Let’s talk acne scars—because honestly, they can sometimes be more frustrating than having acne itself. The good news? Your skin has an amazing ability to heal itself, especially when you’re giving it the right support from within. While deep, textured scars (like ice pick or boxcar scars) often need professional treatments, milder scarring and hyperpigmentation can fade with the right nutrients and habits. Whichever type of acne scars you’ve got, just know there a lot of things you can do to clear your skin and clear those acne scars for good.

We’ll run through all the internal and topical treatments to help you clear your acne scars. And if your acne is still active, these tips will also help reduce the risk of scarring in the first place.

The different types of acne scars

There are different types of acne ‘scars,’ and not all of them are true scars. Here’s a quick breakdown:

• Textured scars – These are the classic acne scars that leave the skin looking uneven or pitted. Once these form, topical treatments help, but professional treatments like microneedling and lasers will give the best results.
• Post-inflammatory erythema or hyperpigmentation (PIE/PIH) – These are those annoying red or dark marks that stick around after a breakout. They aren’t scars, but they can take ages to fade. Hyperpigmentation happens when the skin produces too much melanin after inflammation, leaving behind dark spots. Again, not a true scar, but it can take a while to disappear.

The good news? PIE and hyperpigmentation will clear up on their own with time. The better news? You can totally speed up the process with the right nutrition and skincare!

How to help clear acne scars with food

1. Feed Your Skin the Right Nutrients!

Your skin needs certain vitamins and minerals to heal properly. Here are the main things it needs on a regular basis through food:

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is super important for proper skin cell turnover, aiding healing and supporting the immune system. If you’re using a retinol serum, you’re basically applying a form of vitamin A topically—but you also need to get it from food to support your skin from the inside out. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble nutrient, meaning we need to eat some fat to help with its absorption.

Best food sources: Liver, eggs, and brightly coloured fruits & veggies (carrots, sweet potatoes, bell peppers).

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is actually a hormone that plays a huge role in immune function, inflammation control, and skin barrier repair. The main way we get vitamin D is from the sun. But, you might be based in the UK like me, meaning we don’t get the strongest amount of sun, reducing how much vitamin D we can make naturally. Also, sitting in the sun for hours trying to top up your vitamin D levels might not be the safest way to do it. So I would recommend doing a vitamin D test and supplementing accordingly.

Best sources: Sunlight, plus small amounts in salmon, eggs, and mushrooms.

Vitamin C

You see vitamin C in all the fancy skincare products, but getting enough from your diet is just as important. It helps build collagen, support the immune system, reduces inflammation and helps with skin healing.

Best food sources: Citrus fruits, strawberries, kiwis, bell peppers, spinach.

Bonus tip: If you’re getting microneedling, making sure your vitamin C intake is solid will help you get the best results!

Zinc

It’s been found that people with acne often have lower zinc levels. Zinc helps calm inflammation, fights bacteria, and supports wound healing—aka everything your skin needs post-breakout.

Best sources: Oysters (most people don’t eat these on a daily basis), meat, pumpkin seeds, chickpeas, and mushrooms.

Iron – Only If You Need It!

If you’re anaemic, low iron levels can slow down healing because your skin isn’t getting enough oxygen. But don’t just start supplementing—because your skin won’t heal. You need to test your levels first. If you take iron when you don’t need it, it can cause your levels to go too high. This can trigger inflammation and oxidative stress, which is going to slow down healing instead of speeding it up.

Best food sources: Red meat (most easily absorbed), apricots, spinach, and legumes.

Bonus tip: If you combine iron-rich foods with vitamin C rich foods, you’ll help with the absorption of iron.

Protein – The Building Block of Skin

Your skin is literally made of protein. As well, protein is essential for the immune system and repairing wounds (like acne breakouts). So if you’re not getting enough, your skin can’t heal properly. Aim for high-quality protein at every meal!

Best sources: Meat, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, and legumes. Vegans/vegetarians? A protein powder might help fill the gaps!

Can your lifestyle habits help clear acne scars?

2. Lifestyle Habits That Help Your Skin Heal

Diet is only part of the equation—your lifestyle also plays a huge role in how quickly your skin repairs itself.

Exercise

Exercise boosts circulation, meaning more oxygen and nutrients reach your skin. It also reduces stress, which is a big deal because stress breaks down collagen and affects how well our immune system functions (not what we want when we’re trying to heal the skin!).

Sleep

I’m not saying sleeping is going to clear all your acne scars. But if you’re currently having treatments for your acne scars, you want to make sure you’re prioritising your sleep. Your skin does most of its repair work while you sleep. Poor sleep = slower healing, and a weaker skin barrier. Aim for 7-9 hours of good-quality sleep each night.

Stress Management

While acute stress doesn’t cause huge issues, long-term stress does. Long-term stress can decrease levels of nutrients which are important for skin health and healing, including zinc, vitamin C and v vitamins! As well, chronic stress can affect the immune system, which can slow healing and even lead to more breakouts. Deep breathing, yoga, journaling, or even just taking a walk outside can make a difference!

Topical Treatments for acne scars

Even though nutrition is key for supporting skin health and reducing the risk of scarring. Topical treatments are what will really help you clear those true, textured acne scars. Relying on nutrition and supplements a lot won’t be enough to give you the skin results you want.

The important thing with topical treatments for acne scarring is that your active acne needs to have cleared before you can move on to scar treatments. For textured scars, professional treatments like microneedling, laser therapy, or chemical peels work best. If you go this route, supporting your skin with a nutrient-rich diet will help you heal faster and get better results. If you’re not sure where to start, getting professional advice is always a good idea. And make sure the skin practitioner is qualified to be doing the treatments you want. These treatments shouldn’t be cheap. Double-check people’s experiences, qualifications and the devices they’re using. I love SkinPen for microneedling.

Healing acne scars isn’t an overnight thing (I wish), but with the right nutrition, lifestyle habits, and skincare, you can absolutely speed up the process. If you’re still dealing with active acne, these same principles will help prevent future scarring, too.

And remember—your skin will heal! Give it the love (and nutrients) it needs, and you’ll start seeing progress before you know it.