Healing the Aftermath; Most Effective Treatments I've Done For My Acne Scars

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By JENNY SMITH MATTFELDT Published August 5, 2024

This article is based on my personal experience and what worked for me. It’s not intended to replace professional advice. Always consult a dermatologist or healthcare provider for personalized treatment options.

You can dive into my full story where I share the products, lifestyle changes, gut health factors, and more that helped me put acne in the past.

When my hormonal acne finally cleared up I was so relieved that I barely noticed the scars left behind—I was just so fucking happy to have clear skin. But, as time passed and I got used to not having the active acne, those scars became harder to ignore. There are four main types of acne scars, some of which can be healed at home and some of which need specific treatments. Here’s what worked for me, with photos, all of which were taken immediatly after the appointment.

I want to preface this by letting you know this was one of the more expensive phases of my skin care journey. I will always recommend going to a professional aesthetician or dermatologist versus trying treatments at home. To me the effectiveness made the prices worth it everytime.

Microneedling

Professional microneedling is a skincare treatment where a trained specialist uses a device with tiny, sterile needles to create micro-injuries in the skin. It looks and sounds like a tiny tattoo gun. This process kickstarts your skin's natural healing response, boosting collagen and elastin production, basically the building blocks of smooth, firm skin. This results in more even texture, reduced appearance of scars and fine lines, and an overall glow-up. They make little at home micro needling tools but I would pass on those simply becasue the rollers aren't a straight up and down puncture and their pulling motion can be damaging for the skin. You also have no way of knowing how much bacteria you might be pushing into your skin.

They provide you with a numbing cream that you apply generously about an hour before your appointment. The little tool they use really sounds like you're getting a tattoo but it doesn't hurt at all. I would say across the forehead and the upper lip and nose area is a little tender but it's nothing to be worried about. The majority of the time was spent on my cheeks which were 100% numb. You're very red afterwards and I did experience some soreness that evening. Over the next few days you definitely feel a bit swollen and tender so you have to be sure to keep it really moisturized. Overall, the healing process is super simple with basically no down time which makes this my favorite treatment I've done. It can't be done over active acne so wait until you're in a healed place to book this one. It leaves your skin so, so smooth and clear but takes a few months to see the full results of the collagen stimulation.

VI Peel

A VI Peel is a professional-grade chemical peel that’s designed to tackle a range of skin issues, from fine lines and acne scars to uneven skin tone and texture. The peel combines a blend of powerful ingredients like TCA, Retin-A, and salicylic acid to exfoliate the top layers of your skin, revealing fresher, more youthful looking skin underneath. It’s a quick treatment that delivers noticeable changes right away with the full benefits showing up around 4 to 6 weeks after.

This is probably the treatment that I had the most mixed feelings over. It has the most downtime and after care but I also saw awesome results from it so it's a toss up, odds are I will do another one at some point. They apply the chemical peel in office and send you home with little packaged towellettes that need to be applied at specific times over the next few hours. The first towellette application went well but the second round right before bed burned like a mother. The peeling process should take around seven days and for me it wasn't too aggressive. Everyones skin responds differently when it comes to the amount of peeling you experience, your skin may also feel itchy, dry, and tight over the course of the week. Immediately after that week you are left with baby soft skin and 4 to 6 weeks later your skin is glowing. That's why even though the down time is a pain in the ass I do think I would go through it again simply for how glowy my skin was and how much it lightened my dark hyperpigmentation scarring (and forehead wrinkles which was a bonus).

TCA Complex Peel

A TCA peel spot treatment is a targeted approach to softening stubborn atrophic scars, which are flat, shallow depressions in the skin. We did this peel to work on the physical scarring not the hyperpigmentation scarring. TCA, or trichloroacetic acid, is applied directly to individual scars, working to deeply exfoliate the damaged skin. As the treated area heals the old, scarred skin peels away revealing smoother skin beneath. It’s a precise and effective way to minimize the appearance of scars without treating your entire face, just focuses on the spots that need a little extra care.

As the solution is applied it does burn a little bit, but nothing unbearable, and it's over within a minute. This peel is a lot stronger than the one that goes on your entire face so while that one causes light peeling all over this one causes actual scabs in the targetted areas. It's really important to let the scabs heal and fall off on their own, do not pick at them, which can lead to even further scarring. Immediately after the appointment the dots are stark white but by the next morning they are a dark scab. The photos below were taken over the course of a week and show the scabs forming, falling off, and what it looks like afterwards. One downfall of the TCA route is that it leaves the area pretty red for a few weeks. To me this was a doable tradeoff because makeup covers a red spot a lot better than a dipped scar in the skin. I would absolutely do some more rounds of this one.

In total so far I have done two rounds of microneedling, one VI Peel, and two rounds of TCA complex spot treatments. I have found all the treatments to be extremely effective; microneedling my favorite for overall improvement, VI Peel the best for lightening dark hyperpigmentation marks and glowy skin, and TCA for really targeting rolling acne scars. I can wholeheartedly recommend any of these options. I hope this gives you some information on where to start if you are working on your acne scars as well!

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