How to Get Rid of Acne Scars

Three Things You Need to Know

Questions about how to get rid of acne scars often linger long after blemishes clear up. Years after pimples and cysts have healed, acne scars can remain as a permanent disfigurement of the skin and a perpetual reminder of the distress most people feel from acne.

Here are three things anyone who has or has had acne needs to know about how to get rid of acne scars:

How to Get Rid of Acne Scars Tip #1

Don’t pop, pick at, or needle pimples. Prevention of acne scars is superior to cure.

How to Get Rid of Acne Scars Tip #2

Consider medical procedures for quick correction of acne scars. Among the most common medical techniques for getting rid of scars are:

 
 
 

  • Surgical excision, surgically removing the scarred skin and suturing the scarred area closed (causing a new scar),
  • Dermabrasion, rubbing off the top layers of the skin with rotating wire brushes until it begins to bleed, with the expectation that the skin will grow back without the scar (or new ones),
  • Microdermabrasion, “sandblasting” the skin with a jet of tiny crystals to remove just the top layer of skin, again, with the expectation it will grow back without the scar,
  • Fillers, injecting a distensible scar (one that disappears when the skin is pulled around it) with beef collagen, paraffin, cutting oils, or silicone,
  • Laser dermabrasion, removing the top layers of skin with a laser, and
  • Radio ablation, using radio waves to heat and kill the top layers of the skin, once again, with the expectation that new, smooth skin will replace the scar.

Medical procedures for acne scars get fast results, but they can cause serious side effects. Fillers can have disastrous results if used on scars that extend below the skin. Fillers injected into deep or “ice pick” scars can raise a doughnut around the scar, making it look worse. Dermabrasion can change the pigmentation of the skin so that an acne scar is replaced by a large age spot.

How to Get Rid of Acne Scars Tip #3

Consider DMAE and alpha-lipoic acid treatments for acne scars. DMAE can prevent scars from forming in the first place, or it can reduce skin inflammation around existing scars so that they are less noticeable. Alpha-lipoic acid is an antioxidant that encourages circulation through the skin. It can make the raised edges of scars that cannot be treated with fillers less noticeable after four to six weeks of application. Sometimes scars disappear after four to six months of using the cream. If you take alpha-lipoic acid orally, be sure to take 1 mg of the B vitamin biotin for every 100 mg of alpha-lipoic acid to prevent biotin deficiency.

If you can just wait long enough, acne scars can clear up on their own-but that process usually takes about a decade. For people with acne scars, DMAE and alpha-lipoic acid are the safest and least expensive way to get rid of acne scars over just a few weeks or months.