The fingertip test: telling an acne scar from a mark that fades on its own

Before you plan anything for acne scarring, it helps to know whether you are looking at a scar at all. A lot of what gets called scarring is flat colour a breakout left behind - and that fades on its own timeline, needs a different approach, and is a separate job from a true pitted scar.

The fingertip check

Run a clean fingertip slowly over the mark with your eyes closed. If the skin feels smooth and the mark is only something you can see, it is most likely pigment - the flat brown or red trace left once a breakout settles. If you can feel an edge or a small dip, that is a change in the skin's structure, which is what a scar actually is. Colour is one job; contour is another, and they rarely respond to the same thing.

Why a scar's shape matters more than its age

Among true pitted scars, the shape guides the technique, not how old or deep it looks to the eye. Narrow, sharp ice-pick scars, wider boxcar scars with a defined base, and soft rolling scars each behave differently - and most faces carry a mix of them. That mix is exactly why a single blanket treatment tends to disappoint.

What that means for your plan

Plans here are built scar by scar. TCA cross suits narrow ice-pick scarring, subcision with PRP suits the tethered rolling kind, and flat pigment marks are treated as their own separate question rather than lumped in. Scar remodelling is gradual, plans run over months, and results vary from person to person. Both procedures involve some downtime - short-term redness, swelling or small scabs are normal - and the risks and recovery for your skin are talked through at the consultation before anything is booked. You get an honest read on what your pattern of scarring can realistically do before you spend anything.

At a complimentary consultation your acne scarring is mapped individually, so the plan matches the mix on your skin rather than a one-size-fits-all offer.