What Causes Acne?
Acne is a skin condition that occurs when your hair follicles become plugged with oil and dead skin cells. There are four main factors that contribute to acne problems with your skin: excess oil production, clogged hair follicles, bacteria, and changing hormones. Acne can appear as whiteheads, blackheads, pimples, or even cysts. Depending on its severity, acne can be painful, cause emotional distress and even scarring. The earlier you start acne treatments, the lower your risk of long term problems.
What is Severe Acne?
Severe acne is a skin condition that can create painful cysts and nodules deep within the inner layers of the skin and cause frequent breakouts. Both blackheads and whiteheads are a common symptom of severe acne. When breakouts caused by severe acne are cleared there is often scars remaining on the skin; regular treatments with a dermatologist are your best course of action for treating scarring. You may wake up to the occasional breakout and think you have severe acne issues, but often this level of acne is brought on by hormonal changes in the body or environmental stressors. For people with problematic and oily skin, it is essential that your cleansing product of choice not only remove makeup and impurities, but also remove dead cells and excess oil.
How is severe acne treated? Can acne be cured?
Severe acne treatments will often focus on oral treatments, antibiotics or medicine applied to the skin. Be patient, as these treatments take time, but they do work! Acne can have detrimental effects on your psyche and cause depression and low self-esteem. This along with scarring effects can all be improved and clear skin can be achieved even with severe acne.
Balanced and regular treatments along with specific skincare routines can help you maintain the beneficial effects of your dermatology treatments and medications long term. For those with cysts or nodules, your dermatologist can inject them with a corticosteroid which will work to quickly reduce the size and pain and discomfort caused by swelling. Sometimes incision and drainage procedures are performed, usually in more severe cases. Never try to drain a cyst or nodule at home, as there is risk of infection, and the last thing you need is to worsen the condition of your skin, prolonging the benefits of proper treatment.
How to keep skin acne-free
To leave your skin feeling clean, renewed, and refreshed, you need something with deep pore penetrating power. We recommend using a cleanser with AHA. A solid cleansing and skin exfoliation routine can usually keep mild breakouts at bay, and you may also benefit from a chemical peel every few months (recommended in Fall and Winter months as this treatment does make your skin more prone to sunburn and more sensitive to the effects of UV rays).
A chemical peel is a minimally invasive cosmetic dermatology procedure that uses a chemical solution to smooth the texture of your skin by removing the damaged outer layers. They are mostly done on the face, however, sometimes people like these treatments on their hands and neck, as Chemical Peels are a great cost-effective way to give your skin the renewal it needs. If your skin has had lots of sun exposure in previous months, or if you have acne-prone skin, wrinkles, spotting, melasma or scarring, then Chemical Peels often have added benefits of improving your skin’s appearance one step further. Those with irregular skin pigmentation find these treatments helpful also for improving both the look and feel of their skin.
There are many myths about acne and how it is caused – such as it being only a problem for teenagers, or those who eat chocolate and greasy foods. Acne is not caused by dirty skin, nor can it be scrubbed away. Determining the severity and cause of your acne is the first step on a path to clearer skin. Book an appointment with us to assess the severity of your acne and determine the best course of treatment.