Acne Scar Treatment

Millions of people suffer from acne, mostly people in their teens and early twenties.  It's an inconvenient and embarrassing problem that many people are glad to leave behind.

However, acne may still be a bother to you, even after you're done breaking out.  Unless you use an acne scar treatment, many pimples will leave little red or brown colored flat spots on your skin, where the blemish was.  This is called a macule.  These spots usually last anywhere from 6 – 12 months. 

They aren't true scars unless they last for longer than a year, but they're still unsightly.  These marks affect just about everyone who has ever had blemishes, and usually they want to know how to get rid of acne scars.

First of all, it's best not to pick at blemishes.  Doing so will cause pimples to become much more likely to scar.  Treat your skin gently to avoid rupturing pimples.  Even though you're careful with your skin, sometimes scars and red or brown marks will still form. 

The solution to this is fairly simple.  For macules, using Bragg's organic apple cider vinegar as an astringent will make a big difference.  Always moisturize after using this vinegar on your skin, as it tends to be a little drying. 

Doing this should encourage those pesky little marks to fade in a month or less.  If you have a more persistent mark, talk to your dermatologist about using Retin A.  Alternatively, you could mix some Vitamin A from a capsule into your moisturizer.

Sometimes though, you'll find yourself stuck with a much more serious scar.  True scars will be caused wither by excess tissue formation, or a loss of skin tissue. 

Keloids are scars that form when the skin produces too much collagen in response to an injury or severe lesion.  These scars usually look bumpy or irregular.  Although they're permanent, keloids may gradually fade over time, shrinking to a smaller size.

Ice pick scars and depressed fibrotic scars occur when skin loses it's tissue as the result of an injury.  Ice pick scars are small pits that usually occur in the cheek area.  Sometimes these scars are hard, and other times they're soft.  Soft scars will improve with stretching of the skin, but stretching has no effect on harder scars.

Depressed fibrotic scars are larger scars with sharp looking edges.  They form deep depressions in the skin.  Sometimes, these scars can develop from a previous ice pick scar. 

The only safe acne scar treatment for these permanent scars that you can do at home is with a properly administered TCA peel.  These are painful and can be inconvenient, but relatively inexpensive.   You will most likely require many peels in order to remove all traces of acne scars.

However, it's best to consult with your dermatologist about what the best treatment will be for you.  They will help you take into account your skin history, the possible side effects, and what's best for your lifestyle and skin type.

Learning how to remove acne scars is the easy part.  The actual process of treating them is considerably more difficult and will require a lot of patience.  Remember that miracles don't happen overnight and that removing scars is almost never a painless overnight deal.