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The Acne Guide

Active acne and the scars it leaves, treated as a specialty on every kind of skin. How each is treated, what is realistic, and what belongs with your GP. Answered by Pink's clinical team.

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Last updated September 2026 · kept current with the guide

Reviewed by Pink's clinical team 4.9 across 448 reviews · Google & Yotpo Treating every skin tone, Fitzpatrick I–VI, since 2019 Doncaster, Melbourne

Acne and the scars it can leave are two different problems on two different timelines, and Pink treats both. Active acne is calmed at the source, on skin of every tone; scarring is resurfaced and remodelled once the breakouts have settled. Neither is a single dramatic step. Both are a calibrated course, matched to your skin and the pattern in front of it.

At Pink, active acne is treated with long-pulsed Nd:YAG, peels and LED support, while scar revision draws on fractional Er:YAG, Q-Switched Nd:YAG and TCA CROSS. This guide answers what we are asked most: whether laser suits darker skin, how to tell one scar type from another, how many sessions scarring takes, and what genuinely belongs with a GP rather than a laser clinic.

Start here · The cornerstone guide
Close up portrait of a young woman with long dark hair in low light
The Acne Guide
How acne scars are treated, and what results are realistic.
Acne scar treatment is real and can meaningfully change how your skin looks, but it works in stages over months, not overnight. Here's how Pink actually treats rolling, boxcar and icepick scars, and an honest answer to whether scarring can ever fully disappear.
Read the guide →
The treatment behind this guide
Acne & Acne Scars
Pink's approach to active acne and acne scarring, calibrated to your skin and every Fitzpatrick type. Located in Doncaster, Melbourne.
View treatment & pricing → Book a free consult

Reading in this guide

The questions we're asked most, answered properly, one at a time.

Woman adjusting her sunglasses in bright daylight
The Acne Guide
Do you need a dermatologist for acne or scars? The honest answer.
Some acne and scarring needs a doctor first, no question. Some of it is squarely a laser clinic's lane, no referral required. Here's exactly where that line falls, stated plainly, so you can start...
9 min read
Close up portrait of a woman with blue eyes and bare natural skin
The Acne Guide
Icepick scars. Why they're the hardest, and what actually reaches them.
Icepick scars are narrow, deep and shaped like puncture tracks rather than broad depressions, which is why generic scar treatments so often do nothing visible for them. Here's the structural reason why, and why...
8 min read
Woman with eyes closed in warm sunlight indoors
The Acne Guide
How long does acne scar treatment take, and how many sessions?
Most acne scar treatment runs to roughly 4 to 8 sessions across several months, though the exact number depends on your scar type and its severity. There's no single figure that applies to everyone....
8 min read
Portrait of a woman with deep skin tone in a brown linen shirt against a neutral background
The Acne Guide
Acne scars on darker skin. What's safe, and how the marks are managed.
Icepick, rolling, boxcar and hypertrophic scars each need different handling on Fitzpatrick IV-VI skin, because darker skin carries a genuinely different risk profile for every energy-based treatment. Here's what changes by scar type, why...
10 min read
Woman in a cream blazer and black cap, minimal portrait
The Acne Guide
Which acne scar is it. Icepick, rolling, boxcar and hypertrophic, told apart.
Acne scars aren't one thing. Icepick scars are narrow and deep, rolling scars are broad and undulating, boxcar scars have sharp defined edges, and hypertrophic scars sit raised within the original mark. Most people...
8 min read
Portrait of a woman with platinum blonde wavy hair, close and natural
The Acne Guide
Isotretinoin and laser. What you can and can't do before, during and after.
If you're currently on isotretinoin, or you've recently finished a course, laser is a genuine question worth asking, and there is a real, honest reason clinics approach the timing with more care. Here's what...
6 min read
Profile of a woman in swimwear with water droplets on her shoulders and back
The Acne Guide
Back, chest and shoulder acne. Does laser work beyond the face?
Laser for active acne isn't a face-only treatment. Pink's long-pulsed Nd:YAG protocol also treats the back and buttocks, using the same gland-calming mechanism that treats facial breakouts, with body skin and treatment areas calibrated...
4 min read
Profile of a woman with long dark hair, serene expression, skin lit from the side
The Acne Guide
Comedonal or inflammatory. How to tell your acne apart, and what each needs.
Comedonal acne is clogged pores without inflammation: blackheads and whiteheads, flat or barely raised. Inflammatory acne is red, raised, sometimes painful papules and pustules, where the immune system has joined in. Most people have...
8 min read
Woman wearing layered necklaces in natural sunlight, face turned to the light
The Acne Guide
Adult acne after 25. Why it starts late, and how treatment differs from teen acne.
Acne after 25 isn't just teenage acne that overstayed its welcome. It tends to sit in a different place on the face, respond to different triggers, and leave different marks behind. Here's an honest...
7 min read
Woman in a white shirt and layered gold necklaces, jawline and neck in soft light
The Acne Guide
Hormonal acne on the jawline. What Pink can do, and what belongs with your GP.
Jawline acne that flares before your period has a hormonal driver, and that driver is genuinely a GP or endocrinologist's territory, not a laser clinic's. What Pink can do is treat the visible inflammatory...
8 min read
Profile of a woman with deep skin tone in soft shadow lighting
The Acne Guide
Acne on darker skin. Why the wavelength you're treated with matters.
Acne treatment for Fitzpatrick IV-VI skin is not a smaller version of the standard protocol. Melanin absorbs many of the same wavelengths lasers use to treat acne, which is why device choice and calibration...
7 min read
Close up of a woman's face in natural light, skin clear and unretouched
The Acne Guide
Laser for active acne. What it does, and what it doesn't.
Laser can calm active breakouts by working on the overactive gland and the inflammation around it, not by killing bacteria outright. It's a genuine modifier for inflammatory acne, best paired with peels or LED,...
7 min read
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