Concealing Acne Scars

Many safe and effective treatments exist for acne. Mild cases of acne can often be treated with over the counter medications. Most forms of acne can be controlled with prescription medications and advanced treatments within a few months. While you are getting your acne under control, it is useful to understand the various ways to conceal your acne scars.

It is not productive to tell acne sufferers that they should be less concerned about their looks. Adding guilt to a bad situation does not help. For many good reasons, individuals may be interested in improving their appearance. Obsessive concern with what others think of your appearance or superficial vanity is not healthy. A desire to look your best, however, is a healthy desire.  Having a confident inner self is another valid reason to try and conceal your acne scars.

Treating acne scars for women is both easier and more challenging. Women are often judged more often on their looks, which makes concealing acne more challenging.  The good news, however, is that women have more tools at their disposal to cover acne scars. Cosmetics and makeup is often a good choice to conceal acne.

The first thing to look for is makeup labeled 'non-comedogenic'. Mild acne such as blackeads and whiteheads are often referred to as ‘Comedones.'. Non-comedogenic makeup is designed to minimize the clogging of pores.  Clogged pores are one of the major causes of acne.

Using concealer is often the first line of defense. Many forms of mild acne can be well covered.  Oftentimes, concealer is all that is needed to cover redness from burst pimples and cysts.   Concealer and be easily applied with a disposable sponge.  One thing to to avoid with concealer is overdoing it. When the concealer dries, you don’t want a heavy caked on appearance.

To blend your tones together, you should use a good foundation. As with concealer, you should not use too much to conceal your acne scars. You want to avoid looking like your face has been painted with beige latex. The key to using foundation effectively is to blend it in well.  Covering foundation with an even, overall key can help mask blemishes very well.

Another way that foundation helps is by producing a softer skin tone because it makes the skin surface less reflective. As with good photography, good lighting can help lessen the appearance of skin blemishes because the contrast produced by skin bumps is minimized. Foundation can help you achieve a soft, silky look.

Finally, the use of a light powder to finish can help you achieve the most benefits. Powder will reduce contrast, reduce shadows and even out color tones.

The challenge with concealing acne in men is that they don’t typically wear makeup.  Specially prepared products for men, however, are very good at concealing acne scars.   Many over the counter medications use compounds similar to make up that help cover acne.  Also, there are makeup products that are specially prepared for men.  Most makeup products for men are more subtle than women’s makeup.  These products are less noticeable which also hampers their ability to conceal acne.  Many men do find that they work effectively.

You should remove all acne concealing products before you go to bed.  To remove most products you should gently wash the areas with a mild cleanser, followed by any medications you are applying.  And remember, the best acne concealer of all is elimination.