Those with acne can find scars to be embarrassing. It seems that in today's society acne blemishes are a symbol of one's inadequacy but everyone gets acne and nearly everyone will develop an acne scar. Acne Scars as with many other types of scars develop from a loss of skin tissue or by the increased growth of tissue. You may have picked at a pimple a little too much or you may have one of the more severe forms of acne that leave scars all by themselves. Luckily for most people, about 90% of what appears to be scarring is really post inflammatory hyperpigmentation. This is the condition in which as the acne heals the skin turns a pale pink or red in that spot. Later on this turns to a light brown color. Eventually this will fade and your skin will appear normal again though it can take up to six months. The true acne scars are discolorations and changes in the skin that dont return to completely normal looking skin tissue. Its not possible to ever completely get rid of scar tissue, but often it can be softened, changed, flattened, and even camouflage one type of scar with another that is much less obvious. Common types of acne scars are, dell scars, ragged edge scars, ice pick scars, atrophic macules, and follicular macular atrophy scars. Now these may sound nasty and scary but many of the types listed are fairly common and rarely occur in mass on an acne sufferer. Dell scars are shallow depressions, ragged edge scars are the same with uneven edges, ice pick scars are small holes with ragged edges, atrophic macules pale with a depressed base, and follicular macular atrophy with soft white scar tissue that looks a lot like a whitehead, which is most common on the back and torso. The easiest way to avoid scarring is to stop picking and plucking hairs near areas where acne is occurring, this can stop much of the irritation and inflammation of the tissues that can lead to scarring. |
