Picking and Acne Scars

In La Jolla

By Nasrin Mani, M.D.

Acne is mean. Acne Scars are even meaner because they don’t heal up in a week or month.

Some acne sufferers are lucky, and they don’t have residual scars. Others are seemingly tortured by a continous cycle of breakouts and cysts and scars that severely mark their skin. Others have occasional acne but can’t leave their skin alone and “pick”…a definite no-no, but if you’re a picker, you know how hard it is to keep your hands off your face(We’ll give you a diversion tactic in a minute)

Cystic acne is the most dangerous types of acne because there is deep internal infection going on that literally destroys skin – practically guaranteeing acne scars. Always go for the heavy artillery  and consult a physician when you have cystic acne. You’ll save your skin now – and later.

Now, back to the “pickers” – often your mild acne will clear up with some consistent topical products and good skin care habits. By picking the acne zit, you are tearing away the protective layer of skin – opening yourself up to infection, which again, destroys skin. Repeated picking prevents your skin from doing its healing job.

What to do instead? Wear a thick rubber band around your wrist (all those shaped bands are going to come in handy!). Whenever you want to pick at a pimple, snap the band(s) – and snap them hard enough so that it hurts a little. If you resist picking, your skin WILL heal sooner and you’ll dramatically lessen the risk of permanent acne scarring.

If the damage is already done, the most effective treatment to date is fractional laser – in our practice we’ve had great success with Fraxel. By a repeated laser acne scar treatment – usually 5 to 6 sessions, your skin will produce new collagen to replace some of the destroyed tissue from the infections and picking.

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