The Types of Acne Scars and How to Treat Them

Get Rid of Acne Scars Fast With These Techniques

Acne scars are often categorized in a variety of different ways. The classifications that you will read about on the internet are not always scientific and cannot necessarily be trusted to actually mean anything. There are two ways to categorize acne scars: the medical method and appearance method. The medical method refers to actual medical terms to describe the scar formation, while the appearance method is a non-scientific way that some Dermatologists use to describe the shape of a scar. The latter method was likely introduced by marketing companies in an effort to differentiate their product from the competition.

In medical terms, there are three types of scars: keloid scars, hypertrophic scars, and pitted scars. Keloid scars are an inflammatory reaction that results in a raised, painful scar. These scars grow and are often painful. Meanwhile, hypertrophic scars are raised scars that do not grow over time or cause pain. All other scars fit into the pitted category. Most acne scars are pitted. Some of the worst scars may be hypertrophic. Rarely, acne scars may be keloid scars, but this is not very common.

The appearance method is what most people are familiar with. This includes things like describing them as rolling scars or icepick scars. The truth is that this is not really a medical definition and instead a description that Dermatologists use to boost sales of their services. The person selling the scar removal service wants you to believe that whatever they are selling is specifically good for your scar type, regardless is the physiology of these so-called types is the same.

The truth is that keloid scars and hypertrophic scars are not easily treated, but fortunately they are less common with acne so you should not have to worry about these too much.

Pitted scars, which are most acne scars, can be treated through a variety of methods. Just like with the other scar types, silicone gels and strips can be used to flatten the scar. These gels and strips will not work much on discoloration which will require a skin lightener or medical procedure.

Most rolling and pitted scars are removed (or at least hidden) by procedures which remove the top layers of the skin. Dermabrasion is a popular procedure for those with fair skin to reduce both discoloration and pitting associated with acne scars. It works well enough, but does not work for darker skin, as sometimes the area exposed to dermabrasion heals darker.

One final treatment that you can consider that works on acne scars (but not keloid or hypertrophic scars) is the chemical peel. This can take a long time to recover from, but it seems to work wonders for acne scars.

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