Acne: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

Acne is a widespread skin disease that is caused by clogging of hair follicles. It is more common for women and for people during their teenage years, but it also can persist in adults.Acne has a multiform etiology.

Dermatologists consider that both genetic predisposition, smoking, hormonal imbalance, bacteria, high-glycemic-load diets, excessive makeup using and stresses can be the reasons of acne.Acne has several special signs and symptoms.

One of the most frequent signs of this skin disorder are blackheads and whiteheads, pores which are clogged by excess oil from the skin and dead cells. An open pore looks like a blackhead, and a closed one looks like a whitehead. Sometimes acne nodules appear, they are situated under the skin surface and can transform into scars after healing.

When the pore is filled by bacteria, oil and dead cells, it can lead to the formation of acne cyst. It is located deep in the skin and can be very painful. At last, papules are inflamed comedones, they can appear in groups or alone, have a red color and rise above the skin.

Scars and pigmentation are the results of the inflammation in deep layers of skin. They also appear because of the pathological healing response. Differential diagnosis of acne includes rosacea, angifiofibroma and folliculitis.

However, the age of the patient and the presence of comedones can help the dermatologist to distinguish these disorders.Letting acne runs its course can lead to the complications and the persistence of the infection.

he treatment begings from the diet: it is advised to eat low-glycemic-load food (that means to avoid products which rise the blood sugar rise quickly, for example sweets and white bread). Stresses, psychological conflicts must be avoided. It is also better not to use makeup during treatment. The most common medications are benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, retinoids, antibiotics and hormonal therapy.

Type of treatment depends on reasons of the disease and the age of the patient, but usually a combination therapy is used. The procedure that leads to immediate relief is the corticosteroids injections into the inflamed area.Dermabrasion, laser resurfacing and chemical peels are used in order to reduce the formation of acne scars.There is also a big amount of natural products for acne treatment. Herbal medicines, for example the oil of tea tree and bee venom, help to achieve a healthy state of skin without irritating it. However, only few studies about alternative medicine have been performed.