Treating Acne and Acne Scarring
Treating acne and acne scarring is one of my favorite transformations to be a part of. Having been a long-time acne sufferer, who went on TWO rounds of Accutane twenty years ago, I get how personal, how depressing, and how much acne can kill your self-esteem. To those who can have acne and still rock their confidence, my hats off to you.
Over the past 20 years I’ve tried just about every treatment, every product line, and every suggestion a dermatologist dolled out, and yet, I kept breaking out. It wasn’t until I got on the Face Reality products that things truly, and finally, started to change! For those on Face Reality, you know the magic of this line.
A huge reason so many acne products don’t work is that there might be one ingredient in the entire routine that is hindering full clearing. Not to mention you trying to guess what combinations will work best for your skin type and acne type. I think the media, marketing, and influencers have given society this misconception that this one product will be the answer and they can self-treat. It’s wild for any of us to be experts in a field we don’t know much about. If I found out I had cancer I wouldn’t just do a bunch of research, go to the pharmacy and start pulling drugs to treat it. Obviously, that’s an extreme example but that’s basically the mentality marketing has put into the public. What if you’re a lawyer, accountant, or nurse - I could 100% not do any of those jobs unless I went through training. And that’s what estheticians do for you and your skincare goals.
Having also gone through the Face Reality Acne Program, I learned so much beyond what school taught, and having been in the field for years you begin to become familiar with skin types and what will work, along with expectations.
Our clients get the best results when they trust the process, from product suggestions to a treatment path. We see people clear their acne time and time again using this path, but get that you’ve most likely already put your trust in a dermatologist, treatments or products with little to no results. We’ve collected all the right products and treatments to get acne under control and then the fun (but also the long part) is cleaning up the acne pigment and pitting.
So, where do you start in treating your acne? Scheduling the acne consultation is step one. This will give us time to dig into your lifestyle, diet, products, skin type, and acne type. This is always an interesting discovery process to uncover what you might be noshing on in your daily diet that is flaring up your acne. When you make internal and external modifications to get the acne, inflammation, and bacteria under control, you get the quickest results.
Secondly, we will select a homecare routine specific to your acne type and skin type. Treating acne is NOT a one size fits all but that’s sadly how it can be treated. I see new clients come in frustrated after trying tretinoin, and spironolactone, but keep breaking out. Those can help but you need to also look at what ingredients are in your face wash, moisturizer, SPF and ADD ingredients to address the bacteria, fungus, and inflammation associated with acne. Not to mention, you have to treat inflamed and non-inflamed acne differently. I’m meticulous about every ingredient recommended for acne because you have to be when it comes to treating it.
Now that you know what might be triggering your acne based on diet and lifestyle and you have an appropriate home care routine, we can set a treatment plan. The first task is to get the active acne under control. Our two favorite options for this is the Face Reality Acne Peel or the AdvaTX laser. You can also book these the same day as your acne consultation. It’s best to be seen every two weeks for either the laser or the acne peel to extract congestion, control bacteria, brighten pigment, repair the tissue and also adjust your homecare routine. Small adjustments to your homecare routine will keep pushing your skin to clear, without overwhelming it.
The Face Reality chemical peel contains a varying strength of TCA to exfoliate outer layers of skin to reduce acne, signs of aging, fine lines, and uneven pigmentation; Mandelic Acid that has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and anti-fungal properties, improves the appearance of pigmentation; Lactic Acid that is hydrating, exfoliating, and reduces pigmentation; Azelaic Acid which Inhibits tyrosinase activity to reduce pigmentation, anti-bacterial, anti-free radical; and Kojic Acid which inhibits melanin production by inhibiting tyrosinase, provides gradual and continual skin lightening to relieve skin discolorations.
AdvaTX works by targeting the p.acne bacteria itself, the vascular component to active lesions, and the underlying oil production by the sebaceous glands. ADVATx employs a multi-pronged approach to reducing active acne, scarring AND pitting! You'll notice a 25% - 40% reduction of acne with each treatment and softening of scars and texture within a few weeks. The laser will provide quicker results as well as more benefits to the dermal tissue over the acne peels but they are both excellent options. You can also combine the laser and the peel in one treatment for maximum benefits.
We can typically have acne controlled in about 3 months following the above steps. Once the active acne is in a good spot we can start incorporating treatments like microneedling, the VI Peel, and Tixel for additional scarring and texture removal. It’s a journey but it’s a journey worth going down if you’ve been struggling with acne.
I never get sick of hearing about the newfound confidence my clients experience when they don’t feel the need to wear makeup to hide their acne and actually feel good in their skin. It’s something I take so seriously because I was there for so many years of my life.
So, if you live in Denver or the surrounding area, we’d love to help you with your acne or your acne scarring by treating you with compassion, and empathy and devoting our time together to build the right routine and treatment path to get it under control.
Start by scheduling an acne consultation ($50) and if you’re excited to set started you can also add-on the acne peel ($90), AdvaTX ($250), or the acne peel + AdvaTX combo ($300). It’s an investment, but one worth going down if you’ve tried everything.