Why Picking Acne Leads to Scars
Acne happens when pores get clogged with oil, dead skin, and bacteria, causing swelling and red bumps on your skin. These bumps, like pimples or cysts, create inflammation deep in the skin’s middle layer called the dermis. Your body tries to fix this by making collagen, a protein that holds skin together, but if the damage is bad, it leaves scars.
Picking or squeezing a pimple feels good for a second because it gets rid of the white stuff inside, but it does real harm. When you squeeze, you push bacteria, pus, and oil deeper into the skin. This spreads the infection and makes inflammation worse, damaging more collagen and elastin, which are the stretchy fibers in your skin.
Your fingers and nails carry extra germs from the outside world. Picking lets those new bacteria get into the open wound, turning a small problem into a bigger infection. The skin around the pimple gets torn up too, slowing down natural healing.
Normally, without picking, the skin heals on its own over time. Inflammation calms down, and collagen fills in the spot evenly. But picking interrupts this. It rips apart the new collagen the body is building, leaving holes or dents. These become scars like ice pick scars, which are deep narrow pits, or rolling scars, where bands of scar tissue pull the skin down into waves.
The deeper the damage from picking, the worse the scar. Cysts and nodules already go deep, and squeezing makes them destroy tissue in a narrow column, like poking a hole with an ice pick. Over months, you see the mark because the skin remodels unevenly.
Hands-off healing works better. Let pimples dry out naturally or use gentle treatments. Picking raises scar risk a lot, especially if your skin heals slowly or you have bad breakouts.
Sources
https://www.kins-clinic.com/blogs/what-are-the-main-acne-scar-types-a-skin-friendly-guide-with-treatment-options
https://www.pristyncare.com/consult/acne-scars-why-do-they-form-and-what-are-the-common-causes/
https://www.london-dermatology-centre.co.uk/blog/adult-acne-scarring/
https://alivewellnessnc.com/concern/what-causes-acne-scarring/
https://rejuvadermatology.com/conditions/acne-scars-in-venice-fl/
https://www.drmarylupo.com/advanced-skin-care-new-orleans/
https://www.aesthetispa.com/blog/3-things-making-your-acne-scars-worse-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/
https://www.acne.org/skin-picking
https://www.mesoestetic.com/blog/acne-scars/
