Susan George
3 min readMay 27, 2016

What is Acne? Know causes and treatment

The most vital part of the body is skin that needs to be taken care carefully. Glowing, fairer skin and young look are in high demand with no marks and no spots, but a change in lifestyle and age brings relevant changes. One such skin related problem is Acne. Let us talk about acne, its causes and treatment.

What is Acne?

Acne is a skin condition and common cause of spots that occurs when the hair follicles become unplugged along with oil and dead skin cells. It usually appears on the face, neck, back and shoulder. Remedies are available, however, ranges from mild to severe and most common among the teenagers between 12 to 25 years. To prevent scarring on the skin, treatment is need unfortunately if it is left untreated, it takes 4–5 years to settle however in a few cases it lasts for many years. To know more about Acne, Urgent Care in Bedminster is the place to get best knowledge.

What are the factors that cause Acne?

It can be caused by many reasons, but the four factors that causes acne are:

  1. Understanding skin: A small sebaceous glands lie just beneath the skin surface that makes the oil (sebum) to keep the skin supple and smooth. Tiny pores on the skin allows the sebum to come on to the skin surface and the growth of hair is seen. This is due to the hormonal change, which stimulates the sebaceous glands and more sebum made, which makes your skin more greasy and the worse acne is likely to be.
  2. Mild-to-moderate acne — blackheads, whiteheads and small pimples:
    Some pores become blocked, thicker to combine with dead skin cells that are shed into the pores. You can see the plugs that block the top of the pores as tiny spots known as blackheads and whiteheads (comedones). It occurs due to skin pigment, but is not dirt and these spots are called pimples or papules and does not progress beyond this.
  3. Moderate to severe acne — larger spots and inflammation: A bacteria called propionibacterium acnes that live along with skin and do not harm. However a large number when trapped with sebum then immune system causes inflammation. The inflammation causes the surrounding skin red, larger and filled with pus. In some cases, it becomes larger and forms into small nodules and cysts.
  4. Rare causes of Acne: Rarely, certain diseases in girls and women make acne worse. For example, polycystic ovary syndrome causes excess male hormones to be made in the ovary or in the adrenal gland. These conditions cause other symptoms in addition to acne, such as thinning of scalp hair, excess growth of facial or body hair and other problems.

Treatment:

  1. Medicines like gels, lotions and creams are used to treat acne.
  2. Benzoyl peroxide is a common topical treatment.
  3. Retinoids are good at unplugging blocked pores.
  4. Some tablets like antibiotic tablets that kills germs and reduces inflammation.
  5. If you have mild acne with blackheads and whiteheads, use topical treatment that unblocks holes.
  6. If acne is related to hormonal changes, then take contraceptive pills.

If you are looking for better treatment options, than Urgent Care Clinic in Berkeley Heights is the best.