by Rodolfo N. Lentejas, Jr.

Created on: November 20, 2009

Nearly all young people and a few adults worry about having acne. Not only that it can cause facial discomfort, having acne can also cause permanent scar. In fact, it takes months and years for acne scars to totally disappear, but for others with serious condition acne scars can takes a lifetime to totally disappear.

In fact, a parade of questions related to the prevention and the effective treatment for acne scars are continuously being explored in the medical field. There are research dedicated in investigating how to limit the severity of scars and how treatment is done if scarring does happen.

For acne scars to be treated effectively there needs to be a deeper investigation regarding the causes for acne scars to occur. Simply stated, scarring occurs when the skin tissue is damaged. There are actually many ways for the skin tissue to be damaged and these are causing for acne scars to come about. The various types of acnes are the contributing for acne scars to spread all over the face, especially among the youth.

First of the causes for acne scars to develop is the inflammatory acne. Having this kind of acne is more likely to leave scars because it injures the skin more than smaller or non-inflamed blemishes. When this type of acne fully develops, it causes the skin tissue to swell and this causes for acne scars to develop later on. Inflammatory acne can actually cause many types of acne scars.

Another cause for acne scars to develop is the so-called post-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation (PIH). In fact, post-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation is being wrongly associated for acne scars, but in the medical field it may not be considered a scar. It has been proven that nearly everyone with acne develops some degree of post-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation.

Post-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation appears like a flat area of discoloration on the skin surface and it develops after an inflammatory lesion heals. It is the skin's natural response to wound. This is the reason why the post-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation is wrongly associated for acne scars. In fact, port-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation is not permanent and will fade away over time.

Despite efforts of treatment, not all acne scars can be avoided. There will always be scars left by acne. However, there are now many ways for acne scars to be reduced or even totally removed. Depending on the severity of the scar, a dermatologist can recommend various types of treatment, such as dermabrasion, chemical peels, punch techniques (excision, elevation, or grafting), laser treatments, subcision, dermal fillers and steroid treatments.

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