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Acne Scar Treatment

There are several acne scar treatment options that can help improve the look of even severe acne scars. The only pain worse than having acne is the scars acne can leave. Severe scars have traditionally been very difficult to treat and impossible to remove completely, yet there have been breakthroughs in recent years with skin lasers.

Most of the available acne scars treatment were not very effective in the past unless your scars were mild. Harsh treatments such as dermabrasion and laser resurfacing was not safe for darker skin types and not very effective for deep, depressed scars. There was also a risk of complications and more scarring making these treatments not the best option for many.

Fortunately in recent years there have been some improvement in treating acne scars – even if they are several years old.

If you have acne scars that bother you, there's no reason you just have to live with them. There are a variety of scar treatment options that can help depending upon the type of scars you have.

Types of Acne Scars...

Depressed Scars: These are difficult scars to treat because of the loss of collagen in the skin. Depressed scars are caused by deep acne cysts or nodules that expand with pus, bacteria, oil and dead skin cells. The body fights the infection by sending white blood cells to the cysts. The trapped oil, debris and pus expand until it ruptures and spills into the surounding dermis (skin). This rupture may cause a loss of collagen in the skin around the cyst. After the cysts heals, the skin above is left unsupported because of loss of tissue below it and a deep recess or depressed scar is the result.

There are a few different types of depressed acne scars:

Rolling-These result when bands of tissue develop between the skin's surface and the deeper layers underneath. These bands pull at the skin, giving the skin's surface a rolling or "wave-like" appearance.

Ice Pick - The skin looks as if it has been pierced by an ice pick or sharp instrument. Ice pick scars seem to make a small, deep "hole" in the skin.

Boxcar scars are round or oval depressions with steep vertical sides. Wider than ice picks, boxcar scars give the skin a pitted appearance.

Raised Acne Scars...

Keloids or Hypertrophic acne scars are raised above the surface of the skin: These scars are the result of excess skin tissue overgrowth. African-Americans often have a genetic tendency to get these types of scars and must be very careful when choosing acne scar treatments because keloids can develop after tissue injury.

Keloids form when the loss of collagen causes the body to trigger fibroblasts that produce excessive collagen. This excess produces scars which are thick and raised above the surrounding skin.

Acne Scars from Excess Pigmentation:

Macules: The discoloration spots that commonly follow an acne breakout are often referred to as "acne scars" but are not true scars. These spots are the visual result of an inflamed acne pimple or cysts that has healed but left its mark as a post inflammatory hyperpigmentation. These can result from minor pimples to severe acne and are more common if you squeeze or pick at your pimples.

The difference between post inflammatory hyperpigmentation and acne scars are the discolored spots are not depressed or pitted. The spots range in color from red to brown depending upon the severity of your acne and your skin type.

While it can be upsetting to have marks left behind for weeks to months after an acne lesion has healed, these are actually the easiest of the acne scars to treat and will improve on the own in time. These can be treated with chemical peels and home acne scar treatment products.