Please help me! I've had mild acne since I was about 15 (I'm 18 now.) I've finally started to take it seriously and actually educate myself. I wash my face morning and night, but that's about it. I used to pick pretty badly, but thankfully since I was so young, have no major scarring. I do, however, have s e v e r e red marks that feel like they've been there for ages. I only very recently started looking into healing these, and keep reading about how much the sun worsens them.
I go hiking for about 3 hours at a time about 3 times a week and never use sun screen (I don't burn ever so although I know how important it is, it's never my first priority.)
Basically, what I'm asking, is how much more damage have I caused by all of my sun exposure and how can I fix it?
I'm only really interested in affordable, non-prescription remedies, so if you have anything to share, I really look forward to hearing it! Thanks so much!
I'm dealing with a lot of pigmentation too. I'd say start by making a sunscreen a priority - I've heard sun exposure can make pigmentation worse and it's a good idea to protect your skin from the sun anyway. You don't have to burn for the sun to do harm your skin. It can sometimes be a bit of trial and error finding a good sunscreen that you / your skin likes. Maybe look for a good hat to wear when hiking too if you don't already wear one for that.
You can also look into getting a product that has AHA in it. You can buy the acne.org AHA from this site if that suits you, otherwise just search for products that you can get in stores near you that have an AHA ingredient in it (like glycolic or lactic acid) - it's supposed to be good for fading marks. But it will still take time and be a slow process. It's also important to use a sunscreen if you use products with things like AHA as it increases your sensitivity to the sun.
If you are "3" or higher on the Fitzpatrick Scale do not use any product with salicylic acid as it can cause hyperpigmentation
could you elaborate on this Tom?
I'd like to know more about that too. All I know is that the scale dermatologists use that classifies skin types - and things like how easily they burn. But haven't heard about different products to avoid because of where you are on the scale - that's interesting though.
Yes, heres the medical information, http://neurolex.org/wiki/Category:Salicyclic_acid#tab=Basic
Heres a picture of the Fitzpatrick Scale, except theres a typo at the bottom because the scale is from one to six, 
I posted this but people probably saw anti-aging and figured they don't have to worry about aging - SILLY PEOPLE! At 18 I hardly believe you could have done irreversible damage. Start using sunscreen and use it every day, and look at the medications in this article. You won't be 18 forever.