Acne Articles > How To Get Rid of Facial Acne Scarring

Ways to Treat & Prevent Facial Acne Scarring

Acne affects adults and teens all over the world and can cause serious physical and psychological effects. Each acne type leaves behind it's own type of scars. In order to be able to treat the acne and it's scars, an individual needs to know his/her skin type.

As a result of different skin textures and types, it is often difficult to predict who will and won't scar, how extensive or deep the scars will be and how long the scars will persist. Likewise it's also difficult to predict how successfully scars can be treated and prevented.

Scarring is best solved by treating the acne as early as possible from the time of occurrence and continuing the treatment for as long as it will take to clear it. The more the inflammation can be eliminated, the more likely it is that the scars can be prevented. Preventing irritation to the affected area is also important in preventing scar formation.

For people who scar easily, whether they have mild, moderate or severe acne, it is recommended they seek help from physicians who'd recommend various type of treatments to eliminate and prevent further scarring.

Acne facial scarring formation and other areas of the body depends on how skin tissue responds to inflammation. There are two types of acne scars:- those caused by tissue formation and those caused by loss of tissue.

Scars Caused by Tissue Formation
Scars formed from increased tissue formation are called keloids of hypertrophic scars. Hypertrorphic means "overgrowth". They are usually smooth and irregurarly shaped. These scars persists for years but gradually diminish over time.

An example of such scars are those formed on recovering burn victims. They form due to excessive production of collagen on the skin. The excessive production results from the skin's response to injury as it heals.

Scars Caused by Tissue Loss
Scars that form as a result of loss of tissue are similar to those caused by chicken pox and are more common than hypertrophic scars.e.g an ice pick scar. This is a small scar which has a jagged edge. By stretching the skin, this scar can be improved. However, hard ice picks can't be stretched out.

There are other scars types that fall under this two main categories and each has a different way of treatment. If medication doesn't work on the scars, a physician may advise surgery to remove them, at which point it's upto the individual to decide which options to chose.