Dealing with acne can be a lot of work, taking a huge amount of your time and money.
So when you finally do manage to control your acne, it can be very frustrating to see your skin not as perfect as you want it to be and instead be left with something just as bad as cystic acne - acne scars.
What are acne scars? Acne scarring is what happens after your spot/pimple has subsided and your skin has healed or in the process of healing.
You have to understand that getting acne puts your skin under intense pressure and your body tries its best to heal itself from it.
So when the acne is gone, the order of things your skin will possibly show is:

1. The healed skin is red or a darker colour than your "normal" skin - this is called hyperpigmentation and not actually acne scars.
   They usually fade over time but is dependent on what stage of your life you are at - I've noticed for instance that now in my 30's, this stage lasts a lot longer than when I was 18 for example.
   
2. The new skin has indentations/or is raised compared to your normal skin - this is the most common form of acne scarring and more often than not, this can be permanent unless there is some intense, external intervention such as surgery or acne scar treatments like microdermabrasion.
   

Acne + Acne Scarring = Not Fair For me, I found acne scarring almost as annoying as the cystic acne itself.
Though during the bad breakouts, I would actually prefer the scarring as the sight of acne in full eruption mode just looked disgusting.
That was probably shortsighted of me as looking over the 15+ years when I first started getting cystic acne, the acne themselves are gone and now manageable, but the acne scars it left me are still there to this day - and probably won't go anytime soon.
Many of you out there who are breaking out day after day probably feel the same - the scars is preferable to a face full of pus.
But that is completely the wrong attitude to have.
Yes, I know it's difficult but you need to think long-term.
Like cystic acne, acne scars has preventative means and treatments for when they occur.
The treatments side is outside the scope of this post and I'll probably cover that in the future but the preventative measures are things you can do right now.
These are:

• Stop picking at your acne! This is the main reason scars can get so bad.
  Picking and squeezing spots in the wrong way or at the wrong time just completely makes things worse.
  I know you can't help yourself and I know it's oddly satisfying popping a spot but speaking from experience, unless you know how to do it properly and it is at the right time, avoid it at all costs.
  
• Stop picking at your scabs! Similar to above, your body is trying to heal so why the hell are you interfering with it?
• Avoid strong sun exposure - Yes it can give you a nice tan and the sun can work pretty well at clearing acne itself but for acne scars, they can cause more skin damage so protect yourself with sun lotion or clothing.
  
• And finally...
  reducing your acne in the first place - by having less acne, you get fewer scars.
  Simple right? So that is why it is crucial getting the right cystic acne treatment for your acne right from the start.
  

The My Cystic Acne Treatment site is to focus around acne itself rather than acne scars.
Acne scars is a whole big topic in its own right so for now, let's just concentrate on managing and controlling your acne and that should reduce the amount of scarring you get from then on.