Do Dermatix and Hiruscar Work on Acne Scars? What Silicone Gels Can and Cannot Do

Dermatix is a topical silicone gel (cyclopentasiloxane and related polymers) that dries to a thin, breathable film. Silicone sheets and gels have been used on surgical and burn scars for decades; the proposed mechanism is that the film hydrates the top layer of the scar, normalises the signalling of the cells that produce collagen, and so softens and flattens scar tissue that is raised or still maturing. Hiruscar's main ingredient is mucopolysaccharide polysulfate (MPS), an anti-inflammatory and moisturising compound, combined with allium cepa (onion) extract, allantoin and vitamins B3 and E; its post-acne variant adds brightening ingredients. Both are sold for 'scars', which is where the confusion starts.

Neither product is a medicine in the sense of a prescription treatment, and neither is designed for the kind of scar most acne leaves behind. Understanding that is more useful than any review.

Acne leaves three distinct kinds of aftermath. Flat marks — red (post-inflammatory erythema) or brown (post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation) — are colour changes with no change in texture. Depressed scars — rolling, boxcar and ice pick — are dents where collagen was lost. Raised scars — hypertrophic scars and keloids — are lumps where collagen overgrew, most common along the jawline, chest, shoulders and back. Silicone gel's entire mechanism is about calming overactive collagen production, which means its target is the third group.

Most Malaysians buying Dermatix or Hiruscar for 'acne scars' have the first or second kind. For flat marks, the gel is not harmful but does little the skin would not do on its own; for depressed scars, it cannot work, because there is nothing to flatten — the scar needs filling or rebuilding from below, which only procedures do. This is the honest reason the reviews are so mixed: the product is fine; the diagnosis is usually wrong.

Two situations. First, raised acne scars: the firm, pink or skin-coloured bumps that remain along the jaw, on the chest or across the shoulders and back after deep acne. Applied twice daily for two to three months, silicone gel can soften, flatten and fade these, particularly when they are young. If a raised scar keeps growing beyond the original spot, itches or hurts, it is behaving like a keloid and needs a doctor's injections rather than a gel — but silicone can be useful between sessions. Second, prevention: on a freshly healed deep lesion in someone who tends to scar thickly, starting silicone once the skin has closed may reduce the chance of a raised scar forming.

For the post-acne brightening variants, the ingredient list — niacinamide and similar — can modestly help brown marks, but the single most effective step for PIH is daily sunscreen, and a dedicated brightening routine does more than a scar gel repurposed for pigment.

Flat marks fade with time, sunscreen and brightening ingredients (retinoids, vitamin C, niacinamide, azelaic acid), and brown marks that plateau respond to pico laser. Depressed scars need procedures that rebuild or release collagen: subcision for tethered rolling scars, fractional CO₂ laser or RF microneedling for boxcar scars, TCA CROSS for ice pick scars, and usually a sequenced combination for mixed faces. Raised scars that have become keloids need intralesional injections, sometimes with laser — the approach used on our keloid pages.

The money spent on a year of scar gels for a depressed scar would, in most cases, have covered a doctor's assessment and the first stage of a plan that actually changes the scar. That is not an argument against the gels — it is an argument for diagnosing first.

If you have used a scar gel consistently for three months and the scar is unchanged, it is almost certainly not the kind the gel treats. If you can feel a dent, see a shadow under side-lighting, or the scar is raised and growing, itching or painful, an assessment is the next step. A doctor distinguishes marks, depressed scars and raised scars in minutes under magnification and tells you which — if any — a gel is worth continuing for.

DrPlus assesses acne scars at the Johor Bahru clinic in Iskandar Puteri and at three Singapore clinics — Tanjong Pagar, East Coast and Novena — with a written plan and no obligation to proceed. Results vary by individual.