How to Get Rid of Old Acne Scars: Home Acne Scar Treatment

How to Get Rid of Old Acne Scars

You can follow my journey to get rid of my old acne scars here.

To get the step by step healing process I used to heal my acne-scarred skin feel free to sign up below:

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I had my acne scars for 4 years before I decided to finally do something to get at the root of the problem with them, as opposed to just “trying” to cover them up with layers of lotions and makeup.

While starting this process to heal my skin at its root, I wanted to create a space where people with acne scars could see the progress of an acne scarred face actually healing.

Not the perfectly “photoshopped” or “after” healed pics next to the horrible before pics. But a space where people could follow along as I continue to finish healing and see skin actually healing, along with me, real-time, real close up photos, commentary, videos, back and forth, everything.

That’s why I created my 2 month challenge Facebook group where I showed everyone my healing journey and teaching others how to remove acne scars in real-time, alongside me. This page is a documentation of how I healed my skin during this time period and the few months before.

You can follow along after the fact by reading this page, and feel free to comment to ask any questions.

I think it is important to show real-time progress and not only perfect “after pics” when you finally feel your skin is “good enough” to show people. This page details my journey from when my acne scars were still very here and very real.

Also, you can email me stacy@acnescar.org for info how to get in the private Facebook group I’m updating daily with even more detailed and raw progress pics.

You can also join the 2 month challenge Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1313211658865461/

Face Acne Scars: Acne Scar Depression

These past 4 years I have deeply hated myself.

Because of my deeply pockmarked face.

Acne scars deeply embedded on my forehead, on the sides of my face, a deep pocket scar on chin, a cluster of deep to medium to light scars on my right cheekbone, behind my ears. Every section of my once-smooth, even if it had the occasional pimple, face was scarred and pockmarked.

I didn’t think there was anything I could do to fix it. I tried different DIY acne scar treatments, creams, MSM, retinols, derma e, coconut oil, but all they did was make my face look like it had too much lotion or oil on it, and when I took it off at the end of the day you could still see the deep indents as they were, not healed or changed in any way.

Sometimes if I got engrossed enough in an activity or work or going on a run I would momentarily forget how indescribably ugly my face had become.

The disfiguration of my face made it hard for me to even have a chance to try to love or accept myself. The scarring was partially due to factors outside of my control – acne, hormones, but it was also partially or even mostly due to my incessant picking and not realizing I was causing damage that would or could actually become permanent scars on my face.

The second I looked in a mirror I would be brought back to reality and remember how disgusting my face had become, due to many factors that were entirely my fault, making it almost impossible to even try to feel ok about myself.

Adding to that, before my acne scars, I had always been an introvert and enjoyed alone time, but had also always been really good at making friends and connecting with people.

After my scars, I couldn’t look people in the eye anymore. And when I tried to be brave and make friends these past 4 years I literally have not been able to. When I have to go in to the doctor, they all remark on my face and ask what my skin condition is.

I actively tried to reach out to people and make new connections but with my disfigured face, my acne scars, people have not wanted to be around me.

I have hated myself, and hated looking in the mirror, remembering the days I could step out of the shower, put on some face lotion and look good enough to go out in public or do whatever I wanted.

Acne Scar Remedies: At Home Microneedling / trying to heal my acne scars

After living with my disfigured face and scars for 3 years, 12 months ago I finally got fed up with the life I was living trying to avoid people and hating my skin and myself because of it and did a ton of research online before deciding to go into a professional for a $300 microneedling session.

After seeing how the needles induced redness and healing in my skin, and researching the list of healing ingredients they gave me, which included copper peptides and Vitamin C, I kept reading to figure out what ingredients I could buy in combination with microneedling to continue to heal my skin.

Home Acne Scar Remedy

I started my at home acne scar treatment after my first professional session when I realized professional microneedling was super expensive, but that the at-home microneedling allowed me to target the problem areas even better since I know which parts of my skin look the worst to me. It also allowed me to be slightly more aggressive along in terms of frequency of needling and application of product to speed up skin turnover and healing.

I love how this home remedy for acne scars works overnight, and I wake up each morning, use coconut oil to take the copper peptides off my face, and see my scarring improved each time.

The microneedling works in layers, peeling off skin layers in combination with exfoliation lotions & techniques, and damages the scar area.

Once the needle gets to the bottom of the damaged tissue, it is able to re-damage it again, but in a way your skin is able to heal fully this time as long as you take care of it during the healing process, your skin is able to re-heal fully but without producing the excess scar collagen it did the first time. Once the damaged layers of your skin peel off and the new skin comes up underneath, your skin starts to look smoother and layer by layer show the new healed skin and no longer the damaged outer layers.

Allowing your damaged skin to fully come off in thick layers allows you to get rid of old acne scars that have stubbornly stayed put on your face for years, as was the case with my entire face.

Doing it at home’s also way cheaper with $20 microneedlers you can use ~5 times each and $100 worth of pure, high-quality Vitamin C Serum and , as opposed to the professional clinic’s overpriced, water-downed / not highest quality healing ingredient bottles and $300 professional sessions.

I always clean my needle overnight in 70% hydrogen peroxide, and at the start I would use each needle up to 5 times with cleanings in between. However I did find that as kept going with my at-home acne scar treatment I started using a fresh needle for every new home microneedling session, because I saw that it seemed to be much more effective due to the fresher blade.

It’s only an extra $20 or so expense every 30 days during the healing process, and for me at least, it allowed every session to be that much more effective.

Since the microneedling works with your skin’s natural healing process which includes the (longg) 27 days it takes your skin to turn-over and grow a full new layer each month, it takes time to start seeing results because you have to work with (not against) your skin’s natural healing functions.

You can see in the picture below how the micro-needling worked with the copper peptides to help layers of my damaged and scarred skin peel off to reveal healthy new skin underneath.

This process happened every time I did the at-home micro-needling and copper peptide application, and each time a damaged layer came off I saw my skin look less scarred and more healthy. My scars were very deep so it took a year of doing this consistently to see parts of my skin become completely smooth again.

The copper peptides, Vitamin C, Lac Sal exfoliating cream, and at home derma-rolling device are the best products for acne scars I have found, and I am so grateful to have found them, because they have really changed my life.

The Vitamin C & Derma Pen acne scar kit is what I’ve found to be the most helpful for the areas of stubborn scarring discoloration on my face, and I’ve incorporated it into my regular skincare routine even as my skin has become healthy again.

My healing goals and how you can follow along the journey

12 months ago when I realized my acne scar treatment was working I set a goal to keep going, doing my best to heal each month until my skin got so good I could take my rebranding headshots and start acting again.

My real motivation was to have smooth skin that I feel happy in right when I step out of the shower (AKA before applying gobs of covering and smoothing products), and going out in public and talking to people again, having them want to be around me and be my friend, something I haven’t had in 4 years and has only starting to come back these past few months as my skin has started to heal.

These past 12 months, I’ve seen layers come off and new skin coming up looking beautifully healed and smooth in many areas and the damage keeps coming off. This has been my focus and I keep reminding myself how I am doing it for my future self.

12 months ago I barely took any pictures that showed the full damage (it was always with some type of covering lotion or makeup on), because it messed me up mentally to see the damage in full in a picture because it made it 100X more real. Almost like the photo capturing the damage in full made the scarring seem somehow more permanent.

Even not doing so, you can how bad it was in this candid photo from 4 years ago:

The selfie I took on the way back from a friend’s birthday, I still have Derma-e gel “trying” to cover some of it up, I had scars and acne still here, it was really bad, and it was actually even worse because the Derma-e gel was actually covering some of the indents up:

Here’s a photo of my forehead after the acne shown above cleared but the scars are still clearly there:

Finally, here’s where my forehead is at right now. It still has smaller indents and is healing but layers and layers of damaged scarred skin have come off and it is so much better right now:

This was after an all-day Salesforce conference – this was how bad my chin had gotten – so disgusting I couldn’t believe what had happened to my face and how disfigured it was:

Each month I see a few layers come off, new skin and hair follicles growing in ever so slowly, and the results are insane, especially as the months compound on each other and I give my face the time and ingredients to heal inbetween sessions.

Here are some recent pictures of my skin in the healing process so you can get an idea of how much better sections have gotten since I started treating it this way 12 months ago:

People, including my family, have commented on how good my skin looks and my aunt even said, “Wow your skin looks really great. Keep doing whatever you’ve been doing Stac.”

The other day I walked into a coffee shop and someone held the door for me. Honestly people didn’t even give me normal social courtesies when my skin looked like it had some sort of acne scar disease, so having small normal social interactions where the other person isn’t looking at you with disgust or pity is like living in an alternate reality for me.

My past 12 months I’ve gone from completely disfigured, deeply indented pockmarked face to a relatively smooth, almost completely scar-free face.

If you want to get my step by step at-home micro-needling and copper peptide process laid out in an email feel free to sign up here or view the complete process in this post: