Growing up, you might remember adults in your life encouraging you to drink your orange juice at breakfast. Orange juice has been celebrated for decades for its potency of vitamin C— essential for immunity, skin support, hydration, and more.
But your guardians may not have told you that you can absorb vitamin C in more ways than sipping on refreshing citrus juice. Topical vitamin C incorporated into skincare products can be a boon for revitalizing the skin, clearing up acne scars, and achieving optimal skin clarity.
If you’ve been on the hunt for an easy and natural way to reduce the appearance of your acne scars, you’re in the right place. Vitamin C is one of the best vitamins for acne scars and we’re about to find out why.
The Science Behind Vitamin C
Did you know that our bodies don’t produce any vitamin C on their own?
It’s true—unlike many other plants and animals, if we want to enjoy all the virtues of vitamin C, we have to absorb it through food, beverages, and lifestyle choices.
We might have to go a bit out of our way to make sure we’re ingesting enough vitamin C, but ultimately, it’s worth it because this nutrient is incredibly vital for maintaining optimal health.
It’s so good for our well-being, in fact, that sailors used to carry citrus fruits with them on their seabound voyages so they could avoid coming down with a bad case of Scurvy, a vitamin C deficiency that causes weakness, gum disease, and skin hemorrhages.
We can intake vitamin C regularly by incorporating foods like oranges, lemons, and green leafy vegetables into our diets. But as we’ve alluded to, oral ingestion is not the only way to incorporate this essential nutrient into your lifestyle.
Topical vitamin C treatments are a popular method of addressing skin concerns like discoloration, and they work particularly well for combating acne scars.
Vitamin C is a popular ingredient in skincare products because it:
- Has strong antioxidant properties
- Helps with combating inflammation
- Helps to reduce skin redness
- Brightens skin complexion
- Evens out the skin tone
If you are looking for skin products that help remove acne scars, invest in a solution that centers around vitamin C. Depending on the severity, the acne scars can go away. However, it may take a few months for the hyperpigmentation and change in skin texture to improve.
Vitamin C and Acne Scars
Many people with acne find vitamin C to be a game-changing ingredient that helps to reduce the appearance of scars left behind by previous bouts of acne.
But before committing to any new treatment plan for your acne scars, it’s important to determine what kind of acne scarring you’re experiencing.
The three types of acne scars are:
- Atrophic – The most common type of acne scar, the atrophic scar category, is experienced by 80 to 90% of people experiencing acne. Atrophic scars are caused by the degradation of collagen fibers and appear as a sunken area or hole in the skin.
- Hypertrophic – Typically less common, these acne scars are raised in appearance instead of sunken. That’s because they result from an overgrowth of tissue instead of a destruction of tissue.
- Keloidal – Like hypertrophic scars, keloidal scars only make up a small minority of all acne scar cases. These are also thick and raised due to the production of excess tissue in the healing process.
The most important distinction between these types of acne scars comes down to one element: collagen.
Since atrophic scars are caused by a net loss of collagen, treatment methods for this type of scarring often seek to correct the loss of tissue by stimulating collagen production.
How Does Vitamin C Help Acne Scars?
Vitamin C plays an essential role in stimulating collagen production in the body and can do so for the skin as well. So if you think the acne scars on your skin may be atrophic, skincare products with vitamin C may help stimulate the extra collagen your skin needs to promote healthy skin and wound healing.
If you experience the less common case of raised acne scars, your ideal treatment may not include products that boost your collagen levels. This is because your skin condition is most likely formed by an abnormal healing process that produces too much collagen.
Instead, the journey to acne scar recovery for those with hypertrophic or keloidal raised scars may consist of evening out the skin texture and lightening any discoloration in the area of the scar. It’s best to consult with your dermatologist to determine the best and safest path forward for your unique needs.
Optimizing Your Skincare Routine with Vitamin C
One of the best things about this vitamin is that its application is not limited to one or two products.
You can infuse the rejuvenating properties of vitamin C into every step of your skin routine using a balanced combination of these trusted CLEARSTEM solutions:
- GENTLECLEAN™ Vitamin Infused Calming Wash – The first step in any effective skin care regimen is cleansing. Keeping your face clean from dead skin cells, debris, and oil helps mitigate acne, and less acne breakout episodes mean fewer acne scars. Engineered for acne-prone skin, this gentle face wash removes makeup and hydrates while it cleanses. Use it day or night to pamper your skin with goldenseal, green tea, and vitamin C.
- VITAMINSCRUB™ Antioxidant-Infused Scrub Cleanser – Routine cleansing is important, but every now and then, your pores need a good deep clean. This gentle scrub, formulated with vitamin C, green tea, and bamboo particles, removes dead skin cells and gently resurfaces the skin. The end result? A smoother, more polished complexion. Apply this product a few times per week to keep your skin as smooth as butter.
- CLEARITY – An exfoliating serum, this wonder product combines vitamin C with turmeric, an acid blend, and a specific pH balance to dissolve excess dead skin cells and oil. We recommend this treatment for individuals who experience atrophic acne scars. As we’ve mentioned, these scars result from a loss of skin tissue, and CLEARITY helps to stimulate new collagen production.
Atrophic acne scars are no match for the powerful vitamin C packed into these skincare products. No matter your skin type, you can be confident that these solutions will save the day because CLEARSTEM products are formulated to be safe for sensitive skin.
Dosages and Application: Getting Vitamin C Right
You may be thinking that chugging a big glass of orange juice or taking a vitamin C supplement every morning is the key to clear skin. However, this strategy, unfortunately, isn’t quite how it works.
Interestingly, research has found that the amount of vitamin C that our guts are capable of absorbing is limited.
This means that your body can only absorb a limited amount of vitamin C orally because our bodies can’t take full advantage of a high dosage of vitamin C when it comes in forms such as:
- Foods
- Drinks
- Medications
That said, it’s still a good idea to make sure you’re incorporating the recommended dosage of vitamin C into your diet. But even if you diligently consume this nutrient on a daily basis, you won’t be able to guarantee that it makes its way to your skin.
That’s why, for the most direct route to results, dermatologists recommend a topical application of vitamin C to treat acne and acne scars.
By all means, continue to include vitamin C in your diet—but make sure to invest in topical treatments if you want to start seeing the benefits reach your skin.
Harnessing the Power of Vitamin C for Clear, Radiant Skin
Even though it’s an all-natural remedy, a topical vitamin C product is not one of those dubious skincare fads that your friend insists you try with nothing more than an anecdote to back up their assertions.
The efficacy of this treatment method is supported by science. The powerful properties contained in vitamin C are believed to help the skin in even more ways than just addressing acne scars.
Some potential additional benefits of using a vitamin C product include:
- Slowing early skin aging
- Preventing sun damage
- Reducing wrinkles, dark spots, and acne
The bottom line: Vitamin C is a potent ingredient with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that can help to soothe acne and heal scars. If you haven’t tried working this substance into your skincare routine yet, we encourage you to give it a shot. It just might become your new go-to ingredient.
Explore Vitamin C Skincare Solutions with CLEARSTEM
Now that you know why this topical solution is so prevalent and popular in the world of skincare, give vitamin C for acne scars a try to see how well it works with your skin.
Not only does this dermatologist-trusted solution help to heal scars, but it can also fight acne, calm the skin, and brighten your complexion. Browse our selection of vitamin C skincare products to work this nutrient into your regimen and achieve brighter, smoother, more radiant skin.
Sources:
NHS. Vitamin C. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-c/
Cleveland Clinic. Scurvy. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24318-scurvy
Healthline. 11 Reasons to Add Vitamin C Serum to Your Skin Care Routine. https://www.healthline.com/health/beauty-skin-care/vitamin-c-serum-benefits
Art of Dermatology. The Different Types of Atrophic Acne Scars. https://artofdermatology.com/different-types-atrophic-acne-scars/
National Library of Medicine. Vitamin C in dermatology. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3673383/
Harvard Health. Why is topical vitamin C important for skin health? https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-is-topical-vitamin-c-important-for-skin-health-202111102635
