Acne is not one condition. Hormonal acne along the jaw, inflammatory acne across the cheeks and comedonal acne on the forehead can appear in the same person, and each answers to something different.
This is why a treatment that transformed a friend's skin may do nothing for yours. It is not that it failed; it is that it was aimed at a different problem.
Marks left behind are a separate question again. Red marks fade on their own with time and sun protection. Brown marks are pigmentation and need treating as pigmentation. Indented scars are structural and need resurfacing, no cream reaches them.
The order matters: settle the active acne first, then treat what it left. Resurfacing skin that is still breaking out is treating a moving target.
Associate Professor Dr. Lubna Rani Faysal
MBBS (Gold Medalist), FCPS (Dermatology), MHPE · 13 years in dermatology
