Tips to fade old acne marks, ideally fast!

[minipie]

hi all
I’ve had ongoing acne for years, kept under control with various treatments but never quite gone. I had a bad flare up a month or so ago on my neck and chest and it’s now gone but I’m left with quite a lot of brownish marks where the acne was.

I’ve got a sunny weekend away coming up and would really like to wear strappy tops and dresses and my hair up. My face makeup looks odd on my neck and chest (probably the wrong colour plus just looks unnatural!) and will just rub off on my clothes.

Is there anything that will fade the marks fast? My neck skin is quite sensitive unfortunately and gets dry and itchy with anything too harsh.

I highly recommend this: heavenskincare.com/products/dock-cream

Oh thank you for the recommendation but ouch £80 for 50ml! Maybe I could collect some dock leaves and rub them on…

There’s no true “fast” fix but you can improve how they look. For now, focus on calming and lightening gently. Niacinamide and azelaic acid are good options especially since your skin is sensitive. Avoid anything too harsh right before your trip as it can make things worse. Sunscreen is key, even on the neck and chest, otherwise the marks stay darker. For the weekend, a light body tint or sheer coverage product can help even things out.

Gradual tan will make them less obvious.

Ok thank you! I have azaelic and niacinamide but haven’t been bothering to put them on neck and chest, will give it a go.

Gradual tan, is that the moisturiser with a bit of self tan in it? Any recommendations for one that isn’t at all orange…? Haven’t used self tan in years and they all used to look a bit orange on me but I’m sure they’re better now. I agree that could be a good help here.

Bio oil ?

I swear by this one. I've used them all from expensive to cheap and this is the best colour on me and doesn't streak.

I've also found Vita Liberata body blur amazing for smoothing out areas that have discolouration (I have some scars from punch biopsies done on my chest and veins on my legs and this does a decent job on them.

Thank you, these look great! Alongside working on a more long term solution with the acids etc. Do you know if these two (the gradual tan and the blur) will come off on clothes or bedlinen?

Ingredient-wise niacinamide & tranexamic acid are the gentlest effective combination. Both are well-tolerated on reactive skin & genuinely work on post-inflammatory pigmentation. Alpha arbutin is worth adding for spot-specific marks. For coverage on the day, a body-specific tinted moisturizer in your skin tone is more natural-looking than face foundation on neck/chest. & don't forget SPF.

Ok, so I just found this lurking, I bought it for melasma but it never did that much (probably as I wasn’t that careful about avoiding the sun). Might it work for this? Wasn’t cheap so be good to find a use!