Hello, NPBabes! We hope you’re doing well. In our last #NPSkincareShare, we mentioned that PIH and PIE are pseudo-scars. We also touched a bit on acne scars. This week, we’d like to go in depth about true acne scars.

Acne scars refers to scarring that damages the skin tissue. They fall under 2 categories: atrophic scars or hypertrophic scars. Atrophic scars refer to scars caused by a loss of tissue while hypertrophic scars refer to scars due to an excess of tissue.

In this thread, we will be discussing about the types of acne scars, causes and possible treatments. Generally, there are four categories of acne scars: ice pick, boxcar, rolling and keloid. The first three are atrophic scars.

Ice pick scars are deep and narrow scars that occur into the dermis region of the skin. From above, the skin will look as if it has been pierced by an ice pick or a sharp object. These scars form a small, thin, deep hole into the skin and may look like an open pore.

The development of ice pick scars happens when an infection from a cyst or other deep inflamed blemish makes its path to the skin surface. Skin tissue is destroyed along the way and this leaves a column-like scar.