With the reach of the age of puberty, lots of biological changes are triggered in the body. Once such change is the maturation of the skin which leads to the enlargement of the sebaceous glands. This may lead to conditions of hyperkeratinization and accumulation of sebum. If is accumulation is not cleared it gets infected. The immune system of the body attacks this infection and separated the pus into segregated pockets which is below the skin.
Acne is caused due to various factors such as genetics, hormonal activity and accumulation of bacterias in the pores.
Pimples cause an inflammation over the skin which results in itching of the skin. So people generally tend to scratch with nails of pointed object to over come the irritation. This results in the puncturing of the inflammation resulting in the spreading of the puss to surrounding areas. This also results in the formation of scars over the area where the acne was present.
Treatment for pimples is of various types which are depending upon the severity. At the initial stages facial creams, antibacterial lotions and also oral medication is prescribed by dermatologists for the treatment of pimples. The most important step is to keep the skin clean and fresh. It is very much advisable to wash the face with a good soap regularly which helps in keeping the skin clean and fresh. This also helps the skin to breath easily thereby avoiding bacterial blockages.
Further levels of treatment include Light therapy, Microdermabrasion and laser treatment.
Light therapy: Exposure to light has its effect over the skin which is known to all. When exposing the skin to lights of wavelengths of red light will result in the production of certain free radicals in the skin which will act over the bacteria and there by curing the acne.
Microdermabrasion: This type of treatment includes usage of chemical crystals to clean the face. The face is constantly rubbed using minute chemical crystals that will remove a layer of the infected skin there by exposing the underlying bacterial to the treatment. Thus once the skin is cleaned from the bacteria, the acne is reduced.
Laser treatment is mainly concentrated for the treatment for the scars formed from the pimples, but also helps for the treatment of pimples also. The laser light will burn away the infected area and the oil producing gland there by stopping the acne from further spreading. The laser light also acts on the bacteria and kills them. Much of fear is present for undertaking of laser treatment. But care will be taken to expose the skin to permissible limits of laser lights.
With proper care of the skin and timely medication acne can be easily controlled and cured giving way to a healthy and a glowing face.
Acne is often classified by grade starting with grade I which includes mild, non-inflamed forms of acne such as blackheads and whiteheads. From here we move to grade II acne which involves cases of acne with a large number of blackheads and whiteheads and generally also includes papules or pustules which are mildly inflamed.
A papule is a small lesions, or break in the skin, which appears as a bump that rises above the surface of the skin and is normally smaller than about 5 mm across. A pustule is very similar to a papule but is pus-filled and contains a mixture of dead skin cells, white blood cells and bacteria.
Next on the scale come grade III acne which is simply a more severe case of grade II acne in which the papules or pustules are red, larger and more numerous.
Finally, we come to grade IV acne which is the most severe case of acne and includes nodules and cysts. Inflammation in the case of grade IV acne is normally wide spread and grade IV acne generally encompasses more than simply the face.
Grade I acne, which includes the common form of mild acne known as acne vulgaris, is not normally difficult to treat and can generally be cleared up with over-the-counter medications.
A more severe form of acne is acne congoblata which is characterized by heavy inflammation and deep abscesses which can frequently result in scarring and other forms of skin damage. Inflamed and often painful nodules form around comedones (a medical term for mild acne spots) and will often grow until they spontaneously discharge pus. This type of acne can often result in keloid-type scarring.
Acne fulminans is another form of acne in which nodules will often ulcerate, resulting in a painful and recurrent form of acne. Sufferers can also sometimes run a fever and experience aching joints and treatment with corticosteroids or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is normally required. Such drug treatments are however designed to treat the symptoms of this form of acne and not its underlying cause.
Continuing on up the scale some people will develop nodulocystic acne. Unusual cysts (red bumps caused by severe inflammation) form and occasionally they become so numerous and appear close enough together to create a fairly large area of inflammation. Nodulocystic acne can form small tunnels below the surface of the skin allowing infection to spread easily and quickly. This form of acne is generally treated using antibiotics and a commonly used drug treatment is isotretinoin, which many people will know by the name of Accutane.
Finally, we come to gram-negative folliculitis which occurs when hair follicles become infected. Bacteria growing at the base of a hair follicle cause the body to respond by sending white blood cells to fight the infection and this can occasionally result in a deep eruption which requires special treatment. This particular form of acne is often resistant to treatment with antibiotics and indeed the condition can sometimes by causes by using antibiotics to treat other forms of acne.
Although extremely common, acne is not the simple condition which many of us have always thought it to be and it is not always a simple case of buying a cream from the corner drugstore to treat it. So, as soon as acne appears pop along to your doctor, or better still a professional dermatologist, and get a diagnosis so that you can knock it on the head with the correct treatment right from the outset.
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