preserve a youthful fullness above the eye. There has also been a conservative reduction of the lateral brow fat to further refine the contour. This highly tailored, bespoke approach to surgery is the attention to detail that lies at the heart of our clinic’s approach and philosophy.
As with many patients, her anatomy meant these changes developed earlier than expected. In the right cases, surgery at a younger age can deliver a subtle but very impactful improvement.
What do you think?
Happy Easter from our excited little bunnies 🐣🐰
Thank you to our lovely patient for allowing us to share these photos.
This is just 4 weeks after her first session (of three) with Juläine and we’re already starting to see a soft return of fullness and improvement in skin quality.
Juläine is not a traditional filler. It works by stimulating your body’s own collagen production, gradually restoring structure, firmness and elasticity from within.
This is just the beginning. As collagen continues to rebuild over the coming weeks and months, results will become more noticeable with improved support, smoother contours and a natural, refreshed appearance.
The patient is delighted with her progress so far. What do you think?
And this is why HA fillers have never gone out of fashion in our practice!
This lovely patient had all the classic signs of volume loss in her face and there is no other non-surgical treatment that can address this quite as quickly, effectively and non-invasively as HA filler. Of course, it needs to be carefully and sensitively applied.
This patient had a total of 10mls of HA as well as some wrinkle relaxing on the upper face. She is delighted with her restoration. What do you think?
Upper eyelid surgery isn’t just for ageing eyes! Some patients naturally have excess upper eyelid skin from a young age due to their anatomy, like this 29-year-old patient who had a congenital upper eyelid fold and recently underwent an upper blepharoplasty with the ever-talented @bramhallplasticsurgery.
The excess eyelid skin rested directly on her eyelashes, causing irritation and a persistent feeling of heaviness around the eyes which had been bothering her for several years. Upper eyelid surgery can address both functional symptoms and aesthetic concerns, helping patients achieve a lighter, more open eye appearance.
This patient is just 7 weeks after surgery. At this early stage of healing the scars are still maturing and in younger patients this process can take slightly longer. The incision is placed within the natural eyelid crease and as healing progresses the scar typically fades and becomes extremely difficult to see, often blending into the natural eyelid fold.
She`s delighted with the results so far, and we`re grateful to her for allowing us to share her results with you.
What do you think?
Thank you once again to another lovely patient who has allowed us to share her photos with you.
She came to see me wanting a refresh and was open to suggestions, surgical and non-surgical. Her biggest concern however was wrinkles and lines and skin texture problems.
Surgery doesn’t help with this and injectables are limited too - the gold standard here is laser resurfacing, which is what we went with. We did a full field ablation of the full face including her eyelids.
This is her a month or so later. You can see she is still a bit red, especially around the eyes where we went the deepest, but she is already loving life with her new skin.
What do you think?
The non-surgical facelift!
You might have heard us talking a lot recently about combination treatments, using different treatment modalities to create synergy in non-surgical rejuvenation. The reason this works so well is that the different layers of the face age in different ways.
We focus a lot on skin tightening, which is super important, but that’s only the outer layer of the face. Below that the fat, bone and muscle are all changing too.
This lovely lady was relatively new to aesthetics and wanted a more comprehensive rejuvenation without surgery. We decided to do the combination approach using @sofwave.uk to tighten the skin of the face and neck, whilst using HA to restore volume to the fat and bone.
This is her a few months later - her whole face looks tighter, softer, less tired - but in a way that looks completely natural. She is delighted with the result that still looks like her, just a really refreshed version.
What do you think?
HA Fillers are making a comeback! Here are my thoughts on the how and why 👀