Acne
This factsheet is for people who have acne.
Acne is a skin condition that causes spots. Most people affected by acne are aged between 12 and 25.1 However, men and women in their 30s and 40s can also suffer. There are many treatments available to help deal with the condition.
What is acne?
Acne is a skin condition that typically causes one or more of the following:
* blackheads (comedones)
* whiteheads
* red or yellow spots
* greasy skin
* scars
Acne typically affects the skin of the face, back, neck, chest and arms and the severity of the condition can vary.
Acne affects people of all skin colours. The processes that cause acne are exactly the same in people with black or brown skin but the impact is altered by the skin pigmentation.
Acne is very common and affects about 80 in 100 people aged 11-30 at some time.
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Acne
This factsheet is for people who have acne.
Acne is a skin condition that causes spots. Most people affected by acne are aged between 12 and 25.1 However, men and women in their 30s and 40s can also suffer. There are many treatments available to help deal with the condition.
What is acne?
Acne is a skin condition that typically causes one or more of the following:
* blackheads (comedones) 2,3
* whiteheads2,3
* red or yellow spots2,3
* greasy skin2,3
* scars2,3
Acne
This factsheet is for people who have acne.
Acne is a skin condition that causes spots. Most people affected by acne are aged between 12 and 25.1 However, men and women in their 30s and 40s can also suffer. There are many treatments available to help deal with the condition.
What is acne?
Acne is a skin condition that typically causes one or more of the following:
* blackheads (comedones)
* whiteheads
* red or yellow spots
* greasy skin
* scars
Acne typically affects the skin of the face, back, neck, chest and arms and the severity of the condition can vary.
Acne affects people of all skin colours. The processes that cause acne are exactly the same in people with black or brown skin but the impact is altered by the skin pigmentation.
Acne is very common and affects about 80 in 100 people aged 11-30 at some time.
home | health information | health factsheets
Acne
This factsheet is for people who have acne.
When the 30s hit, you worked to raise little Johnnie or Suzie to be a model kid. Now that your hitting the fabulous 40s, you should be coasting through life, right. Well, why are you suddenly dealing with the cosmetic double whammy of acne and wrinkles? Even your insurance company figures that you should have gotten rid of acne by the age of 25.
The number people over 30 needing acne treatments has climbed to the extent that a report published in Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology recommends raising the age for insurance coverage of the acne drug tretinoin to at least 40. The authors of the report, Drs. Steven Feldman and Alan Fleischer, add that many insurance companies refuse to pay for tretinoin prescriptions for patients older than 25.
Cosmetic Catch 22 Even if your insurance company leaves you to fend for yourself, you still have options for freeing yourself from acne and wrinkles. At first, coping with acne and wrinkles may seem like a cosmetic catch 22. Do you dry your skin with acne cleansers containing benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid, and worsen your wrinkles? Or, do you smear on the moisturizer to smooth the wrinkles, but cope with the zits brought on by the extra oil or sensitivity to a new product?
Acne is the term for plugged pores (blackheads and whiteheads), pimples, and even deeper lumps (cysts or nodules) that occur on the face, neck, chest, back, shoulders and even the upper arms. Acne affects most teenagers to some extent. However, the disease is not restricted to any age group; adults in their 20s - even into their 40s - can get acne. While not a life threatening condition, acne can be upsetting and disfiguring. When severe, acne can lead to serious and permanent scarring. Even less severe cases can lead to scarring. Why does acne happen?
- An inflamed spot occurs due to the release of inflammatory fatty acids by a particular bacterium known as p.acnes, which causes the body’s defence systems to respond.
- You would however not get p.acnes colonisation of the hair follicle duct without a plug forming.
- The plug forms due to an increase in skin cell turnover, increased keratin deposition narrowing the opening of the hair follicle duct, combined with increased sebum production, which mixes with the debris to cause a blockage and a plug to form.
- The increased sebum, keratin and cell turnover would not happen if linoleic acid levels in the skin had reduced dramatically.
- Linoleic acid levels reduced due to the development of sensitivity to the hormone DHT.
- DHT is formed from testosterone.
Over the Counter Drugs
Q: I've tried a million over the counter products for acne and they work for a while and then they stop. I've tried oil-free cleansers, gels, cover-ups, and makeup - all of which claim they help acne-prone skin. But they're not; what am I doing wrong?
A: You're not doing anything wrong except wasting your money. The products you're buying don't work. Even though they are labeled oil-free, they really aren't oil-free. All products with the exception of water, are oil-based. Just like in the foods you eat, there are good oils and bad oils. The products that you have been using are full of bad oils and are producing new acne, not helping it. Over the counter eye shadows and lipsticks are fine, but when it comes to make-up and cleansers, the stuff you've been buying just isn't helping.
Q: What about all the acne soaps and astringents I use? I wash and scrub my face constantly, but I still break out. Why?
A: You can scrub all you want but it won't make a difference. Acne forms inside your hair follicles which are below the surface. The same thing goes for drying-out your skin with alcohol or astringents. All this does is clean the top layer of your skin, but it doesn't go inside the clogged hair follicles to clean them out. It's important to realize that your pimples are forming beneath the top layers of your skin and that over the counter products can't help you there. The Acne Treatment Clinic offers topical medications which go deep into the clogged hair follicles to clean them out and prevent new pimples from forming. Whether you suffer from severe acne or occasional breakouts, our products work quickly giving you positive results.
A detailed and comprehensive discussion of acne scars starts with causes of scarring, prevention of scarring, types of scars, and treatments for scars.
Before talking about scars, a word about spots that may look like scars but are not scars in the sense that a permanent change has occurred. Even though they are not true scars and disappear in time, they are visible and can cause embarrassment.
Macules or "pseudo-scars" are flat, red or reddish spots that are the final stage of most inflamed acne lesions. After an inflamed acne lesion flattens, a macule may remain to "mark the spot" for up to 6 months. When the macule eventually disappears, no trace of it will remain—unlike a scar.
Post-inflammatory pigmentation is discoloration of the skin at the site of a healed or healing inflamed acne lesion. It occurs more frequently in darker-skinned people, but occasionally is seen in people with white skin. Early treatment by a dermatologist may minimize the development of post-inflammatory pigmentation. Some post-inflammatory pigmentation may persist for up to 18 months, especially with excessive sun exposure. Chemical peeling may hasten the disappearance of post-inflammatory pigmentation.
Causes of Acne Scars
In the simplest terms, scars form at the site of an injury to tissue. They are the visible reminders of injury and tissue repair. In the case of acne, the injury is caused by the body’s inflammatory response to sebum, bacteria and dead cells in the plugged sebaceous follicle. Two types of true scars exist, as discussed later: (1) depressed areas such as ice-pick scars, and (2) raised thickened tissue such as keloids.
Acne Scarring
A detailed and comprehensive discussion of acne scars starts with causes of scarring, prevention of scarring, types of scars, and treatments for scars.
Before talking about scars, a word about spots that may look like scars but are not scars in the sense that a permanent change has occurred. Even though they are not true scars and disappear in time, they are visible and can cause embarrassment.
Macules or "pseudo-scars" are flat, red or reddish spots that are the final stage of most inflamed acne lesions. After an inflamed acne lesion flattens, a macule may remain to "mark the spot" for up to 6 months. When the macule eventually disappears, no trace of it will remain—unlike a scar.
Post-inflammatory pigmentation is discoloration of the skin at the site of a healed or healing inflamed acne lesion. It occurs more frequently in darker-skinned people, but occasionally is seen in people with white skin. Early treatment by a dermatologist may minimize the development of post-inflammatory pigmentation. Some post-inflammatory pigmentation may persist for up to 18 months, especially with excessive sun exposure. Chemical peeling may hasten the disappearance of post-inflammatory pigmentation.
Causes of Acne Scars
In the simplest terms, scars form at the site of an injury to tissue. They are the visible reminders of injury and tissue repair. In the case of acne, the injury is caused by the body’s inflammatory response to sebum, bacteria and dead cells in the plugged sebaceous follicle. Two types of true scars exist, as discussed later: (1) depressed areas such as ice-pick scars, and (2) raised thickened tissue such as keloids.
When tissue suffers an injury, the body rushes its repair kit to the injury site. Among the elements of the repair kit are white blood cells and an array of inflammatory molecules that have the task of repairing tissue and fighting infection. However, when their job is done they may leave a somewhat messy repair site in the form of fibrous scar tissue, or eroded tissue.
