How to prevent acne scars

Acne is unfortunately a fact of life and nearly everyone gets pimples at some point in their life. There are many ways of treating it, for example I’ve written before about using epsom salt for acne. But if and when you do suffer an outbreak of pimples, it’s important that you do your best to avoid them leaving ugly acne scars behind. Here are a few tips on how to prevent acne scars:

Don’t pick and squeeze!

The first thing to understand when thinking how to prevent acne scars is that picking and squeezing spots significantly increases the chances that you will be left with scars. The main cause of acne scarring is infection. And breaking the surface of the pimple makes it more likely it will become infected.

So although it can be really tempting to squeeze your pimples for the short term improvement, in the long term it really is not a good idea.

Don’t be too rough

It can also be really tempting to use a rough exfoliating product on your face when you suffer an acne outbreak. But this can actually make things a lot worse.

Your skin is more sensitive when you have acne and is more easily damaged, resulting in scarring and/or more pimples.

So make sure you only use a really gentle exfoliator together with lukewarm water. And only scrub gently to prevent irritation of your skin.

Wear sunscreen when it’s sunny

You should already be doing this to protect your skin anyway, but it’s especially important when you are suffering from acne. The reason is that if you get sunburned your skin will be spending all its time healing the sunburn rather than your spots.

This means your spots will take longer to clear, increasing the risk that they leave scars. In addition, over exposure to the sun increases your skin’s oiliness which clogs the pores and causes more spots.

Consider vitamin E supplements

Vitamin E is a vital ingredient for ensuring healthy skin and although it occurs naturally in various fruits and vegetables, not everyone gets as much as they should.

Although research is continuing and there’s no absolute proof that vitamin E prevents acne scarring, there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence from people with acne. And studies have shown acne sufferers to have a vitamin E deficiency.

The recommended daily intake is 15 mg and while it’s definitely best if you can get your daily vitamin E intake through normal food, if you’re struggling to meet this through your normal diet you can consider taking an over-the-counter supplement to boost your levels.

A growing number of people have reported that they have bought vitamin E gel capsules, broken them open and applied the gel directly to their acne scars and this has had a great beneficial effect on reducing the level of scarring.

Conclusion

We all get the occasional pimple or even outbreak of acne but if you follow these guidelines on how to prevent acne scars then hopefully you won’t have to suffer from severe acne scars.