Compare all scar types

Acne scars

Mostly depressions: ice pick (narrow, under 2 mm), boxcar (sharp-walled, 1.5 to 4 mm) and rolling (over 4 mm, sloped and tethered). Raised acne scars occur too, usually on the chest, shoulders and jawline.

Burn scars

Wide and irregular, often raised, red and tight, with altered pigment and no sweat or oil glands. Can tighten into a contracture across a joint.

C-section scars

A low transverse line along the bikini line, sometimes with a shelf or overhang where the skin sits tethered under a fold of fat. Vertical incisions are less common and face more tension.

Chickenpox scars

Round, punched-out pits, often 5 to 10 mm across, and more uniform in shape than acne scarring.

Contracture scars

A tight band or sheet of scar across a joint or a wide area, visibly pulling the skin and limiting how far it moves.

Hypertrophic scars

Raised, firm and often red or itchy, but it stays inside the border of the original wound. If it has spread beyond that border it is a keloid.

Keloid scars

Raised, firm and often red or itchy, and it pushes past the border of the original wound into healthy skin. That border is what separates it from a hypertrophic scar.

Stretch marks

Thin linear bands, red or purple when new (striae rubra), pale and slightly sunken once mature (striae alba).

Surgical and incision scars

A line, usually flat and pale once mature. The problem versions are raised, widened, depressed, tethered, or spreading past the incision.

Acne scars

An inflamed follicle ruptures into the dermis and too little collagen is laid down to replace what was lost. Atrophic scars affect 80% to 90% of people with permanent acne scarring.

Burn scars

Heat destroys the dermis, and signaling proteins including TGF-beta 1 and interleukin-6 drive fibroblasts into myofibroblasts. Risk climbs sharply once healing runs past 14 to 21 days. Between 30% and 90% of survivors develop some pathological scarring.

C-section scars

An incision through skin, fat, fascia and muscle, each layer healing at its own pace, in a part of the body that never stops moving.

Chickenpox scars

Varicella inflammation destroys collagen in the dermis, and scratching or secondary infection deepens the damage. Between 7% and 18% of people develop permanent pits, around 40% of them on the face.

Contracture scars

A large area of skin is lost, usually to a burn, or a wound crosses a joint. The healing scar keeps contracting and pulls the edges together.

Hypertrophic scars

Collagen production that does not switch off, usually driven by tension across the healing wound. Hypertrophic scarring follows 40% to 70% of surgeries and up to 91% of burns.

Keloid scars

Collagen production that does not switch off. Keloid tissue can produce up to 20 times the collagen of normal skin. Keloids cluster on the chest, shoulders and earlobes and are far more common in darker skin tones.

Stretch marks

Skin stretched faster than the dermis can adapt, during pregnancy, rapid weight change or growth spurts. The mechanical stress ruptures elastic fibers and degrades collagen.

Surgical and incision scars

The dermis is cut through and fills with collagen. Tension across the incision, wound complications and body location decide how it settles.

Acne scars

Pits are permanent without treatment. The red and brown marks around them are pigment and blood vessels, not lost structure, and usually fade over 6 to 12 months.

Burn scars

Scarring peaks around 6 months. Maturation takes 12 to 18 months, and some scars remodel for up to 2 years.

C-section scars

Topicals start once the incision is fully closed, usually 10 to 14 days. Full maturation takes 12 to 24 months.

Chickenpox scars

Discoloration usually fades over 3 to 12 months. The pit is permanent without treatment, and decades-old scars still respond.

Contracture scars

Risk is highest while the scar is still active, in the first 12 to 18 months and sometimes up to 2 years. Untreated, it can fix a joint in position.

Hypertrophic scars

They appear at 4 to 8 weeks and often flatten by 12 to 18 months without treatment.

Keloid scars

Keloids take 3 to 12 months to appear, about 20% after a year, and rarely regress on their own.

Stretch marks

Red and purple marks fade toward pale over time. Mature white marks are stable and do not resolve on their own.

Surgical and incision scars

About 50% of normal tensile strength at 6 weeks and about 80% at 3 months. Full maturation takes 12 to 18 months.

Acne scars

Fractional CO2 laser and microneedling. TCA CROSS for ice pick scars, subcision and fillers for rolling scars. Retinoids for pigment and shallow texture. Creams cannot reach a deep pit.

Burn scars

Silicone and pressure garments while the scar is active, fractional CO2 for thickness and stiffness, pulsed dye laser for redness and itch, massage for pliability.

C-section scars

Silicone for color and thickness. Massage and myofascial work for tethering. Fractional laser, microneedling and steroid injection. Surgical revision for structural problems.

Chickenpox scars

TCA CROSS is the most studied option. Microneedling, Er:YAG and fractional CO2 laser have supporting data. Subcision with suction for tethered pits.

Contracture scars

Positioning, stretching and splinting early. Fractional CO2 laser for pliability. Surgical release (Z-plasty, W-plasty, grafts, flaps) once skin length is gone.

Hypertrophic scars

Silicone first, with pressure therapy for large or burn scars. Steroid injection for thick scars that are not settling. Pulsed dye laser for redness that persists.

Keloid scars

Intralesional corticosteroid injection first, plus silicone. Then pressure therapy, 5-FU, cryotherapy and pulsed dye laser. Excision only when combined with radiotherapy or another adjuvant.

Stretch marks

Modest improvement at best. Microneedling has randomized evidence behind it, vascular laser fades the early red phase only, emollients do little. Nothing removes them.

Surgical and incision scars

Silicone from the moment the wound is fully closed, plus daily SPF 30 or higher. Pulsed dye laser for redness, fractional CO2 for texture, steroid injection if it thickens.

Acne scars

The scar itself does not come back. New scars form with each new inflammatory breakout, which makes acne control part of the treatment.

Burn scars

Scars commonly relapse if garments or silicone stop early. New burn skin also stains permanently with UV exposure.

C-section scars

Low. Numbness and internal adhesions can persist and are treated as separate problems from the visible line.

Chickenpox scars

None. Once chickenpox has resolved the scar is stable and will not spread or return.

Contracture scars

Meaningful. Surgery exchanges the scar for a thinner, more flexible one, and the new scar can tighten again if therapy stops early.

Hypertrophic scars

Low, and many improve slowly without any treatment.

Keloid scars

High, with 45% to 100% recurrence after excision alone.

Stretch marks

New marks appear with the next period of rapid stretching. Existing marks do not recur.

Surgical and incision scars

Low unless you are keloid-prone. Revision surgery exchanges one scar for another and normally waits for the first to mature.