How to prevent acne scars - 5 tips
Having acne is one thing, and then you have to worry about scarring. It can feel like a never ending battle. These are 5 easy and practical tips to help you prevent acne scars. Whether you still have active acne or you already have a few scars, rest assured that they don’t have to be permanent. If you consistently do these 5 tips it can help get rid of current scars and prevent any in the future.
Why does scarring happen in the first place?
If you have scars or are worried about getting them, it’s important to understand what causes them. Whether or not you will scar and how bad it would be depends on a few factors:
Inflammation Damage: When acne lesions (like cysts or pimples) penetrate deeply into the skin, they damage the surrounding tissue.
Your Collagen Response: The body produces collagen to repair the damage. If too little collagen is produced, a depressed or atrophic scar forms. If too much collagen is produced, a raised or hypertrophic scar results.
Wound Healing Irregularities: Picking, squeezing, or popping acne can worsen damage and disrupt the natural healing process, increasing the risk of scarring.
Skin Type and Genetics: Some people are more prone to scarring due to genetic factors or skin type, especially if their skin heals slowly or tends to overproduce collagen.
Chronic or Severe Acne: Persistent or severe acne is more likely to leave scars because the deeper layers of the skin are more frequently affected.
Depending on your skin, your genetics, and how severe and chronic your acne is will determine if you get scars. Nonetheless, no matter where you are on the spectrum, everyone can benefit from these prevention practices. So let’s jump in to what you can start doing today to prevent acne scars!
Tip 1 - Keep your skin hydrated
Tip 2 - Be gentle - no popping
Tip 3 - Witch hazel
Tip 4 - Vitamin E oil
Tip 5 - Sunscreen
Keep your skin hydrated
To support proper wound healing, your skin must be hydrated from the inside out. Even if you have an oily skin type. The obvious tip is to drink more water - hate to say it, I know everyone says this but drinking more water will only help. The other tip is to hydrate topically. Less is more for acne-prone skin which is why I’d recommend a micellar water for cleaning skin and getting hydration. Wash your hands before you put anything on your face. Grab a clean cotton pad and put some micellar water on it then wipe off dirt and makeup from the day. Whatever micellar water is left on the face is good enough. The beauty of micellar water is that you don’t have to strip your skin of all the natural oils like a normal face wash. You leave all of that on, take off the bad stuff, and your skin is left nice and hydrated to heal. If you do want to use a moisturizer, look for moisturizers that are non-comedogenic so they won’t clog pores. The best natural moisturizer out there is jojoba oil. It will leave you very greasy but it won’t cause any more acne.
Be gentle- no popping
The main reason you get marks and scarring from acne is because you irritated the skin deeply. Try the best you can to not pick at your face. No matter how ready that pimple looks to pop, don’t do it. Try to let it pop on its own or use more of a pressing technique, instead of popping. Learn how to correctly pop a pimple here. It takes serious self-control, but do not pick at that area when your pimple is forming. It makes an already inflamed area even worse and will make you bleed so much more than necessary and cause the healing process to be twice as long. Try to treat your skin with more kindness and trust in the healing process. Whenever you are touching your face do so gently and with care. Also do this mentally - everytime you see the acne on your face, think positively about how your skin is healing and will clear up sooner than you think. Negative thoughts towards your own skin does not help.
Witch Hazel
This is something you can put directly on pimples and where you break out to prevent scars. Witch hazel is amazing at helping the skin heal and preventing acne for many reasons. Witch hazel is actually known for wound healing properties because it is antimicrobial, keeping acne lesions clean and helping them to heal more effectively without infection or additional inflammation. You use it by applying to a cotton pad then dabbing onto your skin. It is a natural astringent and will help your pores tighten up and control excess oil production which helps prevent future breakouts. It is also so amazing and calming for your skin. Not so much in the smell - I will warn that it doesn’t have the best smell in the world but it will leave your skin feeling calm and neutral. It feels cool on the skin and dries up quickly without leaving your skin dry. I only ever buy the Dickinson's which are sold at Walmart and Target. Whatever witch hazel you use just make sure the ingredients are 100% witch hazel because many other brands put other ingredients which will actually irritate your skin.
Vitamin E oil
This is a tip for anyone who’s acne is on the journey to clearing up. Vitamin E oil has so many benefits to prevent your skin from scarring but if you still have quite a few active acne areas, proceed with caution as it can cause more irritation. Use as spot treatment for areas you hope not to scar. Vitamin E helps the healing process by neutralizing free radicals and promotes healthier tissue repair. It also promotes collagen production which is key for rebuilding skin. Placing this on areas where a pimple is healing after being popped will reduce any left over inflammation to reduce redness and swelling which can cause scarring. Vitamin E is also very hydrating and will help skin heal smooth and evenly. The real beauty of this oil is that no matter how long it’s been since your acne was active, if used consistently it’s been proven to regenerate new skin cells and replace damaged tissue which will help fade any scars you have over time. The oil I single-handedly swear helped me from getting acne scars was Vitamin E. I will say that I started using this when I still had a good bit of active acne and it really burned at first so start lightly. It took my skin about a month to build up a tolerance but I started to notice any marks or redness (what you normally get when a pimple is healing) go away in days instead of what would normally take my skin weeks. Give it a try or find one you like!
Sunscreen
I hope you are already using sunscreen every single day, but if you aren’t you need to start. SPF is so important if you want to have healthy skin. It’s especially important for preventing acne scars for a few reasons. Number one is that it prevents hyperpigmentation. UV exposure can darken healing acne marks - which we want to avoid at all costs. Sunscreen will block harmful UV rays that worsen inflammation and degrade collagen in our skin. That’s why sunscreen is also key for preventing early signs of aging. Sun damage can also cause scars to thicken or change texture over time so if you haven’t been consistent with sunscreen now is the time to not make any scars worse. If you find a good sunscreen it can actually help prevent further breakouts as well. I swear by the eltaMD skin tint that has sunscreen in it. It has a nice enough coverage and is SPF 40. Anything 30 SPF and above is good for daily use. Don’t forget to use it on cloudy days either! The UV rays are always there even if it doesn’t feel like it.
All of these tips basically boil down to educating yourself on different areas of life. There is always room for improvement. Do more than just glow up in your appearance, glow up your life. There are so many beautiful lessons and experiences when we are open to growth. In life we are meant to constantly evolve and glowing up is a great way to do that. The fact that you desire to glow up is a testament to your potential in life. I hope these tips help in some way and that you are inspired to start working on one of these areas.
Recap
There’s many things you can do to prevent acne scars no matter your skin type or how much active acne you currently have. Remember that your skin is healing and the more you do to help in the healing process, the better off you will be. Skin will continue to regenerate over your lifetime. Personally, these 5 tips are what I did consistently and I believe it’s the reason I don’t have acne scars today. My skin journey was unique in the sense that I wanted to heal myself in a totally natural way by rebalancing my hormones and holistically changing my lifestyle habits. A big part of this was mindset. Once I focussed on how my skin could be, I believed it was possible. Some people call this process manifesting. For me it was a combination of action and vision that gave me results. I put together an e-book on exactly how I manifested clear skin and how you can too. Sign up below to the clear skin academy newsletter, get the free e-book and try a new approach to healing your skin naturally!
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