Dermatologists have laid out their recommended approaches for treating scars on both the face and body, in guidance highlighted by NBC News — placing specialist evaluation, rather than over-the-counter promises, at the center of scar management.

The core message from the reporting is straightforward: scars respond to different interventions depending on where they sit, how they formed, and how long they have been present. That variability is why dermatologists urge patients to seek a professional assessment before spending money on retail products.

Why does specialist input matter for scars?

A scar on the face is not the same clinical problem as a scar on the back or chest. Facial skin and body skin differ in thickness, tension and healing behavior, and dermatologists factor those differences into every recommendation they make.

The specialists cited in the NBC News piece treat scarring as a condition with multiple subtypes rather than a single cosmetic complaint. What helps one scar may do little for another, and the wrong approach can waste months — a meaningful window, given that scars are far more responsive to treatment in their earlier phases.

What do dermatologists actually recommend?

The guidance covers both at-home care and in-office procedures. Dermatologists position home products as one tier of a broader strategy rather than a standalone cure, and they weigh procedural options — treatments performed or supervised in the clinic — against what a patient can realistically achieve on their own.

Key themes from the recommendations include:

• Early evaluation. Dermatologists assess the scar's type, location and maturity before recommending anything, because treatment choice depends on all three.
• Location-specific planning. Recommendations for facial scars differ from those for scars on the body, reflecting differences in skin structure and healing.
• A stepped approach. Home-care options and professional, in-office procedures are presented as complementary tools, not competitors.
• Realistic expectations. Specialists frame treatment as improvement of a scar's appearance and texture, guided by clinical judgment.

What should patients avoid?

The reporting signals that dermatologists are cautious about unguided product use. Retail shelves carry a wide range of scar creams and devices, but without a diagnosis of the scar type, patients cannot reliably match a product to their problem.

That caution extends to timing. Specialists emphasize that scars change over months as they mature, and a treatment plan calibrated to that timeline outperforms an improvised one.

Who benefits most from acting on this guidance?

Anyone with a scar that bothers them — whether from surgery, injury or acne-related damage — is a candidate for a dermatology consult, according to the thrust of the recommendations. The decision point is not how severe the scar looks to the patient, but whether it is the kind of scar that responds to available interventions.

Dermatologists also factor in patient goals. Two patients with visually similar scars may receive different recommendations because one prioritizes texture and the other pigmentation, or because one can accommodate a procedural schedule and the other cannot.

What does this mean in practice?

The practical takeaway from the NBC News reporting is a sequencing lesson: get the scar characterized first, then choose the intervention. Patients who begin with a dermatologist's assessment avoid the common pattern of cycling through over-the-counter products before ever learning what kind of scar they have.

The guidance also implicitly addresses cost discipline. In-office procedures represent a larger investment than drugstore products, and a professional evaluation tells patients where that investment is warranted and where conservative care will do the work.

As access to dermatologic consultation expands through telehealth and shorter wait pathways, the barrier that historically pushed patients toward unsupported self-treatment is shrinking — and the specialist-first model the dermatologists describe is becoming the more practical default for scar care.