Acne: What It Is, Causes & Treatment

Acne is a chronic, inflammatory skin condition resulting in whiteheads, blackheads, pimples, cysts, and nodules. The skin condition may scar the skin depending on the severity of the acne.

Your skin has tiny holes called pores, which can become blocked by oil, bacteria, dead skin cells, and dirt. When this occurs, you may develop a pimple. If your skin is repeatedly affected by this condition, you may have acne

 

The causes of acne are:

1. Linked to the changes that take place as young people mature from childhood to puberty.
2. Male hormones cause physical maturation also cause the sebaceous (oil) glands of the skin to produce more oil.
3. The oil causes the cells from the follicular lining to shed more rapidly and stick together, forming a plug at the hair follicle opening.
4. Bacteria grow in the mixture of oil and cells in the follicle. These bacteria make chemicals that stimulate inflammation and cause the wall of the follicle to break.

The sebum, bacteria, and shed skin cells spill into the skin causing redness, swelling, and pus – a pimple.

 

Symptoms of Acne

Acne can be found almost anywhere on your body. It most commonly develops on your face, back, neck, chest, and shoulders.

If you have acne, you will typically notice pimples that are white or black in appearance. Both blackheads and whiteheads are known as comedones.

While whiteheads and blackheads are the most common lesions seen in acne, other types can also occur. Inflammatory lesions are more likely to cause scarring of your skin:

1. Papules are small red, raised bumps caused by inflamed or infected hair follicles.
2. Pustules are small red pimples that have pus at their tips.
3. Nodules are solid, often painful lumps beneath the surface of your skin.
4. Cysts are large lumps found beneath your skin that contain pus and are usually painful.

 

Treatment:

• Wash your face with soap and warm water atleast twice a day.
• Shampoo your hairs 3-4 times/week Applying creams, gels or lotions containing Vit.
• A derivatives, Benzoyl peroxide, antibiotics on all the affected areas Oral antibiotics as per the severity of your problem (eg. Doxycycline, minocycline, erythromycin, etc)
• Do not squeeze or pick at acne.
• Use noncomedogenic (should not cause acne) cosmetics and toiletries.
• Avoid things that can aggravate your acne, such as oils, airborne grease, irritating clothing, etc.
• Acne is not caused by the foods you eat. However if certain foods seem to make your acne worse, then try to avoid them.

Lastly, remember that control of acne is an ongoing process. All acne treatments work by preventing new acne. Existing blemishes must heal on their own. Improvement takes time. If your acne has not improved after 6 to 8 weeks, you may need a change in your treatment.