After I was finally rid of my adult acne, I was left with a face full of red spots where the active acne used to be. I had red spots everywhere! They were pretty noticeable, and when I’d wash my face with warm water, or scrub it with a gentle exfoliant, the spots would come out even more and it looked like I had chickenpox! When I was a teenager, I would have a red spot for about a week after a pimple went away. Well, as an adult, my red spots seemed to stay FOREVER. I had read that the spots would go away within a few months, so I started to freak out when six months had passed and they were still there! I kept reading that the red spots were not acne scars, but they started to feel like scars since they wouldn’t go away. Well, the red spots are now gone! It took about two years for them to fade completely! Two years! The good news is that they are gone, and they didn’t last forever, so they are indeed not scars. When I wash my face with warm water, I can still see faint red spots, but you can’t see them otherwise.
Post Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation is another term for these red spots. Since I have fair/medium skin, they show up red on me, but you may also see them as brown or purple, depending on your skin color. Unfortunately, I wasn’t successful in speeding up the fading process of them. I tried Mederma on them, but that didn’t do anything. I wore a strong sunscreen every day, which is important, because the sun can make the spots worse. I also tried Hydroquinone, a lightening agent, but I honestly don’t think it’s meant to lighten red spots – just brown sunspots. I also used Differin, a retinoid, every day, which I think probably helped, but not a lot.
Recently, I did have three IPL Photo Facials, which may have helped with the red spots, but the spots were pretty much gone by the time I had the treatments. I am quite curious to know if Photo Facials do help to speed up the visibility of the red spots, but I don’t have any first-hand knowledge of this. There are also acne clearing lasers that work on active acne, but whether or not they work on the red spots, I don’t know. The Palomar LuxV is what we used at my Medical Spa.
The only way I have personally been able to avoid these spots recently is to prevent breakouts completely. If you have any advice that works, let me know!!!!!!!!!!!
Get
Savvy Skin posts via email!
January 12th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Yes, I need to know how to get rid of acne scars, too. I have tons, and I don’t use makeup, so it O_O.
I wash my face with cleanser very morning & night and I apply Proactiv or Neutrogena, but pimples still appear and there’s nothing I can do about it to get rid or it PREVENT it. :( I have to just wait until the pimple becomes a scar and newer pimples appear. >_
January 18th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
I tried many products too. But nothing seemed to work. I think I have tried more than 4 products! It all started when i was in year 5. I started getting a few zits on my face. It was just a little like once in a month sort of thing. I got it all over my forehead. I was a lil piss that they appeared on my face. After year 5, I went to year 6 hoping it would go away, but, NO. It didn’t! I had more and more on my forehead. And it felt really eeeky. I then tried all this products like Tea Tree, Clearasil and Oxy. But it didn’t really work. The pimples were still there. It only went smaller in the night and a lil bigger in the day. As months passed, I was 13 years old then. That was the time where I got it ALL OVER MY FACE! Literally. I lived in missery every single day. ): Everyday, new spots appear on my face. From my forehead to my cheeks and chin. It was HUGE zits! everywhere. I had no choice. When year 7 was about to end, I really could not take it anymore. I begged the shit outta my mom to take me to see a skin specialist. They checked my face and told me to get some treatment. I went for this treatment called Iclear. It really worked! Iclear is a light where they put me under. This violet/blue light is made to kill all the acne bacteria in my face. I went for 8-10 sessions and followed every intructions given by the doc. Today, my skin is so beautiful! I don’t need to worry about washing my face or wondering when will the next eeky zit come out again! It’s all GONE FOR GOOD! I felt so free. Even when i’m stressed, no pimple will appear anymore. Soo, I’m really happy now. (:
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:45 am
is estee lauder Advance Night Repair COncentrate (have to be used in 21 days in a row) help to fade the red spot?
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Lovy,
I honestly don’t think that will work any better than anything else. What I think works best is what I wrote about in this post. Sorry I don’t have a better answer!
July 16th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
I have no answer for those of you with red spots, but…
For those of you ethnic people with brown spots, I do have an answer for you. exfoliate, exfoliate, exfoliate! I use ground coffee beans on my face just about everyday after I steam my face and BEFORE I actually use my face wash. Steam will loosen these dead skin cells (which is what these spots really are) and the coffee will slough them off. After this go to your regular face wash routine. You won’t have instant results but your skin will improve faster than bleaching (which doesn’t guarantee permanent results). Now ground coffee works for me, but most of you will probably find it way too harsh, so go ahead and use sugar instead (although I don’t know how well it works).
WARNING: exfoliating too much can cause breakouts. So either use a VERY good anti-acne facewash, or mix epsom salt into your face wash (which is what I do, and it works great).
This just works for me, use the method at your own risk!
October 6th, 2008 at 5:44 am
Hey just wanted to know, is that the Lovy that lives in Slough???????????
October 30th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I am having the same problem and thought this is due to broken capillaries after acne breakouts. The spots are hardly visible in the morning and post menses yet easily noticeable in the noon time and after exercise. Hence, I recapped this red spots most probably were due to toxin in body. Menses and good sleep can detoxify the toxin in our body. I went through Intense Pulse Light once which is quite painful but effective. I was so excited the next day to find out my face is spot-free. Now I use green base foundation to cover the red spot area to conceal it before make up. This is the cheapest way and remember to sleep at 9 pm.
April 10th, 2009 at 5:39 am
I’m now on Roccutane which my dematoligist gave me! Im in my 3rd month n havent seen any big differences but the scarring of the spots is fading, so if you really cant cope any more go to your GP and make them understand that its not fair and no one should have to suffer! Yes the side effects are horrible on this tablet but if its taken with care and not abused then the results are well worth it!! Just remeber everyone is beautiful nomatter what!!! xxxx
April 19th, 2009 at 3:43 am
i did not have any problems with my hormones and skins, and for bad luck unfortunately I listened to my Gynecologist and he just recommended to have Yasmin pills for protection. I had no experience either knowledge on these pills and listened to him.I took these pills for 14 days and I saw a big difference on my mood, weight , and especially my face. I got afraid and I stopped them and from my nerves I didn’t even called him to tell him what were the side effects on me. Now after one year of stopping taking these pills I have red-acne spots on the side of my face and very very little hair growth on the side but i notice the change because I was always clean!!!! I freak out when I see myself because I was so fool to have the pills and destroy my skin:( I followed a treatment with some creams from a Pharmacy and right now I am being under consultation of a dermatologist who recommends Laser for treatment and had 1-2 visits of it. I do see a difference but when I exercise or put hot water or in the sun you can see they are still there. Will these spots ever go away?? And will I get my hormones back to normal??Please help me!!!!x x x
May 27th, 2009 at 3:33 am
Hi friends,
I have the same exact problem of red acne spots! Thing is they are getting worse and i am really bothered by them. I was considering IPL but may I know how much is that? And how many sessions are needed? I checked the net but there are varying answeres to my questions. I am currently on differin (a little use) and i tried AZA cream (big disappointment). Someone please advise me what else I can do/ try? thank you so much! Awesome site btw (:
July 16th, 2009 at 9:24 am
For acne, I used Stevamycin. It is amazing. It does take a while to kick in, actually it took at least two months to see a reasonable change, but it does work. 100%. I still have the red spots, but hey, those while eventually fade. I have maybe 1 zit maximum now, so its at a very normal level. If you get a zit, just put stevamycin on it, and it will pretty much disappear over night.
I know that the red spots suck, but I remember what it was like having a face full of acne, and that was worse. I remember a year ago thinking how I would kill just to have half of what I did then.
For girls just use makeup.
But I only have the spots on the sides of my face so my hair covers it.
:)Remember, even though she don’t see an improvment right away, stick with it. Doctors do generally know what they are talking about. They told me the stevamycin would take six weeks. It took a lot longer. It has been five months, but once the red spots disappear, I will have perfect skin.
That’s the important thing. STICK WITH YOUR TREATMENT. Unless something awful happens. A LOT of medications make things worse at first, but IT WILL GET BETTER!!
August 2nd, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I too am suffering from adult acne which has left me with red spots as a daily reminder. The only treatment that has worked was prescribed by my dermatologist. Tetracycline, a facial pad with 2% ERY (twice a day), and Clean & Clear’s Persa-Gel 10 Maximum Strength (applied heavily before bed). The doctor told me to apply the Persa-Gel just before going to be because it can bleach your clothes. The “heavily” describes how I decided to apply the cream. After two weeks there were significant improvements. Breakouts had come to a screeching halt and the larger sized pimples were fading fast.. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do about the leftover red spots caused by the acne inflammation on my face. Time was what the dermatologist had prescribed. Nine months later the red spots are there, diminished, but still a presence. When it comes to what to do for your specific acne inflammation I do not know if what I did is right for you. A dermatologist can properly diagnose your specific condition and then prescribe a proper treatment. This is my story of how an individual is dealing with his adult acne/acne treatment.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
hi i’m chinese and my skin’s fair so the acne spots on my face are really really red! i started going for facials last year, when i was 16 and the lady who did the facials for me told me that my acne spots were due to blood clots under my skin. and that the blood clots were caused by many pimples that grew again and again on that same spot. so she used a black head remover tool and got rid of the acne spot by making it bleed. it left a scar but she said it would heal. yea it did started healing over the months. the acne spot was gone but it came back again like 2 days ago when a pimple grew on it!!!!! and there’s another acne growing on my cheek!!! it’s really huge and RED! i’m using avene’s pimple cream and its other products for my face. i apply the pimple cream to my pimples/acne every night and it works but i’m really afraid the acne spot won’t go away! anyone knows if the acne spot would stay or not with pimple cream??
September 23rd, 2009 at 8:03 pm
I have the same problem as all of you–red acne spots. One thing I’m doing that seems to work is putting aloe gel on my face before I go to bed. By aloe gel I mean the REAL THING. Asian supermarkets sell aloe leaves. I get one and slice a little bit: maybe one centimeter of it. If you take the green outer layer off you will see clear gelly inside. That is the gel. I usually scrape it off with my fingers and rub the gel on my face–mostly in the areas where my red spots are. A little bit of the aloe leaf goes a long way. After applying the aloe gel on your face you have to put lotion on your face on top of the aloe gel before it dries completely or else, as the gel dries, your face will become really tight. I usually apply Clinque dramatically different gel lotion (the iconic yellow bottle) and it’s the perfect combination: light on your face but enough moisture to ease up the tightness that is created as the aloe gel dries. If you continue this everyday for at least 3 days you will start to see the difference.
November 26th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
About three properly done ipl`s should fade your red spots completely. Assuming that the machine is in optimum working condition. Beware… there is a lot of dishonesty going on out there. After each ipl you must baby the treated area for at least seven days. During that time cleanse with, say, PCA Skin phaze 1 `facial cleanser`. It is pH balanced, and fragrance free…designed to be used after skin treatments. Make a rich foam in your hands…then gently move the foam up and down on the treated area…don`t scrub! Use LaRoche-Posay `Toleriane` skin care…if you need to. No exfoliants..No very hot water..No cortisone cream. Not using anything is OK too. Avoid the sun..and use a mineral sunscreen..like the original spf 30 one by Peter Thomas Roth. Good Luck!
January 23rd, 2010 at 5:40 am
Yes, i have the same problem. any body who could give me any answer, It is just six months since when i have this problem. Now i am afraid that whether they will be treated or not. I am really very much disappointed. any body please give me some advice. thank u. Zarine _ 20yrs