Everyone wants clear and healthy skin. But sometimes, certain medical conditions, personal hygiene or dietary changes might inflict acne. Breakouts or active acne can be quite annoying and embarrassing, but the scars of acne could be hellish. There is a silver lining, though. You can treat almost all of these scars at home or via particular clinical procedures.
But certain clinical treatments won’t work with the prescribed medications. Additionally, the inflammation caused by the active acne might bring down the potency of the treatment.
Types Of Scars Of Acne
The treatment and clinical procedures for acne depend upon the type of scar you have. Here are a few types of acne scars:
- Ice Pick Scars: Ice pick scars are narrow V-shaped scars that are deep and not more than 2mm wide. These scars look like a hole has been pricked into the skin by a sharp object like an ice pick. That’s why these active acne scars are known as ice pick scars. The treatment for ice pick scars involves multiple sessions of a combination of therapies. The skin is removed from the scar in punch excision, and the wound is closed with the help of stitches.
- Boxcar Scar: The scars that cause deep cavities in the skin caused by irritating pimples or cysts. Because of that, the skin gets depressed, making a crater-like spot. Boxcar scars are more significant than ice pick scars. Although they do not affect your health physically, the boxcar scars may affect the patient psychologically. That is because the scars of acne affect your appearance, resulting in low self-respect and underconfidence.
- Rolling Scar: These scars are dents in the skin around 4 to 5 mm wide. It is quite difficult for the patients to cover these scars with skin products, affecting their facial appearance. A person facing rolling scars experiences a psychological effect leading to low self-esteem and self-deprecation. A thread-like strand of tissues under the skin is the reason behind these active acne scars. These strands tug on the skin from within.
- Hypertrophic Scar: These scars are quite common with acne around the chest and back. They protrude over the skin and are a result of increased collagen during healing from acne.
If you experience any of the acne scars mentioned above, contact your dermatologist. Certain prevention and treatment methods would help you take care of the acne scars.
Home Remedies
If you have developed scars of acne, then the first thing you should do is consult with a dermatologist. They might provide you with clinical or at-home treatment for it. In addition, here are a few home remedies that would help you prevent or treat acne scars by yourself:
- Lactic Acid: Lactic acid treatment for acne has nothing to do with workouts or gym so that you can have a sigh of relief. According to recent studies, lactic acid peels done twice a month can help you improve your facial appearance, skin texture and pigmentation. Also, it can lighten the scars of acne. For home remedies, there are several ointments, serums, facial peels that contain lactic acid. But if you are looking to go more basic, then apple cider vinegar, with its natural lactic acid, should work as well.
- Salicylic Acid: There is a possibility that you have applied lotions on your face or used spot treatments for your acne scars. In that case, you’ve already used salicylic acid for your treatment. It reduces inflammation and redness, provides the skin with a gentle exfoliation, clears out the pores on your skin. That’s why it is highly regarded as one of the best home remedies for acne scars. Not just as a home remedy, the dermatologist might use salicylic acid for chemical peel as well. But you might not want to use this remedy too frequently if you have sensitive skin, as it might cause dryness and irritation.
- Alpha Hydroxy Acid: The skincare products that are most often recommended for acne treatments contain AHAs or Alpha Hydroxy Acids. They are quite helpful in clearing the clogged pores and dead skin. AHAs can also make the acne scars appear less apparent. Moreover, it would help you gently exfoliate the skin, which would remove the dry skin and bring down the discolouration.
- Retinoids: Retinoids are quite beneficial when it comes to skincare. They have several advantages including, improving the skin texture, smoothing the scar, reduced discolouration and making the scar less apparent. But like almost every other remedial treatment, there is a downside to them. They might make your skin quite sensitive to the sun. So if you are using retinoids, don’t forget to apply sunscreen when you step out in the open.
- Sunscreen: Sunscreen can’t treat scars. But if you have scars of acne, then you might want to apply sunscreen every time you go out. Otherwise, the exposure to the sun would darken the scars.
These are just a few home remedies to treat active acne. If you are thinking about any one of them, be sure to consult with a doctor beforehand to be sure.
Clinical Procedure
A few of the clinical procedures performed by the doctors to treat active acne are as follows:
- Chemical Peels: A strong acid is used in the chemical peel to remove the top skin and diminish acne scars. Certain peels are okay to be used at home. But the dermatologists use stronger ones at the clinic for more effective results. So talk to your doctor to determine the best chemical peel for your acne scars.
- Dermabrasion: It is the most commonly used treatment for scars of acne. There are several microdermabrasion kits that you can use at home. The doctors use dermabrasion based on the same principle at their clinic to exfoliate a patient’s skin with shallow scars like a boxcar and rolling scars.
- Laser Resurfacing Treatment: Like the above two treatment procedures, laser treatment also removed the top layer of the skin. The recovery time with respect to this treatment is lesser than the other two treatments.
Having scars due to active acne can be highly frustrating for the afflicted. There are various remedial treatments available for acne. But since it affects the skin, you must be cautious regarding the treatment.
If you are experiencing acne, you might want to consult with your nearest dermatologist, or book an appointment with the experts at Amish Hospital, via www.amishospital.com.