Acne red marks,

if you were only trying to get rid of them

you've been mistaken

Director Wi Young-jin, Beauty's Doctor | Beauty Stone Clinic, Hongdae

Please check this first before reading

Q. Do acne red marks

get worse if you just leave them alone?

A. No. Red marks are a sign that the skin is

recovering on its own. If you don't understand this principle,

you'll end up doing care that backfires.

Q. Are red marks and brown marks the same?

A. They are different. The cause and the approach are

completely different skin reactions.

Key points of this article

Red marks are a sign that the skin is recovering

What are acne red marks?

After inflammation

erythema (Post-Inflammatory Erythema, PIE) is

a condition in which, after acne inflammation subsides, the skin surface below

the dilated blood vessels remain and make it look red.

Many people confuse it with brown marks (PIH, hyperpigmentation),

but

PIH is melanin pigment buildup, and

PIE is a remaining vascular response, so

the treatment direction is completely different.

Red marks,

'recovering'

what does that mean?

Honestly, when I first

told this to people, most of them

"But still, shouldn't we get rid of it?"라고

ask me back.

That's a natural reaction. Because it's red and noticeable,

it feels like something is wrong.

But here's what's important.

When skin is damaged, it tries to repair itself.

In that process, it deliberately widens some blood vessels.

To quickly send oxygen, nutrients, and immune cells

to the damaged area.

Red marks are the trace of those widened blood vessels.

In other words, it's a sign that the skin is still being repaired.

The tricky part is that this raises the question,

"So should I just leave it alone?"라는

question. Half right and half wrong.

It's true that it's recovering, but whether you create an environment

that lets that recovery finish properly or

interfere with it makes a clear difference in the result.

UV rays, physical irritation, and applying the wrong ingredients

interrupt this recovery process.

Then the blood vessels stay dilated, and

the red marks eventually become fixed in place.

On the other hand, if you support recovery well, red marks will

mostly fade naturally over time.

However, in some cases it takes too long, or

self-care alone has its limits.

One thing many people misunderstand is that, for red marks,

some people exfoliate or do strong peels.

They think,

"If it's on top of the stratum corneum,

peeling it off should make it go away."

But PIE is a vascular response in the dermis

below the epidermis.

It won't be solved by peeling off dead skin.

Rather, because the skin barrier becomes weaker,

the recovery often slows down even more.

Director Wi Young-jin's Key Summary

Red marks are the result of the skin repairing damage

by dilating blood vessels.

In other words, it's not broken; it's being repaired.

If you understand this, the question changes from

"how do I get rid of it?" to "how do I help it recover?"

That difference creates the result.

Red marks,

depending on what state they're in,

the approach changes

It differs from case to case, but

I usually divide it up like this.

How recently did it appear, or has it been a long time?

Is it a broad area or a localized one?

How much of the skin barrier is still left?

Those are the three things.

If it's been less than 3 months since it appeared, UV protection and

barrier care alone can

lead to substantial natural recovery.

But that's not entirely a good thing.

While you're waiting, if acne keeps coming back and

you keep irritating the skin,

the vessels can become fixed, and even after 6 months or a year,

some cases still remain.

For those cases, we use a vascular-targeting laser, and

devices like Vbeam or Excel V

selectively shrink the dilated blood vessels themselves.

Some people say they saw no effect after 10 treatments elsewhere,

but after 2 or 3 sessions with us,

it clearly faded, and

in most cases that was because they kept repeating the same toning laser

without distinguishing whether it was PIH or PIE.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. If I apply niacinamide or

vitamin C to red marks, does it help?

Niacinamide helps strengthen the skin barrier and has

anti-inflammatory effects, so

it helps create an environment for recovery.

Vitamin C is more effective for PIH than for PIE.

If it's red marks, gentle moisturizing and UV protection come

before ingredient-focused care.

Q2. If I get laser treatment,

how many sessions until it goes away? What about the cost?

To be honest, it depends on the case.

In general, many people see a meaningful change after 2 to 4 sessions, and

rather than trying to erase it completely,

it's more realistic to aim for a natural fading

over time.

Q3. When you have red marks,

is there anything besides basic skincare you should avoid?

One thing I definitely need to tell you is to avoid scrubs,

physical exfoliation, and gommage.

PIE is a vascular response below the epidermis, so rubbing the

dead skin away won't solve it, and

it only weakens the barrier even more.

And UV rays are the biggest enemy.

They keep blood vessels dilated longer and

delay recovery.

Bringing sunscreen before going out

is more effective than any expensive serum.

This was Wi Young-jin.

Also read

• ▶Is there a dermatology clinic in Hongdae that actually treats acne properly?

• ▶Indented scars can disappear with one Curejet treatment? Why that claim is dangerous

• ▶"Will one Curejet treatment fill in all sunken scars?" What the doctor says is realistic

• ▶Before the wedding, acne scar treatment: why 6 months before the wedding is the golden time

• ▶What is Rejuran HB really good for? The doctor compares it directly for you