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Hey, I had a severe breakout of acne 4 and a half years ago that actually only lasted for 4-5 months, but left my face covered in what I thought was pretty much only PIH (and some scarred pores). Only over the last week have I been able to look at my face from a side angle and it has been devastating. From the front, it looks like I just have some red marks on the side of my face. Then, if I look in a mirror that allows me to see the side of my face head on, it is much different. I don't know how I didn't notice before, but now I have been feeling across my face and looking at the sides of my face in the mirror and have found probably close to 20 legitimate scars. I am devastated and I have no idea what to do. There is only one (the one that I had already known I had) scar on my temple that seems to be quite deep. The rest are for the most part quite shallow and some even seem to be barely even below the surface. Nonetheless, they are visible and I cannot deal with the fact that these are permanent. I just need some support, anything.
I know the devastation of realizing you have scars for the first time. There is nothing like it. I panicked and had intense anxiety forever, then got depressed. It is really hard, it really is. But here are some good things. If you haven't noticed your scars chances are no one else really is - and they can't honestly be that bad. Second, you're a guy - it's more acceptable. I have some guy friends with acne scarring and it doesn't stop their lives at all - no one cares. Thirdly, there are treatments out there - check out the scar treatment threads that have been posted. Good luck! Life is not over!
Thank you, michi. The reason I haven't noticed my "scars" on the sides of my face is because I had always thought they were PIH (which I also have a lot of), which they kinda seem to be from a front view. By looking at my face from a side view you can clearly see some of the scars (although I agree that since they are for the most part shallow and a good amount are hard to see). My anxiety is compounded by the fact that I am currently on my second course of Accutane (I have basically stopped getting acne), but I have just realized I am getting a few scars from this round of acne which I thought I would be preventing by going on Accutane immediately when breaking out with acne. I'm hopeful that I can get treatment for my scarring, but I will have to wait around a year and I am still distressed by the fact that even though these can help, scars are for the most part "permanent."
Don't panic. Firstly, if you still have PIH, they probably made your scars look 100% worse than they actually are, especially if your scarring is shallow like you mentioned. Once the PIH fades they will look much better. I know this from personal experience. Secondly, you are still on Accutane which means your skin is probably very thin and looking very bad. Its very likely that your scars will look better once your skin begins to recover from the drug.
Also, if you've had the scarring for 4 and a half years and just noticed them, what's keeping you from living the same way every day?