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I see there are a lot of posts on here where people ask what they can do to deal with their scars. I understand that preventing new breakouts and just giving your skin several months to a year to heal is important. I'm a few months in with some success, but I'm more interested in if there's something else I can do during this time that would help me out. Or perhaps get started on the next step? Scheduling anything that requires a dermatologist or doctor generally needs a fair amount of time before you can even get an appointment, and at 26 I'm getting tired of the idea of "well give it a year." I want to make sure that at the end of this year I don't say it was a waste of time.
A short history. I've been on the usual big list of topicals and antibiotics that most acne sufferers list when they say things haven't worked for them. The only thing that gave me results was Dan's huge thing of BP, but I gave that up because I wanted to go out in the sun more. Some time later, after trying lots of other things, I'm back on that BP, now usually once a night or every other night. I've finally for the most part stopped having new breakouts, though I occasionally get some large cysts. I'm actually considering a treatment of accutane (despite all the risks) just to help with those random breakouts I get. I'm one of those people that hyperpigments horribly, so a pimple turns into a three month red spot on my face.
Before my current treatment:
Now:
I found what works for me is physical exfoliation, using a face brush. My breakouts were not caused mainly by irritation though, they were from hormonal issues. Generally, my skin can tolerate physical exfoliation if it's lubed up with a slippery cleanser. Sometimes I just use moisturizer. Gently rubbing and exfoliating tolerant skin helpa slough off the old cells so hyperpigmentation marks can fade faster and helps the skin produce collagen, which can dramatically soften pitted scars as the edges around them plump up.
In lieu of physical exfoliation I'd say try chemical exfoliation. Lactic acid is the best at fading dark spots but any aha or bha will do. Crushed up low-dose aspirin has workes for me as it takes down inflammation and is made of a compound very similar to sacylic acid which is a great exfoliater. I know all this stuff may be outside the regimen and I'll be honest it takes trial and error to see what works but removing scars is different than removing acne by, well, a lot. I concur with the TCA peel but the require some downtime as they are quite deep. A series of glycolic peels may serve you better if you can't take off from work.
Hello! I was just like you, and I went under an accutane treatment with my dermatologist for a while until all the mass acne stopped! Now i have few breakouts every now and then... I you want to treat your scars go for a laser and follow all your doctors instructions, getting peels requires more time to wait and lots of more times repeating them. Also avoid for gods sake the sun! Unfortunately being exposed to the sun worsen our type of skins... Good luck! 