When the skin produces too much collagen, a raised acne scar is formed. Keloids or hypertrophic scars are examples of raised acne scars. They usually occur on the chest, back, shoulders, and jaw line.

A Singaporean study conducted in 2021 showed that individuals who developed severe acne scarring displayed the following risk factors:

• Family history: genetics and family history play a huge role in acne scarring.
• Gender: males are more likely to develop acne scarring.
• Acne severity: the more severe your acne, the more likely you are to develop acne scars.
• Treatment: the longer you delay treatment the more likely you are to develop acne scars.
• Recurring acne: if your acne keeps recurring, your skin will most likely develop acne scars when healing.

Different treatments are used for the different types of acne scars, the treatment options include:

• Soft tissue fillers: injecting hyaluronic acid, fat, or other substances can help raise indented scars thereby making the scars less visible. Typically, filler injections will need to be repeated.
• Steroid injections: some types of raised scars can be improved by steroid injections.
• Dermabrasion: typically used for more severe scarring. However, some individuals may experience some rare side effects such as scarring and pigment changes.
• Needling: also known as microneedling, works by activating the production of collagen, thereby improving the appearance of acne scars.
• Botox: works best with raised acne scars. Injecting botox can improve the appearance of an acne scar. Repeat treatments are necessary.
• Chemical peel: removes the top layer of skin which helps improve the appearance of deep scars by making them appear less deep.
• Laser resurfacing: one of the most popular approaches which aims to flatten raised scars and also to stimulate collagen in the cavity of deeper acne scars.
• Energy-based devices: pulsed light sources and radiofrequency devices also aim to help make scars less noticeable.