How to Identify Acne Types

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Many people who get pimples are totally uninformed about acne and how bad some acne types can get. They mindlessly pick at their pimples, hoping against hope that the pimples will just vanish into thin air. However, the truth is, with picking even one or two of what would have been otherwise harmless pimples, you can create painful, huge cysts in a matter of seconds as the bacteria infect your pores.

The Acne Types You Can Get 

• There are several different acne types and the problem with them is that they can all be related and one of them may turn into another. Most of the time acne will be in the form of small red spots, but if you go on picking at these you can trigger off cysts and other acne types to form.

• Before you get to this point though, you will get a tiny lesion called a micro-comedo. This cannot be seen easily and will later develop into a closed comedo or a whitehead or an open comedo which is a blackhead. These are your normal pimples, also known as acne vulgaris and it is through infection that these will get transformed into worsened acne types. This is also easy to treat with various medications and over the counter products that have benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid in them.

• Once your acne papule gets to a certain size and depending on whether it is inflammatory or not, this harmless lesion can turn into a pustule or a nodule. The pustules are, as their name indicates, filled with pus and are visible on the surface of the skin. The nodules are located below the surface deep into the tissues and can become very large with a localised fever and redness. The nodules are the worst kind of acne types you can get and once you have nodulocystic acne, which is also very painful, it is very difficult to treat and also difficult to get rid of completely. Even if you manage to do this, you may be left with horrible scarring. This is one of the acne types that are primarily formed by picking and squeezing acne papules.

• Acne Rosacea is one of the acne types you can get between the ages of 30 and 60 and most commonly if you are a woman of Celtic origin. Acne Rosacea is characterised by a lot of redness on the face accompanied by tiny bumps on the face. It is similar in appearance to acne but is not quite the same. In men, this condition can become severe in that it often causes a lobulated red nose called rhinophyma.

• One of the acne types that is often seen in newborns is scalp folliculitis, which is caused mainly by excess oil, sweat and dirt. This type of acne is often seen on the scalp especially if the newborn’s head tends to be covered most of the time.

Irrespective of which of the acne types you may be suffering from, maintaining a healthy diet and a proper skin-care routine goes a long way towards controlling the acne and thwarting its spread.

Acne Basics - Coping With Acne Troubles

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There are cases of acne that are so severe that a person’s health is affected. Those cases are rare. Still, even when the acne is not a case for the medical books, acne trouble can cause a range of mental and emotional health issues. Depression can be caused or worsened by acne. Coping with acne can be harder than it seems.

The ability to treat the acne condition plays a role in how a person feels about themselves. Not everyone can afford to see a skin care specialist on a regular basis. If they are able to attend even one appointment for some input on how to treat their acne, though, it can really help. Information gleaned from books, magazines and the internet is useful, but talking directly to a professional is even better.

Coping With Acne Actively

The use of medication on a continuous basis is integral for coping with acne. If you don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel (medication can provide this), you tend to feel hopeless and become even more depressed. Making a positive effort to treat the problem will help give a person hope.

Being passive about acne only makes the problem worse. Sometimes a person may not feel like doing anything because their self esteem is so low that they don’t want to get out and socialize anyway; so why bother? You bother because if you accept the situation as hopeless, you will make it so by not taking the steps necessary to combat it. That is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It is so important to bother! Taking action toward a goal- any goal- helps to improve the mood of a person. It works that way for coping with acne. Fighting for what you want - clear skin - will give you confidence that it CAN be done. Your skin will improve if you work at it. Seeing the results will keep you motivated.

Not only does this work for coping with acne, but a broader sense of accomplishment can emerge. You will create an attitude for yourself that focuses on achievement rather than hopelessness. That has farther reaching potential than you might think. Coping with acne CAN actually make you stronger if you focus your energy in the right way!

The truth is that most of us have acne problems at some point in our lives. It may not be as big a problem for most of us, but most of do understand how hard coping with acne can be - at least on some level. Unfortunately, acne is just one of those things we have to deal with in life.

Coping with acne first requires the knowledge that it is what it is. Then it requires the ability to fight it. That acne can be treated is a fact of life as well. Accept that it is there, but don’t accept that it will stay there. It will not stay there if you make a concerted effort to make it go away.

Acne Basics - Acne Myths Uncovered

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There are a lot of different acne myths out there triggered off by statements that are arbitrarily made about acne. These statements have no scientific basis at all and can easily be dismissed with common sense if we give it a little bit of thought.

Acne Myths - Diet

Contrary to popular notion, greasy food does not cause grease in our pores. Hamburgers and fries will not cause an outbreak. Chocolate does not cause acne and soda pop will definitely not make your skin break out in pimples. Diet does play a role in how well our systems function; specific allergies may influence acne development and food that causes an increase in oil production, such as like iodized salt, can make an acne problem worse. However, and this is important; it is not the cause of acne.

Acne Myths - Hygiene

Another common acne myth is that it is caused by poor hygiene. While hygiene does play a role in helping to clear acne and even preventing it, there are thousands of people out there who do follow a good skin care regimen and still have an acne condition. It is true that when pores are clogged, acne can develop easier and faster. Clogged pores keep oils, bacteria and dead skin cells trapped. That causes the skin to be inflamed and pus to develop in clogged pores.

Hygiene habits have a minimal effect on whether acne develops in the first place but taking good care of your skin after acne breaks out is an essential part of treatment.

Cleansing the area with a mild cleanser twice a day is the best way to keep your skin clean and healthy. Don’t overdo it with the scrubbing, though, as scrubbing only hurts the skin. The same is true for harsh cleansers. Over cleansing with scrubbing and harsh cleansers can make the problem worse because it strips away layers of skin that are meant to be protective.

Acne Myths - Stress

Stress itself does not cause acne breakouts. Stress does have an influence on hormone production and hormones have their role to play in acne formation. Still, the role of stress is more general than specific when it comes to acne. Stress impacts our health in general. If someone is dealing with a lot of stress over a period of time, their body will react in a negative manner. This may trigger acne in those who are prone to it. Being stressed out over a test does not make you get pimples.

Acne Myths - Medication

Contrary to another of the more popular acne myths, more medication does not mean better prevention. Using too much of an over the counter or prescription medicine will not make the acne go away faster than using it as recommended. Over medicating can dry out the skin and eventually make the problem worse. If you are using over the counter treatments and you are still having problems after a couple of weeks, it would be wise to call a dermatologist as you may need a change in medication. When using any acne medication it is important that you follow the instructions carefully in order for the medication to be effective.

Acne Basics: What Causes Acne?

The causes of acne are continuously being researched. Today, we know of several factors involved in the production of acne.

What Causes Acne - 5 Areas

1.       Hormones and Sebum

Acne is well associated with teens. In fact, 85% of us have some form of acne during our teen years. This isn’t surprising given how rapidly hormones rise during adolescence. The levels of androgens increase dramatically in both females and males. Androgens encourage the sebaceous glands to produce more sebum - the body’s natural oils that surface through hair follicles. It is usually the face, the back, and the chest that experience the results of extra oil production. That is why those areas are most prone to an acne outbreak.

If the sebum reached the surface every time, acne would not be as big an issue. On the surface, it is easily washed away. But the oils sometimes get trapped in the hair follicle and cause it to burst. When our pores (follicles) close up, all the excess oil gets trapped inside the pores. This is the cause for whiteheads. Pressure on the follicle can make it rupture from the inside. This makes it an easier place for bacteria to thrive. The white blood cells that rush to the follicle to heal it are trapped with the bacteria. This mixture of pus and inflammation is one cause of acne. Another influence over acne is stress. Stress itself does not cause acne. It is the shift in hormones caused by stress that can result in acne breakouts. Stress has a negative influence on the immune system. The immune system then has lower defenses, making it easier for bacteria to grow.

2.       Drugs

There are a few kinds of drugs that can cause acne. Among these are barbiturates and tetracycline. A major side effect of anabolic steroids is the development of acne. Don’t take those drugs unless it is absolutely medically necessary.

3.       Heredity

Heredity has its part in the likelihood of acne development. This are is being researched still as we still don’t know how it plays the role. According to statistics, acne seems to be a family problem. It could be due to diet or other factors involved in the family environment but it seems to be more hereditary than environmental.

4.        Diet

In the past, it was widely assumed that the food we ate caused acne. But chocolate and cheeseburgers don’t play a large role. The only influence food may have over acne is if the type of food causes an increase in oil production which combines with underlying factors.

5.       Skin Care

Bad skin cleansing habits can have an effect on acne development. Bacteria that do not get properly washed away builds up in the pores. A disciplined skin care regimen can help keep acne under control in some cases. 

Dirt and cosmetics can cause pores to clog and result in acne. If you have a problem with acne, don’t wear makeup or buy the “non-comedogenic” type. This makeup is designed so it does not clog pores.

What causes acne is still being researched and the hope of millions of acne sufferers is that advances in medicine may one day put acne to rest forever. 

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