Does Vitamin C Help Acne and Acne Scars?

You might sip a glass of fresh orange juice with breakfast from time to time. Or maybe you enjoy a sweet tangerine as your afternoon snack. And while those doses of vitamin C could possibly boost your immune system, you’re likely not expecting any miracles in the acne department.

But what if there were a different form of vitamin C—one that could have an impact on your skin, its smoothness, and its luminosity? 

Let us introduce you to l-ascorbic acid, a topical form of vitamin C that’s used in a variety of skincare products. With the right dosage and consistent use, products containing l-ascorbic acid may help improve acne and even diminish the appearance of acne marks and acne scars.

In this article, we’re breaking down all the potential benefits of vitamin C for acne and acne scars to answer the question does vitamin C help acne?

Benefits of Vitamin C for Acne

Before we lay out the possible benefits of vitamin C for acne scars, it’s helpful to get a lay of the (bumpy) land that is acne.

Acne is one of the most common skin conditions in the United States. It often occurs when your hair follicles become blocked with dead skin and sebum [1], an oil that your sebaceous glands secrete to keep your hair and skin moisturized. If those glands create too much sebum, it’s easy for your pores to become clogged and create acne.

There are two main types of acne:

• Inflammatory acne – This type of acne consists of papules, pustules, nodules, and cysts [2]. Papules and cysts contain a pus-filled center, while pustules and nodules have a hardened interior [3]. In addition to dead skin cells and sebum, most forms of inflammatory acne [4] also contain bacteria, which often makes it more challenging to treat.
• Non-inflammatory acne – Unlike inflammatory acne, this type of acne doesn’t typically contain bacteria, so you won’t normally notice swelling. Non-inflammatory acne consists of whiteheads and blackheads and is generally easier to treat than inflammatory acne.

If you follow our acne face map, you’ll learn how connected our internal health is to our external appearance. 

Because of vitamin C’s anti-inflammatory properties and potential to help your body generate more collagen, its topical form can be found in a variety of skincare products, from acne-fighting night creams to scar-improving serums. In fact, within the skincare industry, vitamin C is a vital ingredient to achieving healthy skin [5]. 

Although studies are still ongoing, vitamin C appears to be able to soothe inflammation, improve the appearance of acne scars, and reduce hyperpigmentation.

Soothing Inflammation

Because vitamin C is an antioxidant, it contains anti-inflammatory agents that may reduce the unpleasant inflammation symptoms associated with acne. For example, one study showed that 61% of patients who used a lotion containing vitamin C for 12 weeks experienced significant improvement in their acne-prone skin [7].

Improving the Appearance of Acne Scars

• The severity of your acne
• If you have or had cystic acne
• If you’ve had acne for a long time
• If you’re genetically predisposed to acne
• If you pick your lesions and they worsen

There are two main types of acne scars you’re likely to experience, and they include [9]:

• Atrophic scars – These are the most common acne scars, also known as pock marks. They appear as depressions or pits in the skin. They form when your body isn’t able to produce an adequate amount of collagen to replace the damaged acne tissue.
• Hypertrophic scars – Unlike their predecessor, hypertrophic scars occur when your body is trying to heal the acne and produces too much collagen in the affected area. The result is usually pink, raised areas of skin.

Working to diminish the appearance of your acne scars can feel like a full-time job. Although it may be discouraging, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

In addition to incorporating products that use ingredients like salicylic and glycolic acid (which work to exfoliate dead skin cells and reveal fresh skin cells underneath), you may also benefit from adding a vitamin C product to your skincare set [10]. 

This is especially true if you have hypertrophic scarring. While the pits occur because of a lack of collagen, vitamin C may be able to improve your scars’ appearance by way of promoting collagen synthesis [11].

This is because collagen is one of the proteins responsible for giving structure to your skin [12]. If vitamin C can help your body produce more collagen in areas where you’re lacking, it has the potential to help build new layers of skin there, resulting in a more smooth and radiant complexion.

Reducing Hyperpigmentation

Using products that contain vitamin C may reduce the appearance of your dark spots by inhibiting tyrosinase, an enzyme that produces melanin. With a slower production of melanin [14], you could be less likely to experience new instances of hyperpigmentation.

Vitamin C may also act as a natural brightening agent, which could gradually lighten the current shade of your dark spots without altering your natural color or skin tone [15]. 

Advantages of Using Topical Vitamin C for All Skin Types

Of course, topical application forms of vitamin C can offer potential benefits for users of all skin types, not just users with acne-prone skin. These benefits can include increased sun protection and reduced appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. 

Increased Sun Protection

When used on its own, sunscreen can help:

• Slow down signs of aging (think: fine lines and wrinkles)
• Lower your chances of getting a sunburn
• Decrease your risk of skin cancer

However, when you add vitamin C to the mix, some of your sunscreen’s protective benefits can become doubly powerful, as vitamin C can support. This may further prevent photoaging in the form of wrinkles and hyperpigmentation.

Reduced Appearance of Fine Lines and Wrinkles

However, there’s no shame in wanting to retain a youthful glow, and thanks to vitamin C’s potential to boost collagen production, it may be able to diminish the appearance of some of those laugh lines (although you’ll always keep the memories that made them). 

Good Sources of Vitamin C

Whether you’re trying to decrease the length of a cold or you’re looking for an elixir to improve the quality of your skin, there are numerous ways to get your daily dose of 75 to 90 milligrams of vitamin C. Let’s explore some of the various sources of vitamin C within food and skincare products.

In Food

• Broccoli
• Strawberries
• Cantaloupe
• Tomatoes

In Skincare Products

You can find vitamin C in a variety of skincare products, including creams, serums, and moisturizers. There are three main forms of vitamin C that labs include in their formulas:

• L-ascorbic acid (LAA) – This is the most widely studied (and commonly used) type of vitamin C found in skincare products.
• Magnesium ascorbyl phosphate (MAP) – Although not used as frequently as LAA, this type of vitamin C is more stable and has a longer shelf life.
• Ascorbyl-6-palmitate – Similar to MAP, ascorbyl-6-palmitate is a more stable form of vitamin C than LAA.

Find Your Perfect Skincare Routine with PROVEN

If you’re dealing with acne, introducing vitamin C into your skincare routine may soothe inflammation, provide relief, and help improve the appearance of acne scars—and its benefits don’t end there no matter your personal skin type. Whether you have dry skin, oily skin, or sensitive skin the vitamin’s antioxidant and collagen-boosting properties can also help protect all types of skin types from sun damage and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. 

Skin health is important. If you think your skincare routine could use a daily dose of vitamin C, PROVEN can help make it happen. 

At PROVEN, we offer an effective 3-step skincare system customized with the natural ingredients your skin needs to be the best version of itself. Simply take our 3-minute skincare quiz, and our experienced dermatologists will get to work developing your personalized facial cleanser and daily moisturizer with SPF that can measure the right dose of vitamin C to rejuvenate your skin. 

Jumpstart your journey to radiant skin by taking our skin quiz today.