Tip 1: Get active acne under control firstWould you start investing your hard money on a wood deck if you knew that you had an out of control termite problem? Of course not, because those termites would get eat away your money and ruin a perfect deck. The same reasoning applies to acne scar removal. Before you spend a nickel on pricey skin treatments like lasers, chemical peels and microdermabrasion, make sure that you at least have your acne outbreaks under control.
If you acne is not under control, you may only get to enjoy your flawless skin a few weeks as new pimple arrive and leave behind marks. A good sign that your skin is transitioning from active to more controlled is that you experience less cystic or nodular acne. Another indication that your acne situation is improving is that your pimples develop more superficially as opposed in the deeper tissues of the skin and the lesions are less painful.
Once your acne outbreaks are less frequent and the lesion count drops, then it is time to seriously consider acne scar removal.
Tip 2: Make your skin healthier to speed the repair processAnother way to save big money on removing scars is to speed up your skin’s repair time. You can do this with common liquids. For starters, reduce your alcohol intake because laboratories studies have demonstrated that having consumed alcohol impairs the skin ability to grow new skin cells and blood cells after an injury, like a popped pimple.
Moreover, a report from Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research found that alcohol consumption reduces the inflammatory response after receiving wounds. Proper wound repair involves several steps and inflammation typically occurs once the skin has been compromised by a cut, gash, or in the case of acne scarring, excessive squeezing.
Just replace your alcohol consumption with water because even the slightest degree of dehydration can slow down wound healing. Additionally, dehydration reduces blood flow and increases in chances of a wound infection.
Tip 3: Use home remedies to reduce acne scarringYou can reduce the severity of your acne scarring by giving yourself a few at-home cosmetic treatments. For instance, if your acne scars are dark, you can use lemon juice to lighten them. Dab one teaspoon of lemon juice into a cotton ball and smooth it over the acne marks. Leave for ten minutes, then rinse. Use caution with lemon juice because it can make your skin photosensitive. And so, make sure to use a sunscreen on any area you treat with lemon juice prior to going out into the sun.
Next, you can polish the look of your skin with a down-home microdermabrasion. Often times a version of baking soda is used in cosmetic microdermabrasion treatments. You can give yourself a mini microdermabrasion treatment by mixing one teaspoon of baking soda with the two teaspoons of filtered water. Then gently rub the mixture on your acne scars for sixty seconds then rinse it off.
You can start taking simple steps today to reverse all the signs of acne scarring. And when you do decide to seek professional help to remove your acne marks, you will have saved yourself a lot of money.
Sources:
Fitzgerald, Daniel J, Katherine A Radek, Mitchell Chaar, Douglas E Faunce, Luisa A DiPietro, Elizabeth J Kovacs. Effects of acute ethanol exposure on the early inflammatory response after excisional injury. Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research; February 2007, vol 31, no 2, pp 317-323.
Wipke-Tevis, Deidre D & Donna A Williams. Effect of oral hydration on skin microcirculation in healthy young and midlife and older adults. Wound Repair and Regeneration; March-April 2007, vol 15, no 2, pp 174-185.
