What is Acne?
Acne is spoken about by everyone, thus, a definition of this term is required. Acne is a term typically applied to pores locked by sebaceous matter (whiteheads and blackheads in other words), pustules, nodules or bladders, affecting one's face, neck, shoulders, breast, back, upper parts of legs and arms.
Acne is a big problem for almost all adolescents and quite a lot of grown-ups, and it lasts for some time. This problem is typical for people of different ages, races and sexes. A vast number of people in all countries of the world suffer from it. The worst thing about acne is an ugly look of pustules and scars, which are often consequences of acne.
Acne has a considerable social effect. Ugly pustules make a lot of people hurry to a pharmacy or chemist's shop, because people think that acne has a negative influence on their relations with each other. Annually people spend thousands of millions of USD worldwide to purchase acne products.
Types of Acne
- Pimples are the most widespread type of acne, and it is the type the predominant number of people has, but it might be good to learn about other acne forms too. Acne vulgaris is the basic type, which includes blackheads only, the basic form of skin lesion.
- Lesions are tiny skin areas where acne occurs, but the notion of lesion does not refer only to the skin damages, caused by acne. The external type of blackheads is defined as acne lesions, and in this case sebaceous matter clogs sebaceous follicles.
- Comedones are called blackheads and whiteheads in other words, according to the state of a pore, closed or open. In case of blackheads openings of the pores are swollen and filled with substance made up by keratin and sebaceous matter, and the surface of it is black. In case of whiteheads the pores are closed and stuffed with secretory product of the sebaceous gland, inflamed under the skin surface. People often pick and squeeze blackheads. But doing that at home, where there is no sterility, is a direct way to inflammation of the tissue. Different bacteria can very easily attack the body through an open pore.
- Papules are small, firm and inflamed skin, which is slightly elevated above the skin surface with no pus in it. Tiny papules can form clusters, as the skin reacts to acne.
- Pustules resemble papules, but they contain pus inside. Pus is made up by a mixture of bacteria, white corpuscles and dead cells of the skin. The area around sebaceous follicles and hair is the typical location of pustules.
- Maculae are consequences of acne, they look as red spots. A macula is flat, it is a red spot, somewhat elevated on the skin surface. Several maculae together makes a person's face look as if it is inflamed.
- Nodules are firm lesions. They usually hurt more than other acne types. This type of acne gets deep into the skin and under it, and in the end they destroy the tissues. The removal of nodules causes severe pains and after that there are scars left. This type of acne is very difficult to cure, and the only acne treatment way is isotretinoin.
- Cysts resemble pustules in a way. They are formed as capsules, and inside them there is pus, which is liquid or semi-liquid. But they have bigger size as compared to pustules and there may be infection in them. Cysts penetrate the skin deeper and after they are treated, there are acne scars left. Of all types of acne it is nodulocystic acne, which is the most severe one. They can hardly be treated and only isotretinoin may be of help. Isotretinoin is a matter received from Vitamin A.
Who gets acne?
The actual situation is that about everyone over the world has acne. The problems start when the age of puberty comes. It is at about 12 years, and it is due to the hormones. It could happen both with males and females. It doesn't depend upon your origin and family. It is very difficult to find anyone who escaped the pimples during the whole life. In any case something would misbalance the state of your hormonal axis.
Serious medical acne treatment is necessary in more than 40 percent of all the acne cases. Usually it is quite possible to avoid serious therapy, though it is impossible to avoid visiting a doctor. But medicine today gives you a wide choice of acne products, which you could obtain without any prescriptions. They give you an opportunity to overcome your acne.
But it is not always that people can get rid of acne so fast and without difficulties. Acne is one of the main problems of appearance from twelve till twenty-three years old. Some people suffer from serious forms of it, and the others face this problem just as grown-ups. Generally, it is a men's problem. They meet it because of higher level of androgens compared with women. But women's acne depends upon their fertility cycle and upon the changes it causes.
Usually people treat face acne. But pimples can also disturb a person appearing on the back, buttocks, arms or chest.
Struggle with acne costs much. Social attitude to this problem is of the kind that makes people buy lots of acne products in pharmacies or drugstores. It is a reason of the acne products popularity all over the world.
Root Causes of Acne
Acne is not pleasant to deal with in any case. As well as it is not pleasant to study acne. But one should understand that every unpleasant phenomenon should be studied in order to be able to eliminate it once and forever. People do study different diseases and parasites, because they are eager to know, what to do to remove them from life of humanity.
Well, elimination “once and for ever” is not the case with acne. Root causes of acne can be really diverse and at times it is practically impossible to remove these causes. It is especially so when we talk about internal causes of acne: how to fight a thing that is in you?
Root Causes of Acne Maybe in other cases having such internal factors of any other troubles people begin to take some preparations hoping that that will do. But generally it is not the cause with acne.
Root causes of acne are various and not so easy, even in most cases very difficult to eliminate and it is good if they are not so severe, that you can bear them. But in any case acne is bothering, annoying and so on and so forth.
What do you feel having acne on your back? I think you do have discomfort; you feel that something in that place interferes with you every time. You may also feel pain, the affected place may itch, and popping abscessed white heads may make your clothes and underwear dirty.
The same is the case with acne appearing on the back, on the shoulders, on the buttocks, on legs, arms, and other places where acne can appear. Plus, if acne appears on your hands (arms) or feet (legs), it may impede your activity in some areas. Body acne in some places doesn’t let you to wear your favorite dress and/or swimsuit.
What do you feel having acne on your face? I think that beside of that effects that body acne causes you will feel a great concern for your damaged beauty.
So root causes of acne can be really miscellaneous, starting from such internal causes as bacteria, boosted sebum production and hormones and finishing with untidiness, but their effect is bad anyway and require usage of acne treatment products.
External causes of acne: environmental factors
Humans are rather vulnerable creatures. They are exposed to a lot of external factors, which can be really ruthless to them. And from some of them the poor humanity doesn’t have any efficient means.
When one hears such words, he or she firstly thinks about some volcanoes or tornadoes or tsunami. But it happens that a human being can be helpless when having some smaller trouble, which doesn’t cause any fatalities but nevertheless is a very, very unpleasant thing. One of such troubles is acne.
Surely people are not always so vulnerable and helpless against acne. But there are some external causes of acne, which are really non-preventable. Sometimes they are even difficult to avoid. These include, first of all, polluted environment, which is named as one of the causes of acne and un-doubtfully of many other diseases.
Frequently this concerns people who live beside big industrial enterprises, who are, of course, known as huge air and water polluters. Fortunately, in latest years, situation with these enterprises has improved in environmental aspect – this is mostly because up-to-date gas cleaning systems has been developed and implemented at most industrial plants, which allow decreasing dust, carbon monoxide / dioxide and sulphur content in emissions of these plants.
Nevertheless, it is understood that living too close to production facilities can do a lot of harm to your skin care. This regards not only to air, but also to water, in which you may swim or bathe while it can be polluted by industrial wastewaters and different chemicals that often are washed by precipitation etc. in rivers and lakes. Such contaminated water does a lot of damage to skin and you should not be surprised if you have acne on some parts of your skin after such swimming.
So you ought to keep yourself informed and know, in what water reservoirs it is not advised to swim.
Please don’t do harm to yourself (i. e. picking and squeezing acne) and visit environmentally clean places whenever possible.
Acne Treatment
Natural acne treatments are well known for their safety and effectiveness. The most popular and proved means and acne treatments are listed below.
- Try not to touch your face. It is rather difficult but you should remember that. We often touch our faces while thinking, reading, or laughing. Do not rub, scratch, or touch your face with your hands, especially if they are not that clean. The fact is that a lot of bacteria may be found on our hands and these bacteria may worsen the problem of acne. Of course it is not easy to follow this advice because in most cases we do not realize that we touch our faces that often. Just get used to control your hand to face contact and do not forget to wash your hands from time to time.
- If your acne is classified as mild or moderate we recommend using such acne products as: skin ointments, lotions, various gels and solutions containing benzoyl peroxide, azelaic acid or salicylic acid. Besides, products that contain benzoyl peroxide may be used for acne vulgaris caused by Propionibacterium acnes. Also benzoyl peroxide helps to cut down the production of skin oil. Other problems including blackheads and whiteheads may be treated with salicylic oil, sulfur and resourcing. Moreover, salicylic acid is good at reducing the number of acne lesions by entering the oil glands and diminishing their overactivity.
Laser Surgical Procedure to Treat Acne
A great number of men and women turn to laser surgical procedure to treat acne. Everybody knows what dangerous consequences anesthesia may have. Additionally, many persons may experience severe ache and need a long healing time, which means they will not be entirely involved in their job and family life. Patients have to receive additional tablets to lower pain and the price becomes larger as well as risks become significant. Many lotions, creams, drugs and gels with hormones or chemical origin are not natural too. It is highly recommended to abstain from these strategies as well.
If you prefer organic acne treatment, plan thoroughly at home or with your doctor. First of all you must not expect immediate outcome like in case of laser surgery. But with natural acne treatment there will be no scars, no painful and time-consuming healing. Prior to choosing any specific acne treatment pills find a corresponding forum with product reviews (just like clearpores acne treatment forum), check and get acquainted with the list of its components. Study the details about each component and prevent the chance of allergy. Ask your healthcare professional for recommendation. The next step is to know about the company which produces the product. Any respected manufacturer must give you educational precautions and the full list of ingredients.
Hormonal Acne
Millions of women know when that time of the month is approaching. Hormonal changes in the second half of the cycle include swelling, cramping, mood swings, and acne. There hasn't been much research on the subject, but experts agree that premenstrual acne is a widespread condition. It is confirmed that practically half of the women suffer from sudden acne flare-ups nearly for a week before their period.
Regular acne treatment such as topical retinoids and topical antibiotics may not help in the case of hormonal acne. Your doctor will be able to identify if your acne is hormonally-influenced by the following clues:
- Acne in adults, either appearing for the first time or persisting;
- Acne breakouts before the menstrual period;
- Irregular periods;
- Your skin oiliness exceeds the norms;
- Hirsutism (problems with growing hair)
- Increased levels of androgens in your blood.
Though hormonal acne usually starts to disturb women of about 20-25, adolescents and senior women can be susceptible to it. And women over 30 are a risk group. The regions most commonly attacked by hormonal acne are the lower face - the jaw line and the chin - as well as back and chest, with face still remaining the most popular place of blemishes and lesions.
How and why does hormonal acne - which is relatively moderate as a rule and limited to occasional comedones and small inflammatory nodules - start? At the age of nine or ten the adrenal glands start to make dihydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), an androgen. Several years later, as puberty nears, the sebaceous glands increase the production of sebum, the skin's natural oil. This happens as a consequence of activity of "male" hormones in a woman's body, such as dehydrotestosterone (DHT) and testosterone.
Causes of Hormonal Acne
Every woman has to face with some things like bloating, cramping, mood swings and acne. It happens every month. Acne is considered to be influenced by hormones. However the researchers haven't got any answer on this very subject - until now. The final week of the cycle is characterized by hormonal acne flare-ups in 50% of the women, a recent study confirmed.
Being a specific kind of acne, it is most probably that hormonal acne will not respond to such traditional treatments as topical or systemic antibiotics or topical retinoids. There are several ideas that may help you and your doctor find causes of hormonal acne:
- Acne flare-ups precede the menstrual cycle;
- Acne breakout always takes place prior to the menstruation
- Report on irregular menstrual periods
- Oily skin of your face, what is not common for you
- Excessive hair growth, otherwise known as hirsutism
- The levels of certain androgens are increased
Most typically hormonal acne begins around the age of 20-25, though it can strike teens as well as mature women, over the age of 30 (in which case it is most persistent). The regions most commonly attacked by acne are the lower face - the jaw line and the chin - as well as back and chest, with face still remaining the most popular place of blemishes and lesions. Regardless of the fact that hormonally-influenced acne is seldom severe and usually manifests itself as small inflammatory nodules and papules, women suffering from the disease can't help but wonder: how does it start? What are the causes of hormonal acne?
Firstly occurring some time before age of puberty (close to the age of 9 or 10) the adrenals start to release specific androgenic hormone - dihydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS). Androgens are so called "male" hormones, though they are produced by a woman's body as well. Other "male" hormones are dehydrotestosterone (DHT) and testosterone. All of them work as stimulants for the sebaceous glands. The result of it is an intense surface skin fat (sebum) production, which is one of the main causes of hormonal acne.
That is the reason for teenager's acne and oily skin. Boys suffer from "male" hormones more because they naturally have more of them. It is extremely difficult to treat acne in adolescents, as their hormonal levels always change. In some cases the first reaction to the external therapy can be good, if doctors use such methods as retinoids and benzoyl peroxide. In some cases antibiotics have to be used. However, most often these medications, even coupled with an oral antibiotic, do not provide a long-term remedy for treating acne in teenagers because of the hormonal changes. Frequent adjustments to courses of treatment are often necessary.
A lot of females experience this problem during maturity. Some others might not experience it until their twenties or thirties, going through continual outbreaks a few days prior to their menstrual cycle. It happens because their estrogen level is the highest in the middle of the cycle (on condition that a woman is not using hormonal pills for birth control). When a woman is approaching her period, the estrogen level is decreasing. There is also another hormone that can cause hormonal acne. After ovulation, the ovaries produce progesterone that leads skin to oiliness.
Hormone level is also one of the causes of hormonal acne that happens in pregnant women. Because of hormone changes in the third trimester sebaceous glands begin to produce much sebum and this is the reason of frequent breakouts. Menopause can also be in the list of causes of hormonal acne. Estrogen production decreases and testosterone dominates in the organism of a woman.
Acne that develops during menstruation does not disappear without medical help. You should consult the dermatologist and find acne products that will treat all causes of hormonal acne.
Top Acne Medications
Acne is a tough problem for a huge quantity of people. And a lot of them just lose their hearts because frequently it is difficult to look about and draw some milestones for oneself in a fight against acne, just because acne treatment products are as multifarious as the causes of acne. And even some preparations can be really named as top acne medications it is not a guarantee that they will be effective in your very case.
Use benchmarking. It is quite common in business to create different comparison charts, for example, when a tender is held and a successful vendor must be chosen. In such cases comparison charts (often with a system of grades) help the company to justify its choice and to go for the most competitive option.
The same you can do with your acne-related problem. Create a comparison chart of the top acne medications, in which you may mention salient features that will help you to know the most important advantages and disadvantages of different products and of course to reach the final target – to find the top acne medication, and which can be easily found in acne product review forums.
It can be e.g. safety, reputation of the product etc. In the chart you may develop a system of grades with the weight of each feature/indicator, and the total of grades will give you an idea what is the top acne medication.
In your list of features you may also include such feature as complexity of action. Complex products are, as a rule, better than single-action ones. For example, such complex preparations can consist of pills and gel in one package.
This is the best option because it can help to eliminate both internal causes of acne, for example, inappropriate level of hormones (by means of pills) and external ones – boosted sebum production, blockage of skin pores (by means of gel). Surely it will give more effect if you really want to get rid of acne. So assign a high weight (priority) to this feature in your top acne medications comparison chart.
Natural Acne Body Wash
In fact, not so many preparations can contest for the right to be the same. But everybody understands that natural acne body wash is a good way out if you are suffering from this not deadly but still very unpleasant and trouble-causing disease. The most powerful argument is that natural preparations always have fewer side effects than unnatural ones.
If you don’t believe you may read any manual for a chemically generated acne body wash and you will understand. The side effects are merely multifarious. Body acne treatment is not so easy thing, and it is not so safe as well when you take such preparations.
Thinking about your health is a good thing, and it is indisputably good when you think not only about the present moment in the state of your health, but also about the consequences of the treatment, which you apply to any disease that you are having.
So what drug can be used and thought to be really suited for natural acne body wash? These are different herbs, mineral- and vitamin-based preparations. But there are also some widely used products that are not natural and can cause some side effects.
First is benzoyl peroxide. It is rather well-known acne treatment product and has relatively mild action, so it is often advised for use in some not very hard cases, as a general means for fighting acne. But in spite of that fact benzoyl peroxide and its chemically modified versions is a matter that dries the skin so that some undesired side effects can be caused by it.
Retinoids are substances relative to vitamin A. Generally, these are something like artificial analogues of this vitamin. As vitamin A should be consumed for improving skin and getting rid of acne, as retinoids are helpful for external treatment of acne. But even so they have artificial origin and can impact harmfully on the skin, especially one of them called isotretinoin. Retinoids like isotretinoin have such a long list of side effects that it is more scaring then acne itself.
How to Use Retinoids for Acne
Retinoids are not as harmless as, for example, natural acne treatment preparations are. Retinoids, in fact, are merely chemical substances used for acne treatment. In spite of the fact that they are relative to retinol (Vitamin A), they are actually not as useful as this vitamin and, in contrast to vitamins, should be used very carefully.
It particularly concerns retinoids that are used orally, mostly because they are more powerful in their action and are prescribed in heaviest cases (the most widely known retinoid, which is used orally, is isotretinoin – maybe the most powerful drug for acne treatment). The main reason why retinoids should be used so carefully is the fact that they are not natural. Acne treatment with retinoids is nevertheless rather effective.
In spite of the fact that some retinoids (only among those which are used externally – at some local areas of skin) are sold without prescription, it is not recommended to use them without consulting a doctor. Basically, these are prescription medications for acne.The matter is that because of their unnaturalness retinoids have certain side effects, which may be rather severe in some cases.
Learn how to use retinoids for acne and find the measures that are strongly recommended for carrying out before choosing and using retinoids:
- read a manual or annotation, or other information which is enclosed with the preparation and follow the prescriptions mentioned in this manual;
- ask a doctor about the method of use and periodicity of use, as well as about precautions needed when taking the preparation;
- observe prescribed dosing carefully;
- don’t give up taking the preparation as well as not to alter doses without consulting a doctor;
- inform the doctor about any side effects or another unexpected problem, which appear during treatment.
How to use retinoids for acne? Maybe using retinoids is not a kind of big science, however, they should be used cautiously because these products can be not fully safe. If you are looking for a safer medication, it is better to turn to natural acne medication.
What is isotretinoin?
So what is your knowledge about isotretinoin? Maybe you have heard that isotretinoin is one of retinoids and is a synthetically produced drug used for acne treatment, as other retinoids are. As well as isotretinoin is a synthetic relative to retinol, the latter is known to us as vitamin A. But of course isotretinoin is in neither case similar to vitamin A in its action or in any other parameters associated with using this preparation. So what else is widely known about isotretinoin?
The people who know much about the drug are quite naturally mostly those who are concerned with acne treatment, meaning doctors and their patients. It is not good in any case to be the latter, because there also some facts which are known about isotretinoin, which definitely will not add you any confidence when using this drug. Isotretinoin, and that’s the main reason why you at least should be careful of using it, not to say more, that you ought to be afraid of using isotretinoin.
See, isotretinoin is merely one of the strongest drugs which are at all applied for acne treatment. And also bear in mind that it is not a natural product, so it can be not as compatible with your organism as it could be. So the powerfulness of this drug as well as its unnaturalness equal to very strong side effects caused by it. And since isotretinoin is the strongest acne treatment product, it has the most severe side effects. Pregnancy is the biggest contraindication against using isotretinoin – pregnant women should never use this drug, because it is capable of doing big troubles with their future children.
What you can do with this, is either not to use isotretinoin, or try to avoid using it beforehand. See, because of its strength isotretinoin is generally prescribed only in extreme cases. And such cases are generally not so difficult to avoid.
Anti-acne Treatments
If you want to treat acne effectively, then you will have to find the right products at an appropriate price to cope with the problem. It may seem at times that it is hard to fulfill it at the current state of the market.
Though there is a wide range of over the counter natural skin care products and anti-acne treatments, most of them do not really work and are unable to get you any closer to the healthy clear skin they promise. Also remember that even those supplements which are most often bought and used by consumers can cause some undesired side effects.
So make you choice of an effective herbal treatment only after reading a good number of reviews on acne forums and go for the skin care system comprising multiple components, as it means that such system can solve the acne problem on different levels.
You can find more anti-acne treatment tips in acne treatment forum.
Acne Scars
Acne scars are the scar tissue marks left behind by acne pimples that had not treated or had become inflamed. Acne scars size, frequency and type depend on several genetic factors, which are specific to every person. Some persons are more probable to have acne scars due to their heritage and skin type. This is why everyone who want to treat acne need to make sure their lesions will heal properly and permanently.
Mild and soft acne scars take up to eight weeks to disappear. If the acne treatments don’t work, talk to your physician again and he or she will help you choose a stronger acne treatment for scars, like retinoids-based acne treatment creams. This is done to prevent acne bursts and to enable the peeling of skin cells around the acne scars.
The best way of taking care of acne scars is to prevent acne by using an acne treatment. This can put an end to basic cause of acne, treat acne and finally prevent acne scars at all.
Summer vs. Acne
Summer is in full swing. Most people spend a lot of time outdoors to make up for the endless winter and spring months. We plan our holidays ahead of time, make parties on the beach, go for a walk in the sun, enjoy every sunny day forgetting about the dangers we are exposed to while spending time in the sun.
It is not a secret that we sweat more when the weather is hot. It is proved that sweat makes the problem with acne worse. We wipe our faces frequently when it is hot, which is not a good choice if you have acne. The best thing you can do is wash the sweat away with warm water. Please remember to wash your face gently. Due to exposure to sun and wind, our skin becomes very dry. It flakes, chaps and feels tight. It is very difficult to treat any dry skin damage. In addition, wind adds to clogging pores. That is why it's important to take care of your skin in summer with proper acne treatment products.