acne scars

Scars Overview

When you injure your skin, your body naturally repairs the damage. How your body repairs this damage depends on how deeply the injury penetrates your skin.

If the injury damages the top layer of your skin, you’ll likely see new skin when the wound heals. To repair damage that goes deeper than the first layer, your body makes a tissue that’s thicker than your skin. This thicker tissue often becomes a scar.

New scars have a pink to reddish color. As a scar matures, it often turns lighter or darker than your skin.

Most scars are flat, and the skin on top tends to look wrinkled.

If your body makes lots of extra tissue, you’ll see a raised scar. Sometimes, the body makes an excessive amount of extra tissue and you see a raised scar that is bigger than the original wound. This type of raised scar is called a keloid.

You may see a sunken scar if something causes a lot of inflammation in your skin, such as acne or chickenpox. This happens because the inflammation destroys collagen in your skin. This type of scar tends to appear when acne or chickenpox heals.

Can Treatment Make a Scar Less Noticeable?

If you develop a scar, it may become less noticeable over time. Some scars, such as keloids and sunken acne scars, don’t fade.

Not every scar requires treatment. You may want to consider treatment if a scar makes you feel uncomfortable. Treatment can reduce symptoms, such as pain and itch. When a scar reduces your ability to move, treatment can often help you regain some movement.

A board-certified dermatologist can tell you what type of treatment may diminish your scar. Treatment varies for each type of scar.

can acne scars be fully cured?

Surface scars may be completely removed, and deeper acne scars may appear less noticeable. Potential severe side effects include scarring and changes in skin color. In a chemical peels your doctor applies a chemical solution to the scar tissue to remove the top layer of skin and minimize the appearance of deeper scars.

what helps acne scars go away?

Salicylic acid
It's considered to be one of the best treatments for acne scars. You can add products with salicylic acid into your daily routine, or your skin care specialist may use it for less frequent chemical peels. It might take a few weeks to see a difference when using salicylic acid.

do acne scars worsen with age?

Depending on the location of the scar, acne scars can appear more severe as you grow older because of collagen depletion in the skin. Depressed acne scars or atrophic acne scarring will usually look worse as your skin loses natural volume as part of the natural aging process.