I didn’t always have acne scars. Though I nursed the occasional pimple as a teenager, my skin was smooth and relatively blemish-free. But once I left my hometown of Bayamon, Puerto Rico to study in Ames, Iowa in 2010, my relationship with my skin changed dramatically. By the end of that first semester, I had a blotchy, cystic acne-covered complexion that at any one time, could have five or seven active nodules or pustules on my cheeks and forehead.
To this day, I don’t know what caused the breakouts. Maybe it was related to hormones, the drastic change in my eating habits or the stress that comes with moving far away for college. By the end of the school year, I’d found relief thanks to topical acne treatments and finally adjusting to college life. But while before my skin had been smooth, now I bore pits and dips in my skin’s surface. Right below my favorite birthmark underneath my eye was a sizable boxcar scar, and my cheeks were laced with bigger pores and more atrophic scars.
Over the last 10 years, these marks have naturally faded, but I did take some steps to help get rid of my acne scars, like microneedling treatments and Clear + Brilliant laser. Now, though I still nurse the occasional breakout, my texture has dramatically improved. Keep reading to learn more about acne scars and what beauty treatments can help.
What Are the Different Types of Acne Scarring?
When I say acne scars, I’m not talking about hyperpigmentation (those post-breakout dark spots that fade away over time). I’m talking about real changes to the texture of your skin that occur as a result of injury. “In the case of acne, the injury is related to excess oil production, inflammation and bacteria that cause a break in the follicle wall,” says Dr. Marisa Garshick, a board-certified dermatologist at Medical Dermatology & Cosmetic Surgery in New York. The skin tries to repair the lesion by forming new collagen, but usually this collagen isn’t enough, or as smooth as we’d like. There are two main types of acne scars:
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