Before treating acne it is very important to identify just which type of acne you are suffering from because, despite what most people think, acne can be more than a simple case of spots resulting from trapped skin oil, dead skin cells, white blood cells and bacteria.
Acne is often classified by grade starting with grade I which includes mild, non-inflamed types of acne like blackheads and whiteheads. We then move to grade II acne which involves cases of acne involving a large number of blackheads and whiteheads and usually also includes papules or pustules that are slightly inflamed.
A papule is a reasonably small lesion, or break in the skin, which appears as a bump that sits proud of the surface of the skin and is normally smaller than about 5 mm in diameter. A pustule is very similar to a papule although it is filled with pus and contains a mixture of white blood cells, dead skin cells and bacteria.
Moving up the scale we come to grade III acne which is simply a more severe case of grade II acne where the papules or pustules are larger, more numerous and red.
At the top of the scale, we come to grade IV acne which is the most severe type of acne and covers cysts and nodules. In grade IV acne inflammation is usually wide spread and grade IV acne typically involves more than simply the face.
Grade I acne, including the common type of mild acne known as acne vulgaris, is not normally difficult to treat and can generally be cleared up with over-the-counter medications.
A somewhat more severe form of acne is called acne congoblata and this is characterized by heavy inflammation and deep abscesses which can often lead to skin damage including scarring, leading to the all too common problem of how to get rid of acne scars. Inflamed and frequently painful nodules form around the acne pimples and frequently grow until they spontaneously discharge pus. This form of acne can frequently result in keloid-type scarring.
Acne fulminans is another form of acne where nodules can ulcerate, resulting in a painful and recurrent form of acne. Sufferers can also sometimes have a fever and experience aching joints and treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or corticosteroids is usually needed. Such drugs are however used for the treatment of the symptoms of this form of acne and not the acne itself.
Continuing on up the scale some people will develop nodulocystic acne in which unusual cysts (red bumps which are caused by severe inflammation) form and occasionally become so numerous and appear close enough together to make a reasonably big area of inflammation. Nodulocystic acne can create tunnels below the skin allowing infection to spread easily and quickly. This form of acne is usually treated using antibiotics such as isotretinoin, which is perhaps better known as Accutane.
Lastly, we arrive at gram-negative folliculitis which appears when the hair follicles are also infected. Bacteria growing at the base of the hair follicle cause the body to respond by sending white blood cells to fight the infection and this can sometimes lead to a deep eruption that requires specialist treatment. This particular type of acne is usually resistant to antibiotics and indeed the condition can occasionally result from using antibiotics for the treatment of other types of acne.
Although extremely common, acne is far from being the simple condition which many of us have always thought it to be and it is not always a simple case of purchasing a cream from the local drugstore to treat it. As a result, the moment acne appears you should pop in to see your doctor, or better still a dermatologist, and have the condition diagnosed so that you can select the appropriate proactive acne cream from the outset.
More FREE Acne Info:
Posted in Acne Articles | 
Tags: acne, diagnosing acne, grades of acne, pimples, spots, types of acne, zits
TOP ACNE PRODUCT RECOMMENDATION:
|
