Before discussing a treatment for acne scars, it’s important to point out that reddish acne marks that resemble scars are not actually scars because no permanent change has occurred. In other words they are not real scarring and disappear in time, nonetheless while they are visible they can cause embarrassment.
Flat, red or reddish spots that appear at the final stage of most inflamed acne lesions are called Macules or “pseudo-scars”. After the inflammation of an acne lesion is gone, a macule may remain to “mark the spot” for up to 6 more months. When a macule finally fades, no trace of it will remain, unlike a scar.
Post-inflammatory pigmentation is darkening or discoloration of the skin at the site of a healed or healing inflamed acne lesion. The lesion’s color varies from light brown to black. Under sunlight exposure (UV rays), lesions may become darker. It happens more commonly in darker-skinned people, but is occasionally observed in people with fair skin. Early treatment with a natural skin care product minimizes the occurrence of post-inflammatory pigmentation and also vanishes older marks. Some post-inflammatory pigmentation if untreated may continue for up to 18 months, specially with exaggerated sunlight exposure.
Causes of Acne Scars
Acne scars appear after inflammation or improper healing of some spots. While for some people scarring seems to depend on hereditary factors or skin color, precautions can be taken to avoid scars along with treatments, which significantly reduce a scarred skin’s appearance.
Basically, scars form at the site of damage and are the visible reminders of injury and tissue repair. In the case of acne, the injury is caused by the body’s inflammatory reaction to sebum, microbes, and dead cells in the plugged sebaceous follicle. Two types of true scars exist:
(1) Depressed areas, commonly associated with pitted acne scarring or ice-pick scars, and
(2) Raised hardened tissue such as keloids.
When tissue suffers an injury, the body rushes in its ‘repair kit’ to the injury site. The skin activitates all its immune and repair systems, where elements such as leukocytes, inflammatory molecules, and reconstructive elements have the task of healing tissue and fighting infection. However, when their mission is done they can leave a somewhat messy repair patch in the form of fibrous scar tissue, or deteriorated tissue. It’s not always that way.
White blood cells and inflammatory molecules may stay at the site of an active acne lesion for days or even weeks. This can result in an acne scar in people who easily scar. More studies about the occurrence and incidence of scarring are needed. There is considerable variation in scarring between one person and another, meaning that some people are more susceptible to scarring than others (ex. hereditary factors or skin color). Scarring frequently results from severe inflammatory nodular cystic acne that happens deep in the skin. But, scarring may also arise from more superficial inflamed lesions.
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- Angelique Jodein