Having acne scars is very common these days, and the most common places of acne scars are your chest, face, and back. As high as 80% of people that are aged between 11 years and 30 years would deal with the situation of acne. Furthermore, out of these, 80% of every fifth person would have acne scars. Getting rid of these acne scars would either require a professional-grade treatment from a dermatologist or an over-the-counter product that would work in getting rid of acne. When we talk about over-the-counter products, we could consider buying some of the top scar removal Soaps, creams, ointments, and several other products easily at the pharmacy near you.
Before we understand how acne scars are formed and how they should be treated, it is important to put some light on what acne is and how it is caused. A situation in which oil, bacteria, and Dead skin cells fill up the pores and eventually inflate them is called acne. Furthermore, they become small tiny openings placed on the topmost layer of the skin and through which oil and sweat rise to the surface.
As high as 40,000 cells fall from the skin each hour, and it is a few of these cells which, when clog the pores turn into acne. Not all the time, but they turn into pus-filled acne with certain times, and they may even become whiteheads or blackheads. In some situations, these pores filled with dead skin cells can also get inflamed and turn into other types of acne.
Acne is one of the most common skin conditions, and therefore you may not be the only one if you are suffering from acne. As already mentioned that people aged between 11 years to 30 years would have acne at some of the other stages of their life. Teenagers would experience acne due to hormonal imbalance, and adults could have at me as a result of stress or once again because of hormonal imbalance. So the other common reasons why an adult would experience acne are birth control pills, the environment, oil-based products, and the menstruation cycle.
Types of acne and their appearances:
Acne in itself may have more than one form. Blackheads and whiteheads are common and, therefore, most of the time would heal on their own. Apart from these, there are ones that are most likely to leave an acne scar, and these are as under:
- Papules: these are reddish pink bumps formed on your skin that are extremely sensitive to touch
- Pustules: Lesions that are pus-filled looks reddish pink on the bottom and are pus-filled on the top
- Nodules: these are solid-looking lesions. Look wise, and they are larger looking than papules and pustules since they are much more deeply into the skin.
- Cysts: much more deeper into the skin lies an acne form known as cysts. These are mostly extremely painful and filled with pus and have the highest chances of leaving an acne scar.
How is it that acne turns into a scar
Your skin is known to be the largest organ in your body, and it has three different layers to it. The outermost layer is known as the epidermis, then comes the dermis, and finally, the innermost layer is known as hypodermis. Having different layers on the skin protects the innermost surface from the exterior harmful products or elements. These outer layers of the skin are said to protect the skin from bacteria and UV rays, which are also the main reason for the production of vitamin d, all thanks to sunlight. Any area of your skin which has a sebaceous glance is therefore prone to acne. The most prone areas to acne are the back, chest, and, most commonly, the face.
Acne blemishes that become inflamed further lead to acne scars. Once the pores of the acne swell, a breakdown of the walls of this pore occurs. Most of the time, these acne blemishes are not as big, and even though the scars maybe form, they heal quickly. In certain cases, the contents of these blemishes ooze out and spread to other surrounding tissues, and this is when you see deeper scars.
The only way through which skin performs its defense action against these scars is by creating new collagen fibers.
Acne cards that are formed are basically of two different types: one of which is a scar formed by losing tissue that results in skin indentation, and the other is a scar raised above the skin’s surface level. When this scar is raised above the surface level of the skin, it is a clear indication that your skin may be doing its job, but the skin may be doing it a little too well.
The skin creates collagen fibers, also known as repair tissues, as a defense for healing these acne wounds, but because of overproduction of collagen, the skin looks raised and thus the type of raised acne.
Another important thing that one should always remember is that not all acne leads to acne scars. And see if you are one of those people who develop an acne scar; the good news for you is that not all of these acne scars will turn out to be permanent. One should always remember that in today’s age and time, there is a treatment for everything. There are treatments that completely remove acne scars, and there may be treatments that work on healing the skin, which would further heal the acne scar on its own with the help of collagen fibers.
Types of acne scars
In case you are somebody who is dealing with an acne scarring situation, you are most likely dealing with one of the below mentioned types:
- Atrophic Scarring
- Hypertrophic scarring
Is acne scarring common?
Yes, very common. Almost 80% of the total population aged between 11 years and 30 years have acne, and teenagers are affected most by acne and acne scarring.
Diagnosing the type of acne scar:
successful diagnosis of a type of acne scar can be made is by visiting a reputed dermatologist. Not only will your dermatologist determine the type of your acne scar, but they will also inform you about the seriousness of the same. Most of the time, your dermatologist will follow a four-grade system for determining the level of your acne scar. These four grades are: severe, moderate, mild, or finally, macular. That’s a clean each of them in a little detail below:
- Macular: the type of acne scarring that seems read on the surface and is completely flat is known as macular scarring.
- Mild scarring: most common form is mild scarring which can easily be hidden with the help of makeup.
- Moderate: a moderate scar is one that is only visible to a second person who is at a social distance. Covering them with makeup is not easy.
- Severe: These are the worst kind that is visible from even a far distance, and it is not even possible to hide them with any product or makeup.
Managing and treating acne scar
Consulting a well-known and reputed dermatologist is your best option if you’re looking to manage or treat your acne scar. The dermatologist may closely examine the acne scar that you may have on your face or your body and, depending upon the severity of the same, recommend a treatment.
The dermatologist’s recommendation could be oral tablets, over-the-counter ointments, or even our good scar removal Soap. One of the very good brands that have been famous for their scar removal soaps is NO Scars soap from torque pharmaceuticals. The soap effectively improves the conditions of dark spots, acne, freckles, and other skin discoloration issues.
Home remedies
Depending upon the severity of your acne scar, certain home remedies may work best or not work at all. If you are dealing with a mild form of acne scarring, you must consider buying over-the-counter Products that work best in treating your situation. The market is filled with products that have tremendous ability to deal with acne scars.
The products available in the market that work on acne scars are either based on the below mentioned ingredients or are a combination of any of these:
- Retinoids
- Alpha hydroxy acids
- Salicylic acid
- Lactic acid
Another great way of covering up these cards is by using good-quality makeup or growing some facial hair. Finding products that claim to treat acne scars is not difficult what is important here is to look for ones that are not harmful and yet deal with acne scarring in the most effective manner.
Hi-grade treatments are used to get rid of acne scars
Cosmetic procedures are not a new word for most of us as they have become extremely popular in today’s date and time. An individual can visit a dermatologist and consult about which treatment would be best, looking at the severity of the acne scar. They may not be just one treatment that would do overnight magic but using a combination of these treatments can lead to faster results.
- Chemical peels: This is an effective method of getting rid of the top layer of the old skin. In most cases, when one gets rid of the top layer of the skin, new and fresh skin is exposed, which is much smoother and has lesser scars.
- Dermabrasion: The treatments make use of certain tools that are specially designed to get rid of the affected top layer of the skin. It makes use of friction to do the job well.
- Microdermabrasion: This treatment is extremely similar to dermabrasion and uses specially designed tools to get rid of the top layer of the skin.
- Laser resurfacing: Using a laser ensures that a specific amount of heat is developed on the scarred collagen. Further, the job depends upon how well your body heals a wound. As a response to this healing, new and healthy collagen fibers are formed. This further replaces the old and scarred skin with a fresher look and healthy skin.
Some other know procedures are:
- Derma fillers
- Steroid injections
- Microneedling
- Excision
- Subcision
- Punch grafting
- Cryosurgery
Before getting any of these treatments done, you need to meet your dermatologist and understand which is the best treatment for you.
Should you consider surgery
In sporadic cases, your dermatologist may recommend going for minor surgery. The job of these surgeries is to lift the tissues under the scar, making it closer to the surface of the skin so that when indentations are made during the surgery, they become less noticeable. And could either get rid of this scar completely by allowing the skin to produce collagen tissues which would eventually smooth out the scar. The surgery is not a major surgery, and you are awake while the dermatologist performs it. No major anesthesia may be required while performing the surgery, but yes, a certain part of your skin that is scarred and requires treatment may be numbed by topical anesthesia.
Precautions you can take to prevent acne scars.
- Wearing sunscreen: even though sun exposure is extremely important for us since it’s a great way of soaking in some vitamin D, being overly exposed to the sun may lead to skin darkening conditions. As the skin gets darker, the marks also get darker.
- Do not scratch, pick or squeeze acne: by scratching or squeezing acne, you only aggravate the area of your skin, leading to inflammation. This information, in turn, will only worsen the situation.
- Early treatment: one should not wait to treat acne since the longer you wait to treat it higher will be the chances of it turning into an acne scar.
- Avoid smoking: tobacco consumption will only increase your chances of developing an acne scar. Smoking, in general, does not only lead to active acne scars but also several other scars that may occur throughout the body.
- Reach out to a dermatologist: in case the symptoms are not low-grade, one should not wait to get professional help from a dermatologist.
Conclusion:
Having acne is a very common phenomenon for people of all age groups, and one should not be scared that acne that has popped up will lead to a scar. Not all acne is extreme and requires surgery. 80% of them can either be treated at home with the help of easily available products or by visiting your dermatologist, who would recommend a chemical treatment or oral medication. Either way, acne should not be something you fear for the rest of your life.
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