All the skincare products and treatments you can use to treat acne scars

Acne breakouts aren’t just super annoying in the moment, the scars they leave in their wake can look inflamed, discoloured or uneven way after the initial pimple has settled. While the topical treatments for active breakouts (like salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide) are easily available and simple to use, the procedure for healing scars can be a long game with multiple products and techniques. But it’s important that you first treat your active acne before opting for any treatment. “Prevention is better than cure. If you have active acne, stop picking on it. That is the first step towards preventing development of acne scars. There’s no point in treating old scars while you continue getting new ones,” explains Dr Manjyot Gautam, dermatology consultant, Apollo Hospital. Here’s everything you need to know about strategising a plan of action against acne scars.

The skincare ingredients you should use for dulling the appearance of acne scars

The treatment you choose depends on the kind of scars you have. “Typically, acne scars can either be atrophic, sunken and hypertrophic, or raised and thick. Atrophic scars can further be divided into rolling scars, which are broad depressions with rolling edges; box or punched out scars with strap edges; and deep, narrow and pitted ice-pick scars—these are the most difficult to treat,” says Dr Madhulika Mhatre, consultant dermatologist, Wockhardt Hospital.

When the scars are superficial, doctors often prescribe topical creams with a retinoid in them, which increases the skin turnover time and leads to faster rejuvenation. Retinoids work as an exfoliating and collagen-promoting agent, and over a period of time (results are not seen before three months), they can help reduce the appearance of scars. “Most topical solutions act as adjuvants to any kind of treatment and do not have the capacity to treat acne scarring by themselves. In addition to a retinoid, the ingredients one can look for in a skincare product are glycolic acid (helps reduce pigmentation associated with scarring and has a minimal effect on collagen regeneration), salicylic acid (reduces the sebum secretion and causes exfoliation) and Vitamin C (faster scar healing, combats pigmentation, anti-ageing benefits),” says Dr Mhatre.

The aesthetic treatments you can choose to treat acne scars

In terms of aesthetic treatments, mild scars may improve with simple procedures such as chemical peels and microdermabrasion. Deeper scarring needs more intensive procedures like microneedling with derma rollers or derma pens, lasers, radio frequency and filler treatments. “The best treatment for scars today is the CO2 laser. Laser guns work in the second layer of the skin; these target the collagen and cause skin tightening over a period of time. Because of the tightening, the depth of the scars reduces as it gets pushed up, and they become more superficial. It also leads to development of new collagen; chemical peels and derma rollers work on the same principle,” explains Dr Gautam.

Chemical peels and microdermabrasion bring about faster exfoliation of the top layers of the skin, thus making the scars appear shallower with time. Peeling also helps reducing pigmentation and has an added advantage when it comes to treating acne scars. “But for people with deeper and more severe scarring, more advanced procedures may be needed,” says Dr Mhatre, adding that microneedling systems using either the microneedling RF Machine, derma rollers or derma pens—which also bring about the wound healing response and new collagen formation—are more cost effective than lasers.

Another treatment that can be used to treat scars are vampire facials and PRP, made popular by Kim Kardashian West. “The use of platelet rich plasma-derived growth factors have shown a faster and better response in acne, when used in combination with other treatments. This involves taking the patient’s blood and processing it to derive growth factors that act on the collagen and elastic tissue when injected,” explains Dr Mhatre.

Chemical peels such as glycolic acid and salicylic acid peels are also popular options to treat scars. “Peels don’t work at a very deep level, hence one has to undergo multiple sittings. But they also help clear active acne and stop future scarring. Derma lasers need about three to four sittings, with an interval of six to eight weeks (with use of topical retinoid creams in between for maintenance). There is no quick remedy for scars,” says Dr Gautam. For individuals that need to fill in sunken scars due to a loss of collagen in the area, Dr Mhatre suggests filler injections. But even these are a temporary solution since their effect reduces over time, and you may need to do them once every 1.5 to two years. “Usually, a combination of various different modalities works better than a single technique by itself, and one can achieve an almost perfect result (70-80 per cent improvement) in the appearance of scars,” concludes Dr Mhatre.

Also read:

What the doc wants you to know before you use benzoyl peroxide on acne

3 tried-and-tested skincare formulas that zap adult acne instantly

Suffering from sudden bouts of acne? Here’s why your skin’s breaking out

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