Your Acne Treatment Depends Upon The Form Of Acne That You Are Suffering From
Before you start treating your acne it is essential to know precisely which form of acne you have as, in spite of what many people think, acne can be much more than simply a case of spots resulting from trapped skin oil, white blood cells, bacteria and dead shin cells.
Acne is generally classified by grade starting with grade I which includes mild, non-inflamed forms of acne like whiteheads and blackheads. We then move on to grade II acne which covers cases of acne involving a large number of blackheads and whiteheads and generally also includes pustules and papules that are slightly inflamed.
A papule is a small lesion, or break in the skin, which appears as a bump that rises above the skin surface and that is normally smaller than 5 mm in diameter. A pustule is similar to a papule but is filled with pus and contains a mixture of bacteria, dead skin cells and white blood cells.
Moving up the scale we come to grade III acne which is just a severe case of grade II acne where the papules or pustules are larger, red and more numerous.
Finally, we come to grade IV acne which is the most severe case of acne and covers cysts and nodules. Inflammation in the case of grade IV acne is wide spread and grade IV acne generally encompasses more than just the face.
Grade I acne, including the commonest form of mild acne known as acne vulgaris, is not usually hard to deal with and can generally be cleared up with over-the-counter medications.
A more severe form of acne is known as acne congoblata which is characterized by heavy inflammation and deep abscesses that can frequently cause scarring and other forms of skin damage, leading to the all too common problem of how to get rid of acne scars. Inflamed and often painful nodules form around the acne pimples and often grow until they spontaneously discharge pus. This form of acne can often lead to keloid-type scarring.
Acne fulminans is another form of acne where the nodules formed will often ulcerate, causing a painful and recurrent form of acne. Sufferers can also sometimes run a fever and encounter aching joints and treatment using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or corticosteroids is generally necessary. These drug treatments are however used to treat the symptoms of this type of acne and not its underlying cause.
Continuing on up the scale some people will develop nodulocystic acne in which unusual cysts (red bumps which result from severe inflammation) appear and occasionally become so numerous and close enough together to make a relatively large area of inflammation. Nodulocystic acne can also create small tunnels below the surface of the skin that allow infection to spread easily and quickly. This form of acne is generally treated using antibiotics such as isotretinoin, which is better known by the name of Accutane.
Lastly, we arrive at gram-negative folliculitis which occurs when hair follicles become infected. Bacteria growing at the base of a hair follicle cause the body to react by sending white blood cells to fight the bacterial infection and this can sometimes produce a deep eruption that requires special treatment. This form of acne is often resistant to treatment with antibiotics and indeed the condition can sometimes result from using antibiotics to treat other types of acne.
In spite of the fact that it is extremely common, acne is not the simple condition that most of us have always thought it to be and it is not always a simple case of buying some cream from the local drugstore to treat it. So, as soon as acne appears you need to pop in to see your doctor, or even better a dermatologist, and have the condition diagnosed so that you can select the appropriate proactive acne cream from the start.