Whiteheads & Blackheads
Whiteheads & Blackheads
What is Acne?
Acne is caused when tiny holes in the skin, known as hair follicles, become blocked. It can be hard enough dealing with acne itself, but when you are left with acne scarring to deal with too, it can feel like there is no end in sight to the problem.
How severe your acne is will determine what treatment you should have. The severity of acne is often categorised as:
- mild – mostly whiteheads and blackheads, with a few papules and pustules
- moderate – more widespread whiteheads and blackheads, with many papules and pustules
- severe – lots of large, painful papules, pustules, nodules or cysts; you might also have some scarring
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What causes Acne?
Acne can be caused by a multitude of factors from hormonal to environmental. Acne usually occurs when the pores in your skin get blocked with dead skin, oil and or bacteria. Your pores are the opening of the follicle; the follicle is made of hair and sebaceous gland (oil).
The gland lubricates the skin and hair to stop it from drying out, this is done by the gland producing a substance called sebum. With acne the gland will begin producing too much sebum, and this then mixes with the dead skin cells and they combine to create a plug in the follicle.
This blockage of the pore, if it is closer to the surface, will show up as acne but depending up on the blockage and if bacteria is able to contaminate the plug, it will affect the type of acne that you suffer with.
Types of Acne
White heads
This type of acne forms through a combination of dead skin cells, bacteria and oil that’s trapped inside your pores. They appear yellow or white looking and are filled with a liquid consistency.
Blackheads
Blackheads appear on your skin like small bumps because of hair follicles being clogged inside your pores. These bumps are called blackheads because the surface looks dark or black.
Papules
This type of acne appears as swollen red bumps that we are usually aware of when having a standard breakout. Papules can cluster into a rash and be either brown, purple, pink or red in colour.
Pustules
Similar to papules, pustules are small bumps on the skin that contain fluid or pus; they appear as white bumps surrounded by red skin.
Nodules
Nodules are raised soft tissue bumps filled with fluid developed just below the skin. It can also turn red as the area gets more inflamed.
Cysts
This type of acne appears as large, red, painful breakouts deep in your skin and as bacteria is trapped underneath your skin, this causes the area to become swollen and painful to touch.
Types of Acne Scarring
Ice Pick Scars
Ice pick acne scars are often narrow, but ‘dig’ deep – usually reaching past the top levels of the skin’s surface. This type of scarring is one of the most common types, along with Boxed scarring.
Rolling Scars
Rolling scarring causes the skin to have an undulating appearance. This is due to damage beneath the skin’s surface. Rolling scars are usually shallow but wide.
Boxed Scars
Similar to ice pick scarring in the fact that they are also common, these scars are wider and feature well-defined edges. They appear more oval in shape.
Hypertrophic/Keloid Scars
Raised, and firm to touch, hypertrophic scarring is most commonly seen on the back and chest. However, it can also be found on the face and neck. Keloid scars are a form of hypertrophic scarring, and they can both get smaller over time.
Treatments we offer for Acne
At Este Medical, we offer a range of expert quality, proven acne treatments for a variety of acne conditions.
Your Este Medical skincare specialist will be able to advise you as to which acne treatment will be best for you. We understand that acne is often much more than just a skin problem, as the surrounding psychological factors that come into play when a person is dealing with acne can often become just as big – if not bigger – than the actual acne itself.
Este Medical’s Director, Sam, went through this himself so understands how low it can make you feel. If you’re looking to change things and get help with your acne or acne scarring, get in touch with us today and begin your skin and confidence transformation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Smoking is also said to cause acne in older people. Whatever the underlying reasons as to why you have acne, it all results in one thing – hair follicles becoming blocked by sebum from surrounding sebaceous glands, and dead skin cells. These plugged hair follicles can either turn into whiteheads or blackheads, and if the (usually) harmless bacteria that lives on our skin then infects the follicles, you can even experience cysts, papules, nodules or pustules. None of which are any fun for the person having to deal with them.
Our skincare experts take time to get to know and understand your acne concerns and issues, and only then will they make an informed decision as to which acne treatment is the best for you. That could be:
- lightfusion™ Light Therapy
- Skin Peels
- Pixel Laser Resurfacing
You do not need to stop wearing makeup if you have acne. However, you should wear makeup that is non-comedogenic. This means that it doesn’t block the pores.
Not necessarily. As mentioned above, acne can be caused by a number of triggers, and however much you clean your face it’s not going to affect how crazy your hormones are being. Sometimes, cleaning your face too much can even contribute to acne as it can aggravate spots.
Furthermore, using alcohol-based cleansers can dry your skin out and this isn’t a good thing as far as acne is concerned. Despite what you may think, and even if you feel like you have excessively oily skin, it’s still important to use a moisturiser – just make sure you opt for a non-comedogenic one.
Everyone is different, but acne – more often than not – does eventually go away. For many, it’s puberty that can kick things off and acne often settles down when puberty does. However, acne can sometimes persist into your adult years.
That said, our skincare specialists have worked with many clients who wanted their acne to disappear and felt like they had tried everything. As you will see from our success stories and testimonials, we have had hugely positive and effective results.
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