If you're african american, try asking your doctor for azealic acid. It's used most commonly to treat melasma and hyperpigmentation spots, and it's especially effective for women of color who have to avoid deeper peels.
It depends on what kind of scars you have too...If you have rolling scars or ice pick scars, while microdermabrasion and chemical peels will help with discoloration and cell turnover, these types of scars need to be treated with surgery. Rolling scars (which are generally wide and shallow and give a wavy impression on the skins surface...) are depressions in which the scar tissue has adhered to fibrous bands beneath the skins surface, and these require subcision; which is done by moving a wand beneath the skin and separating the bands from the scar tissue. It involves little down time, and is reasonably priced. It's successful roughly 80% of the time, and may need to be repeated for optimal results, but is permanent.
Ice pick scars are usually addressed with a punch technique, and I believe they're simply sutured together. Don't quote me on that.
For little pale pink scars, chemical peels and microdermabrasion techniques are often all that's required.
A temporary alternative to scar treatment is injectables. Many people choose to float their scars with fillers like restalyne, and this lasts about three to six months.
Edited:
Also, if you still have acne, there are two reasons, generally, why women get acne...A) Hormonal or B) Bacterial. If you suspect it's hormonal, which can be determined with tests provided by your doctor, it's relatively easy to treat with either medications or natural alternatives. Many women complain of acne after having a baby. For me, I didn't get hit with hormonal acne for nearly two years after having my son! Often they notice hair too, where it never was before...Very common.
If it's bacterial, there are a number of antibiotic options available. Azaelic acid does kill the P. acnes, and helps reduce inflammation. There's clindamycin and a few others, aside from B.P. Some people are also allergic B.P. (I am) and it makes their condition worse.
Accutane is a last resort, for everyone, but it is effective, because it lowers sebum production, and sebum is needed for bacterial growth.
I'd just discuss every alternative with your dermatologist...Give your medications time to do their job...
/emoticons/
