Types of Acne— Causes & Treatment

An Acne breakout is caused by a buildup of oil and dead skin cells in the hair follicles. Acne can affect anybody, although it's most common among adolescents. Whiteheads, blackheads, and pimples might result from it.

Acne is a constant problem, despite effective treatments available. The lumps and pimples take a long time to cure, and as they start fading, more appear.

Depending on their intensity, Acne is painful and leave scars on the skin. The sooner you begin treatment, the less likely you will encounter these issues.

Many factors, including heredity, shifting hormone levels, anxiety, and the use of greasy or oily personal care products, all contribute to the development of eczema.

When androgen hormones become active in the teenage and early adult years, they are primarily responsible for the development of Acne. Acne can be caused by hypersensitivity to these hormones and microorganisms on the surface of the skin and fatty acids in the oil glands.

Acne can be caused or worsened by a variety of factors, including:

• Fluctuating hormone levels during a woman's menstrual cycle, as a result. 
• Acne sores that have been picked at. Headgear, such as hats and sports helmets, as well as clothing. 
• Polluted air in the atmosphere and unusually moist weather in the climate. 
• Oily or greasy cosmetics or working in a place where you frequently come into contact with grease might cause skin irritation (such as working at a restaurant where there are greasy food surfaces and frying oil). 
• Cortisol, the stress hormone, can exacerbate acne flare-ups. 
• Prescription drugs. 
• Genetics.

Types of Acne

It's possible to get Acne in a variety of ways. They consist of:

• Blackheads

Open lumps on the skin that collect oil and dead skin cells are blackheads. Although they appear to be dirt, they are created by an uneven light reflection off the blocked hair follicle and are not generated by dirt.

• Whiteheads

Dead skin cells and oil clog pores, forming whiteheads.

• Papules

Inflamed papules are tiny, red, or pink pimples.

A papule is a raised area of skin tissue less than 1 centimeter around. A papule can have distinct or indistinct borders and can appear in various shapes, colors, and sizes. It's not a disease. Skin lesions as they are referred to basically change the texture or colour of your skin. There are many different types of pustules. They resemble whiteheads with red circles around them. If they are picked or scratched, they might leave scars.

• Pityrosporum folliculitis (fungal Acne):

Yeast in excess when resident in the hair follicles area lead to this type of acne. There is the potential for them to become irritated and itchy.

• Nodules

Nodules are hard, deep-seated pimples. They're huge and excruciating.

• Cysts

Pimples with pus inside are called cysts. Scarring is a possibility.

Various type of Acne can harm your personality, regardless of the severity of the condition. It's best to consult with your healthcare provider as soon as possible so that they would help you decide on the best course of action.

Whitehead

A whitehead is a type of Acne that develops when dead skin cells, oil, and bacteria become stuck inside pore spaces. Whiteheads could be aggravating, and they often appear at inconvenient times.

Whiteheads is another type of acne which is caused primarily by clogged pores. There are many factors for pores clogging.

Hormonal changes, which are common acne triggers, cause clogged pores. Specific years of life can cause an increase in the number of sebum, or oil, produced by your pores. Clogged pores and whiteheads are caused by excessive oil production.

These stages are as follows:

• Adolescence 
• Monthly Menstruation Cycles 
• During pregnancy

A whitehead can appear anywhere on the body, especially in the nose, chin, and forehead, and these are called T-zone. Acne may be more common in areas of your face that are particularly oily, such as the T-zone.

Whiteheads may also appear on your chest, back, shoulders, and arms.

Whiteheads are a mild form of Acne that is easy to treat. They are:

• Topical retinoids would take three months and are to be used once a day and act as deterrents of the pore-clogging process 
• Apply sunscreen daily. 
• In case of inflammatory Acne, use oral or topical antibiotics after your doctor prescribes them, and these remove the skin bacteria found in excess. The antibiotics also treat the inflammation along with the redness. 
• Birth control pills used as oral-contraceptive by women are effective in reducing Acne.

Blackheads

When hair follicles are clogged, tiny lumps will grow on the skin and appear dark in color. These are called Blackheads and are generally treated as mild Acne.

Blackheads generally appear in the

• Shoulders 
• Arms 
• Back 
• Neck 
• Chest & 
• Nose.

Causes of Blackheads:

As mentioned above the clogging of the hair follicles at its opening leads to Blackheads. As a result, the sebum, which produces oil and helps keep the soft skin, stops its production and accumulates dead skin cells. Such dead skin combines with the sebum and forms a bump called Comedo. As the Comedo loses its skin over the bump, it gets exposed to air. The exposure makes it look black and hence called Blackheads.

Blackheads appear due to the following reasons:

 

• Oil production is in excess 
• When the Propionibacterium acnes bacteria grow on the skin's follicles due to a lack of shedding of dead skin cells, the skin gets inflamed. 
• During adolescence, during menstruation, or when taking contraceptive pills, the body experiences hormonal imbalances that boost the production of oil 
• Consumption of a few drugs which have lithium, Corticosteroid, and androgens. 

Treatment:

You can treat Blackheads in the following ways:

• Remove them manually by allowing the skincare doctor to use a loop extractor. 
• Using medicines prescribed by your doctor. These are oral applications and contain adapalene, Vitamin A, Tazarotene, and Tretinoin. 
• Chemical peels are a form of treatment where a chemical solution removes the dead skin. 
• Microdermabrasion by Sanding the skin and removing the clogs 
• Laser and light therapy are used by focusing intense beams deep into the affected skin.

When a swelling appears over the skin roughly measuring a centimeter and may have many colors, it is called a Papule. Medical science has ruled it out from the category of disease and prefers to call it skin lesions due to the texture it surfaces.

The primary cause for Papules to appear is the excessive oil trapped inside dead skin cells along with bacteria. Although white blood cells fight this anomaly, the plugging of the hair follicles does lead to inflammation.

Treatment:

There are two popular medical methods of removing Papules.

1. Cautery in which electrosurgery is used to burn off the skin tag 
2. Scrape Excision, in which the process involves shaving or scraping of the Papules and then followed by Cautery.

 Home remedies also exist, and they are :

• Keep the skin clean without scrubbing 
• Wash with water that is warm by using mild soaps. 
• Avoid hot water 
• Never apply makeup or use perfume in areas that are affected 
• To rule out the possibility that a new product is to blame, stop using it immediately. 
• Allow the affected area to be exposed to as much fresh air as possible. 

 Conclusion:

Adults and teens passing through adolescence are the most likely to suffer from these types of Acne because of hormonal changes. In the long run, Acne will gradually disappear without therapies, but also, sometimes fresh breakouts appear as the old ones fade away.

The four types of Acne mentioned above are the most occurring, and the treatments have also been suggested.