Pigment spots after acne (Post-acne): cause and how to get rid of them

What kinds of post-acne acne occur?

There are 3 types of post-acne, not only age spots:

1. Scars are the most undesirable complication of post-acne
2. Pigment spots – brown spots on the sites of former rashes
3. Congestive erythema - redness accompanied by compaction from an unresolved element

All three types of post-acne can be present on the skin either simultaneously or separately, depending on individual characteristics and the tendency to develop pigmentation or scars.

Why do acne scars occur?

The method of getting rid of post-acne depends on how it is expressed:

• enlarged pores;
• spots of congestive hyperemia;
• telangiectasia, persistent erythema;
• scarring;
• post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.

The reason for the appearance of scars is the occurrence of a destructive inflammatory process in the dermis. Keloid scars form less frequently than atrophic scars. The type of scar depends on the type of skin, the extent of the process, the intensity of the ongoing inflammation, the correctness of the therapy, the severity of the immune response, and other factors.

Scars are easier to treat than to correct. Only scars can be treated for up to a year. Many people are interested in how to remove acne quickly. But there is no way to quickly get rid of spots and scars caused by acne. This is always a long process.

The main predisposing factors for the appearance of post-acne

1. Severity of acne – acne of III and IV severity often leads to complications, because affect the deep layers of the skin.
2. Individual skin characteristics, genetic predisposition - such as dark skin color, a tendency to increase melanin production at the slightest inflammation or damage to the skin.
3. Lack of treatment, inappropriate treatment, or late treatment is when the process has been present in the skin for a long time and has affected deep tissues.
4. Skin injuries during mechanical cleaning, i.e. when roughly squeezing out pimples.

The presence of at least one predisposing factor may be the cause of the development of post-acne.

Folk remedies for treatment

Soda mask

Lemon juice. You can squeeze it onto a cotton swab and gently wipe all damaged areas. Who finds it more convenient to simply cut a lemon, press it to the skin and rub where needed. The beneficial properties of lemon help cleanse the skin.

Tomato juice – make homemade juice from a couple of tomatoes, then apply gently over all problem areas where there are unpleasant marks instead of pimples. The juice is beneficial to the skin itself and can cleanse it.

Cucumbers – Apply cucumber extract, then leave to soak for 15 minutes. Then rinse off, preferably with cold water. This method also works well against dark spots left by acne.

Almond oil – a gentle massage, with gentle rubbing of oil.

Banana – first mash the banana, then gently apply the mixture to all problem areas. Leave to soak for 7-10 minutes, then rinse with cold water.

Sandalwood. An extremely effective remedy is sandalwood paste. First, soak the sandalwood powder and let it sit overnight in water. Then apply the paste to all problem areas, leave for about 10 minutes, wait until dry. Then rinse thoroughly with water. The paste can be made with milk or rose water.

Fenugreek seeds. Ask herbalists and pharmacies. They are often used as a medicine or for acne marks. Dilute the seeds with water, adding 750 ml. boil for 5 minutes, then wait for the broth to cool. That's it, you can wash your face, back, all problem areas with it. Sessions need to be repeated regularly and soon improvements will be noticeable. To enhance the effect, increase the frequency of the procedure to 1-2 times per day.

Clay masks are great not only for the face; the back can also be treated. First, dilute about a tablespoon of any cosmetic clay with warm water. Mix until a smooth paste forms. Add no more than 2 drops of rosemary, mix and treat all problem areas. The procedure must be repeated approximately 2 times a week, continuing for 2-3 months as needed.

Parsley. First, cut it and pour about 200 ml of boiling water. Leave to steep for 30 minutes, then carefully pour into molds to form ice. This decoction can be used daily, in the mornings and evenings, for 2-3 months.

Apple vinegar. First, dilute a large spoonful of vinegar in 3 tablespoons of water. Then freeze the mixture in ice cube trays. Rub all problem areas with cubes daily. To remove old stains, you can apply gauze soaked in the prepared vinegar solution and make compresses for 5-7 minutes.

• retinoic ointment, • gel “Badyaga Forte”, • creams “Skinoren”, “Klirvin”, • gel “Mederma”, • salicylic ointment.

By the way, retinoic ointment is good for wrinkles.

Home treatments are not as effective as salon treatments, but with regular use you can achieve a complete restoration of healthy skin tone. It is difficult to take care of your back on your own. If someone close to you is helping, he should know about the need to carefully treat every centimeter.

Rubbing the skin with lemon juice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct8gmjgE5j8

This method helps lighten not only acne marks, but also brown pigmentation. In the morning and evening, wipe the skin with a cotton pad soaked in lemon juice.

Uses of parsley

To prepare the decoction, add finely chopped greens to a glass of water and boil for 5 minutes. Problem areas on the back are wiped twice a day with warm liquid.

Applying a mask with hydrogen peroxide

To treat the skin of the back in the morning and before bed, take three percent peroxide mixed with a moisturizing component. Yolk, peach or apricot oil, and cottage cheese are suitable as a softening ingredient. The mask is removed after 20 minutes.

Whitening with aspirin mixture

Take 5 tablets, 1 tbsp. l. honey and 5 drops of tea tree oil. The mask is left for 30 minutes and washed off.

Taking a bath with celandine infusion

A glass of fresh or dried herb is poured with 2 liters of boiling water and infused for 2 hours under an insulating coating. Then the infusion is poured into a warm bath. The duration of the procedure is 20 minutes.

Skin whitening products will also help.

Finally, some more advice

During the period of intensive back skin care, use a body scrub more often. It doesn't matter whether it's a store-bought product or a homemade product. Salon and home methods for removing acne spots on the back can only be used if the integrity of the skin is not compromised.

And in addition: I recommend folk remedies and recipes for facial skin care.

An effective way to get rid of acne is drying, so you can start by using tar soap, which does an excellent job of this task. After using it, it is useful to treat the rash with zinc ointment. Wrapping problem areas with a composition of blue clay, algae and healing mud works well.

Tea tree oil has an antiseptic effect. It is applied pointwise to the affected areas of the skin, which opens clogged pores and acne gradually disappears. There are many other available remedies to combat back acne.

Hydrogen peroxide

It should be used to treat the skin, applying to areas with rashes several times a day. You should use only three percent peroxide, otherwise you can get a serious chemical burn.

Salicylic acid

This product opens clogged ducts and exfoliates dead cells; it can be used either in its pure form or made into masks (for example, with blue clay). To do this, the clay is mixed with a few drops of salicylic acid and applied to the affected skin for 15 minutes, after which it is washed off with warm water.

Salt scrub

For treatment, you need to take medium-ground salt, preferably sea salt, a couple of spoons of which will be enough, and mix with a spoon of soda. Peeling should be used while taking a shower. It is not recommended to rub it too intensely so as not to damage the skin, especially in the area of ​​inflamed acne or already mature ones.

Calendula

Tincture of the flowers of this plant effectively relieves the inflammatory process. You can prepare the product yourself by pouring a few tablespoons of calendula flowers with 100 ml of alcohol and leaving for 2 weeks at room temperature. The finished tincture can be found in any pharmacy.

Potassium permangantsovka

In some cases, potassium permanganate, which is known for its disinfecting properties, helps to get rid of acne on the body. It dries out pimples well, prevents the infection from spreading and prevents the appearance of new pustules nearby. The product can be applied to spots or wiped over the entire back for prevention.

How to avoid age spots and scars

1. Start acne treatment immediately. Even mild forms cannot be ignored - grade 0-2 acne, when there are single elements on the skin.
2. Don't push! A banal but difficult point to implement. Skin cleansing can be done and sometimes even necessary, but it should be done carefully and competently by a cosmetologist.
3. Use medications with anti-inflammatory effects. Not to be confused with antibacterial! Anti-inflammatory drugs have both preventive and therapeutic effects.

Recommendations follow from the previous paragraph - exclusion of predisposing factors.

Treatment at home

In addition to advice and prescriptions for pharmaceutical products from a doctor, there are also special masks for acne and comedones.

Soda mask

Helps well against an abundance of small pimples. Take regular baking soda, which has been used for many years specifically for acne, especially in teenagers, when the problem sometimes becomes catastrophic.

What you will need:

1. Water,
2. Baking soda - a spoon,
3. Soap.

Mix all ingredients thoroughly until a homogeneous mass remains. Before treating your back, steam it thoroughly to open the pores. Then, using a cotton pad, apply the mask with gentle, circular movements without rubbing it. Lie down comfortably on your stomach. Leave for 10 minutes, then wash off the mask. After it, treat the skin with a medicinal cream.

This product can be used no more than a couple of times a week; it dries out painful red pimples well. You cannot use it if you have mature or open pimples or if you have advanced acne. For severe cases, only consult a dermatologist, medications and lotions prescribed by a specialist.

Mask – sea salt, healing clay

First, fill a large bowl with water, then add sea salt there. Add clay when all the salt crystals have already dissolved. The consistency should be a paste, which you apply to all problem areas. Wait 15 minutes, then rinse thoroughly.

If the doctor does not mind, ozone therapy also helps. There, a strengthening, powerful effect is exerted on the body, it increases immunity, this helps to quickly get rid of all foci of inflammation from the inside.

Pharmacy products special for acne also help a lot. Some of them are usually prescribed by a dermatologist, these are ointments or gels, for example, Differin or Zinerit, also Skinoren or Baziron.

Of course, an integrated approach works best when the back is given enough attention. These include food restrictions, masks, and doctor’s consultation.

Acne and pimples should not be squeezed, as they will only become larger, the infection will spread throughout the back and the condition of the skin will worsen. First, you should visit a specialist who will conduct the appropriate tests and, based on their results, prescribe treatment.

The severe form requires an integrated approach with the use of antibiotics, such as Tetracycline and Erythromycin, which are needed in order to get rid of infectious processes in skin cells. The dermatologist will recommend cosmetics and medications with wound-healing, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial effects.

These are products designed specifically for the treatment of acne, for example, Klerasil or Boro Plus. In women, acne is sometimes treated with hormonal drugs with progesterone and estrogen. Products with retinol are prescribed, which actively regenerate skin cells, open clogged pores and promote the release of sebum from the follicle.

If acne marks on your back are a minor problem, then you can try to cure them yourself at home. Essential oils such as tea tree oil and rosemary are used for this. In order for the oil to have the most powerful effect, it can be diluted with vegetable oils such as olive. Essential oil must be applied pointwise to acne marks so that they do not affect adjacent areas of healthy skin.

In addition, you can apply brightening and cleansing masks to the skin of your back. The main component of such masks can be considered cosmetic clay, white or green. In addition, lemon juice and parsley juice can be used at home.

However, it is worth noting that treatment with folk remedies must, if not carried out under the supervision of the attending physician, then be approved by him.

Apple cider vinegar works quite well to eliminate the effects of acne on the skin of the back. It must be diluted with water in proportions, 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water, and with the resulting solution you will need to wipe the problem areas of the skin on the back once every day.

As we noted above, you can also use parsley. To do this, the greens will need to be boiled, this is done as follows: a large bunch of parsley is boiled in 200 ml of water, after which the resulting broth is allowed to brew for two hours. Next, everything is poured into ice molds and placed in the refrigerator.

Our website has excellent material - acne on the back: causes of appearance and methods of treatment, which will further expand on the topic of clearing the skin on the back. The resulting ice cubes are used to wipe specifically problem areas of the skin. The procedure is carried out in the morning and evening and allows you to quite well remove both redness and pigmentation after acne, as well as small scars.

How to get rid of post-acne

Recommendations of the International Society of Dermatologists and Cosmetologists: 1st line drugs for acne and post-acne treatment are retinoids .

• Have an anti-inflammatory effect;
• Normalize the functioning of pigment cells, lighten pigment spots;
• Normalizes the functioning of the sebaceous glands. With acne, the amount and composition of sebum changes - the main reason for the development of acne;
• Increase local immunity, which helps fight inflammation;
• Stimulate the synthesis of collagen necessary to fight scars.

Due to such a wide range of cosmetic effects on the skin, retinoids are recognized as the gold standard for the treatment of acne and post-acne.

The result of using retinoids:

• lightening pigment spots
• smoothing skin texture
• reduction of scar depth

Retinol benefits:

• Physiological – is a substance familiar to the skin, because the body itself supplies vitamin A to the skin in low concentrations;
• Has no toxic effect;
• Suppresses the increased activity of melanocytes, without destroying them, but normalizes melanin production;
• Penetrates well into the skin, reaching the necessary layers;
• Stimulates cellular renewal, preventing colored cells from remaining on the surface, and accelerates their exfoliation.

Clinical manifestations of acne scars

The main types of post-acne scars (Fig. 2 and 3):

1. Hypertrophic.
2. Keloids.
3. Atrophic:

• chipped (icepick scars) - 60–70% of cases;
• rounded (rolling scars) - 20–30% of cases;
• rectangular (boxcar scars) - 15–25% of cases.

Atrophic scars after acne occur on average 3 times more often than hypertrophic and keloid scars.

Severity of post-acne scars:

1. Macular - flat hyper- or hypopigmented (dark or light) lesions that do not change the skin texture.
2. Mild - small atrophic or hypertrophic scars, invisible from a distance of more than 0.5 meters from a person. It is enough to simply hide them with decorative cosmetics or a beard (for men).
3. Moderate - atrophic or hypertrophic scars of moderate severity, visible from a distance of more than 0.5 meters. They are not so easy to hide with makeup or natural facial hair, but you can straighten them with your fingers, stretching the skin in different directions.
4. Severe - pronounced atrophic or hypertrophic scars, clearly visible from a distance of more than 0.5 meters. They cannot be straightened with your fingers when the skin is stretched.

In Russia, specialists from the Research Institute of Surgery named after. A.V. Vishnevsky developed a modified Vancouver scale . It can also be used in the analysis of post-acne scars ( Table 1 ).

Table 1. Modified Vancouver Scar Scale

About half of all acne scars are of clinical significance, i.e. disrupt the structure and/or function of a specific area of ​​the skin. By disfiguring the face, they negatively affect the emotional state of patients, reducing their self-esteem, causing psychological disorders and social maladjustment. Severe acne scars are considered a risk factor for suicide.

Rice. 1. Hypertrophic and keloid post-acne scars (www.acne.org, www.healthjade.com)

• Hypertrophic scars - appear within a month after healing, are located strictly at the site of the acne rash, are usually painless, lighten over time and can regress.
• Keloid scars - appear 3 or more months after healing, extend beyond the boundaries of the acne rash, cause pain and itching, darken over time and can continue to grow.

Rice. 2. Atrophic acne scars and their relative depth (Jacob CI, et al. J Am Acad Dermatol 2001; 45: 109–117. Hession MT, et al. JCAD 2015; 8: 50–58)

• Icepick scars - small in size (less than 2 mm), with clearly defined edges, cone-shaped (expand upward), deep (extend to the dermis and subcutaneous fat).
• Rolling scars - long (more than 4–5 mm), superficial, extending to the dermis, giving the surface of the skin a wavy appearance.
• Rectangular (boxcar scars) - medium in size (1.5–4.0 mm), the edges are smooth and steep (never tapering downwards), round or oval in shape, can be superficial or deep.

Laser facial resurfacing –

There are a huge number of types of lasers that can be used to correct acne and chickenpox scars, but we will try to systematize this information. All lasers for scar correction can be divided into 2 main categories (each of which in turn is divided into two more):

• ablative (traditional and fractional),
• non-ablative (traditional and fractional).

a) The best ablative lasers –

Ablative lasers seem to evaporate the surface layers of the skin, but at the same time they also affect the dermis, stimulating the formation of collagen in it. Those. The term “ablative” means that the laser action involves permanent damage to the surface of the skin. Traditional ablative CO2 lasers are extremely effective for correcting atrophic scars (50–80% improvement in scar condition is achieved after only 1 procedure), but such lasers have a high risk of complications and side effects.

This is due to the fact that traditional ablative lasers operate in continuous resurfacing mode (i.e., total damage to the entire surface of the skin in the treated area occurs). Due to the large number of side effects and long rehabilitation period, fractional type ablative lasers were developed. Their peculiarity is that they damage the skin fractionally (fragmentally), i.e. Between the damaged areas of the skin, intact areas remain, which will contribute to much faster healing.

One of the best ablative fractional CO2 lasers can be called “AcuPulse” (Lumenis, Israel), it operates with a wavelength of 10,600 nm. There are also ablative fractional erbium lasers (Er: YAG) - with a wavelength of 2940 nm. The effectiveness of CO2 and Er:YAG lasers is almost comparable, however, both of them may require 2-3 procedures (while a traditional ablative laser may require only 1 procedure).

I would like to note that the ablative fractional laser “AcuPulse”, if necessary, can also work in the mode of total resurfacing of the skin flap (i.e., act not as a fractional laser, but as a traditional one).

a) Non-ablative lasers (traditional and fractional) –

Non-ablative lasers (unlike ablative lasers) cause thermal damage only to the dermis and deep layers of the epidermis, and no damage to the superficial stratum corneum of the epidermis occurs at all. They stimulate the formation of new collagen in the dermis - as a result of which the scar rises to the surface. We have already said above that non-ablative lasers are also divided into traditional and fractional.

When we talked about the treatment of post-inflammatory erythema, we already talked about pulsed dye lasers (585 or 595 nm), KTP lasers 532 nm, and Nd:YAG lasers 1064 nm. They are precisely non-ablative traditional lasers. But besides them, it should also include Nd:YAG lasers 1320 nm, as well as diode lasers 1450 nm. Absolutely all of these lasers have approximately the same efficiency, which is quite modest.

Clinical studies show that after 1 treatment, the condition of scars improves by only about 20-30%. This means you may need 3 to 5 treatments to get optimal results. Of course, the effectiveness of non-ablative traditional lasers is much less than ablative lasers (both traditional and fractional). Well, the last type of lasers that we want to talk about are non-ablative fractional lasers, which include, for example, the FRAXEL RE:STORE laser.

Non-ablative fractional lasers differ from traditional lasers in that thermal damage to the dermis and deep layers of the epidermis occurs fractionally (i.e., there will be undamaged areas between the damaged areas). "FRAXEL RE:STORE" is an erbium fiber laser with a wavelength of 1550 nm. Clinical studies show that acne scars improve by approximately 50% after 1 treatment.

FRAXEL: before and after photos

A few important points regarding laser resurfacing -

You should understand that laser resurfacing will show different effectiveness for different types of atrophic scars. The main indications for laser resurfacing will be carriage-shaped and groove-shaped (knurled) scars. For example, if we take the FRAXEL RE:STORE laser, then on carriage-shaped scars it can show an improvement of up to 50% (for 1 procedure), groove-shaped scars - only up to 40%, and on scars of the "ice pick" type - there will be only improvement up to 25%.

The same will apply to any other type of laser, i.e. on scars of the “ice pick” type - any type of laser resurfacing will a priori be less effective. Therefore, you should understand that the number of laser resurfacing procedures that may be required will depend not only on the type of laser, but also on the type of atrophic scars on your skin. Carriage-shaped scars after acne are always easier to correct (as are scars after chickenpox).