How severe is severe? Do you know how deep your scars are? I'd rate severe scars to be 3 - 4 mm deep or more. A couple of microdermabrasion treatments definitely would not do anything if your scars are that deep. Dermabrasion would do more but it is very invasive and causes a lot of downtime.
You can look into Fraxel laser treatment. But you need to find a very good doctor who is very experienced in using it to treat acne scars. Results partly depend on the machine's settings and each individual's skin make-up. Some respond better and some don't respond to the treatment that well. I have no personal experience but have heard that it generally gives you an improvement of about 40 - 50% after 5 to 10 treatments which can cost $1000+ per treatment for the whole face, less for spot treat. I think there is no limit on how many treatments you can do but it seems it still won't give you an over 80% improvement no matter how many treatments.
My scars were 2mm deep, in my book not severe but not shallow either. I didn't do any laser or plastic surgery procedures and just used some over the counter stuff which were Epidermx microdermabrasion and Silkia camellia oil. My scars responded really well, in a little over a year they were majorly smoothed in. Now I would rate the improvement to be 95%. I had 5 of those scars on the forehead. The other scars that have not responded as well are those immediately above my upper lip. They are about 70 - 75% filled in and I need a concealer to cover up everyday.
