How to Use Biofeedback to Treat Acne Scars

While topical creams and antibiotics are common traditional therapies for treating acne, many believe that mental and emotional stresses not only trigger acne breakouts, they can inhibit healing of scars. Because stress triggers the release of chemicals in the body that spur outbreaks, relaxation therapies such as biofeedback can be an effective approach to treating acne and their resulting scars.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Speak with a cognitive behavior therapist about how treatment may help to improve your acne problem as well as scarring. It may require an initial session to discuss your history and mental and emotional states to determine whether this form of treatment is right for you.

2. Participate in biofeedback training that will use guided imagery while you are connected to an EKG or EMG machine to monitor body reactions during treatment. Guided imagery will help you to form mental pictures that in turn promote positive emotional and physical effects, helping you to learn to control stress and anxiety that inhibit the healing of your body and trigger acne breakouts.

3. Learn how to relax your body and reduce stress in your daily life after repeated biofeedback sessions. By calming the mind and body on a regular basis, you will reduce the release of toxins causing your outbreaks and begin to see visible changes in the speed your body heals acne scars.

Tips & Warnings

• Continue your regular acne treatments, such as cleansers, topical creams and antibiotic treatments until you begin to see visible results from biofeedback. Because healing the mental and emotional causes of acne breakouts can take time, it is important to have patience; however, with time you will find that you can reduce or even eliminate your standard treatments.