Acne Scars: How Can You Prevent Them?

Acne not only hurts you when it forms but also leaves you scars when it is gone; even moderate acne can lead to ugly scars on the face. Although there is no clear method to remove acne quickly, you can take some steps to prevent and reduce the appearance of acne scars.

Treat acne early

It is the truth that the sooner you treat your acne, the better you can prevent the scarring. You should wash your face twice a day to keep it clean and also prevent acne breakouts. It is suggested that you use warm water and a mild soap when washing face in the morning, before bed and after working out. In case you have severe acne, meet a dermatologist to treat your acne properly. If your acne condition is mild, you can take topical acne medications which contain benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid. Oral antibiotics, prescription-strength topical creams or cortisone injections can be used after you consult with your doctor or a dermatologist.

Stay out of the sun

Besides treating acne soon, you have to limit your skin’s exposure to the sun because ultraviolet rays can lead to further discoloration and acne scars. When you go out, the first thing you need to do is applying a broad-spectrum sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 30 or higher. After every 2 hours, the sunscreen layer may become less ineffective so you should reapply it. You should also do so after swimming and after sweating. In time of suffering from acne and preventing acne scars, you should avoid being under the sun for too long a period of time, especially between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Even when you have already put on sunscreen, you should also wear protective clothing such as a long-sleeved shirt, pants, and a wide-brimmed hat.

Don’t pick and squeeze

People usually have a habit of picking and squeezing their acne, which then usually results in acne scars. In fact, scarring is the process that your body repairs itself after damage. It occurs due to the collagen loss from intense inflammations. Picking your acne causes more inflammations and injuries to your skin which add to the discoloration and scarring while squeezing or trying to pop a pimple contributes to more collagen damage. So if you want to prevent acne scars, you should bear in mind not to squeeze or pick any pimples, especially if you have acne breakouts.

Don’t use vitamin E on scars

Although vitamin is strongly believed to help heal scars faster and reduce their visibility, applying vitamin E directly on scars, on the contrary, just hinders its healing. Studies indicate that using vitamin E on scars either brings no effect in healing or makes the condition worse for about 90% of the patients. Moreover, the percentage of people whose skin develops a contact dermatitis because of putting vitamin E on the skin is up to 33%. So if you want to prevent acne scars, it is better not to follow any unproven method.

In case your scarring is too severe, you just have experienced a bad breakout on your face and ways you use to prevent scarring from forming fail to help, you need to meet dermatologist so that they can recommend some appropriate methods and treatments for you.