How to prevent acne scars
As if acne itself weren’t annoying enough, pimples can leave their mark long after you thought they were gone. Scars leave a long-lasting depression or textural change, while post-inflammatory hyper pigmentation creates a purple, grey, or brown mark. Acne is caused by inflammation, and depending on the degree of that inflammation and your skin type, that blemish could leave discolouration or an indentation when your skin tries to heal, says dermatologist Dr Ivy Lee.
The best way to prevent either one is to attack acne before it starts, she says. “It’s much harder to deal with [scars] than treating and preventing acne,” she says. Still, avoiding certain habits will make your skin more likely to clear up without leaving a mark.
You skip sunscreen
Acne treatment products make the skin more sensitive to UV rays, so sunscreen is already a particularly important step if you are dealing with pimples. To make matters worse, though, that sun damage also makes your skin more likely to scar. “UV radiation and sun exposure are more likely to cause scars to discolour or take more time to heal,” says Dr Lee. Make sure you add SPF to your daily beauty routine to protect your skin from cancer, wrinkles—and scarring.
Always follow these sunscreen tips to protect your skin from sun damage.
You like to pop your pimples
You’ve heard it before, but it’s worth repeating: Popping a pimple does more harm than good. “Any type of manipulation can increase risk of discolouration and scarring,” says Dr Lee. Not only does rubbing and scratching a blemish leave bacteria from your hands, but picking can create more inflammation. Instead of scratching acne, dab a bit of spot treatment on the blemish and wait for it to heal.