Hey guys welcome to this week's video we are talking about acne scars we're going to learn
all about them all the different treatments available for acne scars so in terms of home
treatments cosmetic treatments and we're going to be ranking them in order of best to worst and
we're going to be talking about when you should be seeking medical attention for it so let's
begin so welcome to my channel if you haven't been here before welcome we talk about everything
medical and science here on the channel and the great news is we always look at the research
and evidence behind all the information we give so you know you can trust all the information because
it's scientifically backed also please remember if you watch today's video and you think to yourself
that was really interesting i learned something new there please please please do not forget
to click that like button and leave a comment maybe because it's going to make me feel good
and it's going to help the video grow to a much larger audience so it can help more and
more people around the world lastly please do remember this entire video will be chaptered in
the description below so if at any point you want to find a specific piece of information feel free
to click on that chapter and go to it however as i always say please make sure to watch the entire
video because that's going to make you a bit of a pro on this topic now let's begin okay so let's
start with the basics first of all what causes acne scarring well acne is a very common skin
condition and it's believed that up to 95 percent of people here in western industrialized countries
will suffer from it at some point within their lifetime now the main symptoms of acne we all know
very well and this can range from little spots to like blackheads to whiteheads to larger ones such
as nodules and cysts okay and these can appear really anywhere on the body from the face the neck
to the chest to the back they're the most common areas and sometimes once it even recovers once it
heals it might leave some pigmentation it might leave some scarring even if you haven't squeezed
them or popped them now if you have pop them and squeeze them it obviously puts you at a much
higher risk of scarring especially when the acne is larger such as the nodules and cyst type acne
is much more likely to cause the scarring now the type of scarring that you get left over
from acne really depends on the severity of your acne and also how your skin reacts and
how your skin heals okay there's different types of scarring and the different types of scarring
require different types of treatment okay the most minor type of scarring is known as pigmentation
we then work our way up to more more severe scarring such as ice pick scarring
raised bundles and a build up of collagen type scarring these are the different types of scarring
i'm not going to go into loads of detail on what these are but i will leave information
about them in the description below if you want to read more about it this is already going to
be quite a long video and it's going to be full of treatment so i don't want to waste too much time
going into the details about different types of scarring but remember
different types of scarring need different types of treatment and that's the way that i'm going
to break it down now when we run through those treatments okay so let's begin with pigmentation
scarring okay and what you can do about it so pigmentation scarring is the most minor type of
acne scarring it's after your acne is recovered it leaves a little bit of discoloration on the skin
really it can be pink purple brown white it can just be a different color the good news is this
type of scarring is not usually permanent and it usually goes away after a couple of months in fact
i have a bit of pigmentation scarring going on at the moment because i had a bit of an acne breakout
a couple of months ago okay so now let's talk about the pigmentation scarring and what you can
do about it okay so the first thing you need to do when it comes to pigmentation scarring okay is you
need to give it a little bit of time okay i know you want a quick fix but this needs a little bit
of time for that recycling process of the skin to happen and for that scarring to fade away
however to aid this process you need to be wearing a sunscreen you need to be wearing a sunscreen to
prevent that pigmentation from getting worse so make sure you choose an oil-free sunscreen and
try to avoid staying out in direct sunlight when the sun is at its strongest which here in the uk
is usually between 11 a.m to 3 p.m for more information on the best sunscreens to use
with acne i'll leave a really useful link in the description below i also do have a video on the
best sunscreens so make sure to watch that as well now if you are finding this pigmentation
particularly bothersome and you want to try some treatment for it by the way i'm going
to get up now and move about because i get a bit tired sitting down and filming if you want
to try some other types of treatments for it for example azoleic acid is really good for it which
you can get in a cream form and hydroquinone is also quite good for it as well these are both
available as creams but please remember they can leave the skin a little sensitive they can leave
a bit of a burning sensation sometimes as well so it's particularly important to always speak
to a healthcare professional before trying any of these products now if you have spoke to your
healthcare professional and they've given you the thumbs up for any of these creams
azelaic acids are probably my favorite two because not only is it good for helping in pigmentation
but it also has antibacterial properties so it's also going to help reduce your potential
acne breakouts as well so it's good in both ways at reducing pigmentation and reducing the chance
of getting more and more acne now please remember i don't want this to put you off hydroquinone
because it's also very very good at helping with the pigmentation the only difference is however
that hydroquinone is not going to help with acne breakouts so it's not going to reduce that okay
but there's been some studies that show that hydroquinone is actually really really good at
reducing the pigmentation and actually has reduced pigmentation completely within three months so
that is actually very very good science so that's a little done about treatments okay and we know a
bit about treatments now but what about different types of acne scarring also what about different
treatments that we can try at home we can buy from the supermarkets chemists shops wherever
they're going to help what doesn't help so let's work through them see what actually works and what
i recommend is the best things and what probably aren't as good let's go through okay so tip number
one the first thing that i would recommend for acne scarring okay that you can purchase and
use at home is plant oils and by plant oils i don't mean your normal cooking oil that you use
definitely not that these are blends of different types of plant oils that are specifically to be
used on the skin now there are quite a few famous brands that include ingredients such as lavender
rosemary chamomile and mineral oil and all claim to reduce scarring now the good news is that there
have been quite a few large number of studies that actually support these claims now in terms of the
science behind these plant oils in terms of how they actually work it's not completely understood
yet there's a few theories out there one of them is that it helps rehydrate the skin and the other
theory is which is probably my preferred theory is it helps elasticate the skin as well again okay
so it helps to re-elasticate it's probably a better word to use because when we get acne scars
that elastication is kind of broken a little so the best way to think of it is if you've blown a
balloon up let's say and you've left it blown for a couple of days and then you let all the air out
it never really goes back to that same shape that it was initially when you first bought it
and that's because that elastication has gone a little okay so by helping to re-elasticate the
skin it's helping it to bunch back and help with the scarring so that's a bit of a theory behind
it and there's some studies that are really really good about these oils one study in particular if
i remember correctly i think 84 of people in the study reported an improvement to the acne scars
and 90 of them actually reported an improvement in the color of the skin so reduced pigmentation that
was speaking about earlier now please remember you can use these plant oils for all types of acne
scarring except for raised acne scarring known as hypertrophic scarring okay it doesn't really help
for this also remember that with the plaid oils they don't help with the treatment of acne so
if you have quite active acne that keeps flaring up these oils aren't going to help with that okay
if you've had acne scar acne in the past and you've been left with scars that's probably
when these plant oils are best to be used but if you have active scarring we're going to go through
some other stuff as well i really can't speak today okay so moving on to treatment number
two treatment number two is what we call mild exfoliating acids okay these include things
like lactic acid alpha hydroxy acid and the one that you've probably all heard of salicylic acid
okay these are all very effective helping with acne scarring and they're usually applied to the
face probably using a cotton wool pad and rubbing it on the area okay so these mild skin safe acids
that we like to call them again i'm going to get up because it gets a bit tiring sitting down so
these mild skin safe acids the way that they work they help to break down the top layer of the skin
so what does that do well it gives it a better appearance because we're getting rid of that
top layer remember a lot of the top layer of the skin is dead so by getting rid of it it's going to
help with the actual scarring so it's going to help reduce the appearance of scarring and not
only that so it's going to give us that smoother appearance basically but there are also studies
that show that it can actually help with acne as well so you're having a bit of acne breakouts as
well it's actually good for that as well because it's also going to help unclog those pores try and
get rid of blackheads a little bit so it helps all of these sort of things as well and the final bit
of good news about these skin safe acids is that you can use them on all acne scars so you can use
them on every single type including hypertrophic scarring as well so you don't need to worry about
that either now please do remember though a word of caution please remember these are acids now i
know they are mild and safe to use on the skin but they are going to cause some sensitivity of
the skin so first of all please always speak to your healthcare professional before getting any
of these and trying them second of all always do a little patch test before using them properly
okay just to make sure you don't have a reaction to them and thirdly make sure that if you are
wearing them once it's dry that you're putting the sunscreen on if you're going out during the day
okay it's going to make your skin a lot more reactive and sensitive to sunlight and uva and uvb
rays so it's usually best to just use that night time if you do want to use them during the day
like let's say the dosage or the instructions say you can use them twice a day if you're going to
be using them during the day as well make sure you are putting that spf on okay this is really
important and i have a video on it which i did mention earlier again it's going to be up here and
in the description below if you want to learn more about that now moving on to treatment number three
tree number three is probably my best treatment for acne scarring that you can use and these are
retinoids okay retinoids are very very powerful at helping with acne scarring okay now here in the uk
and i'm sure it's like that in a lot of countries as well some retinoids are prescription only but
you cannot you can also get some retinoids over the counter and also online from online
chemists or wherever you like to buy them from so there are different types of retinoids available
now please remember retinoids are not suitable for children under the age of 12. however some
of them are suitable for children younger than the age of 16 as well so always check that secondly
please remember if you are getting pregnant if you are pregnant if you're breastfeeding or if
you're trying to get pregnant anything like this retinoids are not suitable so again that's another
important thing to remember and thirdly please also remember that resting ones can make your
skin a very sensitive to the sun okay so these are some of the reasons why in a lot of countries
like here in the uk as well a lot of the strong retinoids especially a prescription only now as
i mentioned you can get weaker products in the shops with ingredients like retinol for example
as it's weaker you may not get as striking results but on the flip side it's something
that you can easily access and buy but if you do think that your acne scarring is particularly bad
and that you could benefit from retinoid treatment please beat your healthcare professional to find
out if they're suitable for you treatment usually involves a six to twelve week course and can help
the ice pick the boxcar the rolling scars and many different types of pigmentation as well
okay so that's all the different types of home treatments that you can use all of the ones that
have scientific evidence supporting them that actually work okay but the next thing i want to
discuss is the different types of cosmetic treatments that are available if let's say
these home treatments aren't helping enough or you're still not happy with how your skin
is looking but please do remember acne scarring is very normal 95 percent of the world get acne
so everyone has some form of scarring okay and this is very very normal i know on social media
and on you know magazines and in the media and all this sort of stuff everything is all about looking
flawless and having this flawless skin but this isn't real and we all know this we all know people
and what their skin is like okay so please don't don't fall for for all the stuff that we see out
there with this flawless looking skin because it's not natural it's not normal everyone 95 people get
acne and it's very normal for us to have some form of spore scarring okay but please also remember
there are things that you can find we've discussed in the video but if you're still not happy with
the results and you might have particularly bad scarring here's some of the cosmetic treatment
okay so let's work through the different types of cosmetic treatments okay treatment number one
is called dermabrasion and deliberation is where they're getting rid of the outer layer of the skin
to help with the acne scarring it's quite an old treatment it's been out for a long time
but that's in a nutshell how it works now when dermabrasion is performed there is usually some
anesthetics involved so you don't feel it as much because it can be quite painful and it can usually
last between a few minutes to several hours okay depending on the severity and how much of the
dermabrasion they actually want to do it can be really good for boxcar scarring as well as rolling
scarring as well however it does increase your risk as well of bacterial and viral infections
as well of the skin and it can take quite a few months for it to recover now moving on to cosmetic
treatment number two cosmetic treatment number two is laser treatment okay there's two types of laser
treatment ablative and non-ablative ablative goes through into deeper skin layers not ablative less
deep layers therefore the ablative one is usually better at reducing the appearance of acne scarring
now the advantage is that both types of laser treatment have over dermabrasion includes that it
takes less time to heal it's less likely to need for anesthetics to be used and the fact that it
can be used for more types of acne scarring such as icepick scarring as well now a big disadvantage
though is that it can lead pigmentation scars especially in those with tanned or darker
skin tones now moving on to the final cosmetic treatment treatment number three which is all
about microneedling which is probably my favorite form of cosmetic treatment for acne scarring the
way this works is you've got tiny micro needles that are punctured into the skin which causes the
release of collagen and elastinity area which helps firm up that skin okay so it's trying to
re-fix that skin refix the structure of the skin internally now the reason that this is one of my
favorite types of cosmetic treatment for acne scarring compared to the other two as well is
although it's a relatively new treatment it's also relatively painless as well recovery time is a
couple of days and it's probably one of the safest cosmetic procedures that you can do for your skin
for acne scarring now some of the disadvantages of micro needling firstly it's not as effective
on ice pick scarring it also can take several months for you to actually start to see results
and lastly it can sometimes cause papules from the actual micro needling process
so as you can see there are many different treatments that you can try there's definitely
prescription medicines that you can try the stuff that you can try over the counter and there's the
cosmetic procedures as well but please do remember if you are struggling with scarring at all always
always speak to your healthcare professional that is the most important thing okay they can speak
to you they can take a history they can examine your skin and make sure that they're giving you
the best sort of treatment okay so speakers of healthcare professional is a definite must
if you're suffering with acne scarring also please remember as well if the acne scarring is affecting
you it's affecting your mood it's affecting your daily activities to talk anything like that
again speak to your healthcare professional they are there to help you okay so please the
most important take-home message is if you are have acne scarring and you're worried about it
and you're not happy about it and you're feeling self-conscious about it speak to your healthcare
professional that is the most important thing because your health is the most important thing
so it looks like we are coming to the end of this week's video and i'm standing up again to do the
ending of this video i really do hope that you find this information helpful like i said we've
looked at the evidence and i've given you the most evident scientific supporting information that
helps with acne scarring okay so i really hope you find this information helpful you're now a bit
of a pro when it comes to acne scarring obviously you know the basics that you need to get your acne
treated as well with other treatments as well this was mainly looking at scarring and what you
can do but please please please i'm going to say this but you already probably know it but don't
pick on those spots if you've got acne if you pick on them it's just going to put you a much higher
chance of getting the scarring as well okay but i really hope you find this information helpful
also please let us know what treatments work for you i would love to read it in the comments as
well so please do leave a comment below and i'm sure people watching this video would love to
read it to you as i always say at the end of every single week's video please always remember that
you're awesome and i will see you next week hey guys thanks for watching this week's video make
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