One of the major downsides of a bout of acne comes once you have treated the problem and the acne has been successfully removed. These are the scars that, as acne is primarily a facial problem can be unsightly and easily seen.

Acne scars come in different types, the first known as the ‘ice pick’ scar. These are small scars on the face that are generally shallow, but can sometimes be deeper. They can also be either soft or hard to the touch, and while the former can be treated to an extent by stretching the ski around the affected area, the hard type of ice pick scar is a more difficult proposition entirely.

The second type of scar is the ‘depressed fibrotic scar’, and these can be very large and very deep. Depressed fibrotic scars can come about as a result of a change in an ice pick scar, a metamorphosis of the skin that happens over a time, further highlighting the need to treat even the smallest scars as early as possible.

Atrophic macules

‘Atrophic macules’ are another type of scar, and these can appear quite nasty at fist but have a tendency to dry out over time and become unnoticeable, and they are more common on non facial areas, such as the back of the body, hence being less of a problem than the previous type.

The final type of scar is the ‘soft scar’ and is as it says, a soft raised area where the acne has been that stands out from the skin on the face.

So, how do we treat acne scars, and remove the ugly signs of a bout of the dreaded stuff?

The surgery option

For more serious cases, and severe acne can be very disfiguring in a small number of instances, your doctor may refer you to a surgeon. Surgery may seem a drastic option, but it can be necessary if the scars are particularly nasty.

Surgery normally takes the form of plastic surgery, the rebuilding of the area of the skin where the scar has been, and is very effective and leaves no traces.

However, in lesser cases of scarring there are a number of natural remedies that can be carried out at home.

Natural remedies

Experts recommend the use of ice cubes rubbed a cross the skin, a method that aids the tightening of the skin where the scars are and helps keep the skin youthful, while the use of vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers is also encouraged.

These vegetables, when rubbed across the skin, leave juices behind that are believed to be beneficial to the health of the skin, leading again to tightening, and closing of the pores, and helping to hide any scars that may remain.

The use of sandalwood, a much-utilised natural remedy used the world over and by practitioners of herbal remedies, is a widely offered solution for acne scars, and can be obtained as pastes that is applied to the skin with similar effect to those mentioned above.

About Scar Treatments

Perhaps the only revered scar in history is Al Pacino’s Scar Face. Other than that, people hate scars and are constantly trying out new methods to treat their scars and make them go away.
What is a scar in the first place? Why do we have them?

When our skin is burned, cut, scraped, or injured in any other way, fibroblasts – a group of special cells, work to produce a protein-like substance called collagen to block and seal the wound. Collagen makes up most of the scar tissue, and it is positioned randomly, which makes a scar easily noticeable. Scar formation, or scarring, is a part of the natural cycle of skin healing.

There are many types of scar, depending on the kind of injury your skin has encountered and how your skin reacts to such injury. These types include keloid scars, contracture scars, hypertrophic scars, and acne scars. Different factors also affect how your skin scars, such as the size and depth of the wound and the location of the injury. Your age, heredity, sex, and ethnicity are also factors to be considered.

Once you’ve acquired a scar, do not expect it to heal right away or totally disappear. You’ll only be wasting a lot of time, money, and frustrated effort if you spend your days worrying about your scar. The sad truth is that it’s not possible to entirely remove a scar.

However, there are ways to make a scar become less visible so you won’t have to feel insecure or embarrassed about them.

You don’t have to leave the house to avail yourself of a scar treatment. Some scar treatments involve domestic ingredients. For example, if you have onion in your kitchen, you can use its extract as an anti-inflammatory and for collagen control. Onion extract, which is also available as a gel, is known to help prevent swelling and reduce production of collagen in a scar. This way, your scar won’t take an abnormal shape. You can also turn to fruits. Natural fruit acids, such as alpha hydroxy acids, are used for exfoliation. Removing dead skin cells can help improve the appearance of your scar, and it can lessen redness, too.

Over-the-counter scar treatments abound. However, studies have shown that over-the-counter treatments only work for some and not for all who use them.

If home or over-the-counter scar treatments don’t give you satisfaction, you can also try surgery. There are many surgical treatments to choose from that can assist in the enhancement of injured skin. These include collagen and steroid injections, as well as laser treatment. Before you decide on a treatment, do consult with your health care provider first.

Collagen and steroid injections, as well as laser treatment, can all help improve the appearance of damaged skin. Your dermatologist or health care provider can help you decide if surgical alternatives are right for you. Also, if you’re interested in trying a non-surgical treatment, but aren’t sure where to begin, a health care provider can help with that, too.
With all these existing scar treatments, you should be able to find the one that works for you and your scar.

Curing acne is not the only thing that you should think of. Acne may be cured but you also have to remember that there are acne scars that not only leaves a reminder of how bad acne is, but also makes a person with acne scars feel insecure, depressed, etc. because of the fact that acne scars are not good to look at and may subtract from your looks.

The doctors say that the best acne scars treatment would be to start your treatment early and then have it done continuously for as long as needed. There are varied treatments that can be done to improve the look of the scarred tissues or better yet remove the acne scars completely as if they never appeared. Most of the treatments would use similar methods such as removing the old tissues and replacing them with new, unblemished and unscarred tissues. Some may be topical treatments while others use machines or tools to promote tissue re-growths mostly through skin peeling.

Dermabrasion is said to be the most effective way to eradicate acne scars. It is a medical treatment wherein the skin surface is removed through a “sanding” technique or abrasion. Dermabrasion not only lessens or removes acne scars but can also be performed in order to get rid of blemishes or dark spots as well as sun damaged tissues. This procedure is said to be painful and so an anaesthetic needs to be used before the procedure. There will be bleeding during and after the treatment and the end result would be raw-looking skin that is reddish and would take a few weeks, even months for healing and regrowth. Acne scars found only on the surface of the skin would be removed by dermabrasion but scars that are deep within the tissue are not very much affected by the procedure.

Laser therapy may also be done in order to treat acne scars. This procedure also involves wounding the skin in order for new skin to be uncovered this time through light pulses that are microscopic in nature (lasers). Several treatments would lighten or lessen the scar as well as eradicate damaged cells or tissues. In this therapy, there is also the so called collagen stimulation and regeneration that cause great improvement in acne scars appearance.

Chemical therapy is also another form of acne scars treatment that is said to be less expensive as compared to dermabrasion and laser therapy. Chemical peels are the main tools in this procedure and is said to smoothen the skin’s texture after skin peeling. The new skin would usually have lesser wrinkles and scars and at the same is much smoother than the old skin before the treatment.

The time involved in healing acne scars would depend on how deep the acne scars are. Acne scars found only on the surface of the skin would be easy to heal and would just take a few treatments and voila—no acne scars after the treatments. The scars that are really hard to heal and might even take months and months would be those acne scars that are embedded deep into the skin tissue. Treatments for those scars cost higher and sometimes there is not even a guarantee that deep acne scars would be eliminated.