Acne Magazine

There is a difference between treating white, pale skin and treating more ethnic skin type that have more pigmentation in them and respond differently to treatments typically given in the dermatologist’s office such as laser therapy, microdermabrasion, chemical peels, possibly some medications and topical solutions, and more. 

For this reason, people with ethnic skin should probably make sure the professional they seek out has experience with ethnic skin types.  You shouldn’t be afraid to ask this when you call to book and appointment, as there are definitely dermatologists that are more accustomed to dealing with a diversity of skin types. 

If you have acne and you are African American or Asian or Hispanic, seeking out a professional with a wide range of experience in treating these skin types for acne and acne scar damage can be the difference between getting excellent results and getting inferior results in what you’re looking to do for your skin. 

Don’t be afraid to ask.  You certainly are paying enough, and you should get the most targeted, experienced skin care possible. 

Ok, so for some reason, probably my high stress levels lately due to some things going on in my personal life, I can’t seem to shake these breakouts. There are fine bumps allover my chin right now that aren’t going away, and I just now got rid of a massive festering acne lesion that was definitely bordering on cystic acne.

I decided I was going to order a few more bottles of Derma Cleanse, which I used with great success a few years ago to clear up my acne. I read the indications of the product again, to make sure this was the one I wanted to go with, as I truly believe my acne is an internal problem and cannot be resolved right now simply by washing with good cleansers and using topical solutions only. Dermacleanse’s indications are that it is a Chinese herbal based medicine that when used over a few months to a few weeks, helps regulate the hormones and is “specifically designed to treat your Acne internally by: Regulating your Hormone Level Detoxifying your Liver Relaxing your Nervous System Eliminating Excess Heat Stimulating your Immune System”.

We talked last time on how to get rid of back acne, or “backne” as it is affectionately called by some sufferers with a sense of humor, which often leaves people feeling defeated, because it is more difficult to reach and to treat that acne that is on the front of our body, such as our face or chest. 

Well, now I wanted to delve into the causes of back acne a little and see how we can possibly avoid back acne, or at least curb its severity by changing a few little things we do. 

We kind of talked about the importance of wearing light, breathable clothes last time in an effort to stave off too much sweating, which irriates the pores, and attracts dirt and grime like a magnet, which suffocates the skin, and begs for a clogged pore (acne lesion) to happen. 

People who bundle up a little too much may notice that their back acne flares up because they are too warm and are attracting dirt to this somewhat pore-sensitive area of the back.  You see, back acne is caused by overzealous oild glands in the back, which tend to flare up and produce too much oil on some people, while other people with facial acne may not have any problems at all on their back. 

It’s just a matter of what the oil glands are like at this particular location, there really is no other explanation for it at this time.   Another good idea for curbing the causes of “backne” is to take cotton pads and a gentle waterless cleanser or toner with you during the day and rub it down once a day between your morning shower and when you get home from work. 

This will help reduce the likelihood of buildup up the gunky stuff that makes your back breakout.

When my acne was in “full swing” as a teenager starting at about 14, and also in my adulthood into my twenties and late twenties, I mostly broke out on my face, but occasionally, I did notice I would get back acne, and it was very difficult to find a way to get rid of it since it was in a hard-to-reach place. 

The first important thing is, if you are a woman and you get back acne, make sure you are washing your bras almost every night, if possible.  I know this sounds like a pain, as I myself tend to wear my bras a few days in a row to avoid washing them too much, but there can be a significant amount of dirt and bacteria that build up on your bra and irritate your back, making it more prone to back acne when it rubs up against you. 

The primary cause of back acne is excess oil production in the back oil glands.  Since the back is a hard to reach area, it also doesn’t often get the thorough cleansing that something more reachable and noticeable, say our face, would get.  We need to make sure we are cleansing our back properly with a noncomedogenic acne body cleanser preferably. 

To adequately reach the back, we can buy a sponge on a stick, that allows us to reach between the shoulder blades where a lot of back acne occurs, and helps us to get rid of that built up bacteria, oil and dirt that ends to collect back there due to sweating and just regular daily activity. 

When it is hot outside, you will want to avoid wearing clothing that is too heavy for the season.  Light, airy fabrics will allow the back to “breathe” and not get congested with dirt, grime, grease and sweat, all of which are back acne irritants, and a key to getting rid of back acne by prevention.

You may also use a light toner on the back, at least the parts you can reach yourself.  Have your significant other doe it for you if you can’t reach the areas that are prone to break out.  The toner will just help to de-oil the skin back there and prevent future breakouts so that you have a nice, clean back when you wake up every morning. 

Acne and acne rosacea are both skin conditions that have an absolutely vital need for a gentle skin cleanser.  Those with acne and acne rosacea, or just rosacea, are not people who can just cleanse their face with their deodorant body soap, as many people still do. 

They should seek out a natural, pure and gentle cleanser that is as free of harsh detergents, drying types of alcohol, and irritants which are contained in many of the harsh chemicals used in commercial cleansers and bar-type soaps. 

The reason for this is that,especially with acne rosacea, when an irritating or drying cleanser is used that is not so gentle, it tends to dilate the capillaries in the face, causing even more of a red and irritated look to the skin, as well as making the face puff out in some cases in a defensive response to being inundated with harsh chemicals and other ingredients that the skin quite frankly doesn’t know how to defend itself against.

Some of the most soothing ingredients that can be found in cleansers for the face that would be suitable for both acne and acne rosacea would be herbal ingredients like chamomile and calendula, tea tree oil, and boswellia, to name a few.  There are tons more, but that would be too lengthy and quite frankly I don’t know nearly all of them to tell you a complete list!

These types of natural, non-harsh and skin soothing ingredients are what makes the difference between another blemish popping up due to sheer skin irritation or not.  They also create a smoother, more even skin tone, since the skin is not constantly over dried and irritated.  My advice would be, either seek out a natural acne rosacea cleanser, or acne cleanser online, or look for one in your local drugstore that contains a lot of natural ingredients. 

Well, according to some yes, acne is a partially genetically inherited trait that unfortunately can be passed down generation to generation.  You may be thinking right now who in your family you may have “gotten” the acne proclivity from right now, and be able to pinpoint it in a moments time.  

I know I partially can pinpoint mine, but it’s not from my mother or father directly, but rather through the female side of my mother’s family.  Doctors and researchers have stated before that a family history of acne, as well as hormonal changes in the body are usually significant indicators and predictors of the skin condition acne.

So, since we can’t help what gene pool we came from, many times we need to just deal with our acne skin problems the best way we know how, which is often with several of the “wrong” products before we find the right ones that both agree with our skin type and soothe and repair damage done to our skin by our acne problem.

The fact that acne is genetic does not mean we can’t combat it with all we’ve got.  Some of the biggest and most beautiful stars in Hollywood had it, and all you see today on them is beautiful, glowing skin.  Look at Cameron Diaz and Vanessa Williams, both of whom have confessed to lifelong battles with acne. 

They now have beautiful, glowing skin, and they may battle the occasional blemish or two still like we all do, but they’ve overcome it and have been able to correct it very well with today’s advanced natural and other acne therapies.  So you see, just because acne is many times genetic, this does not relegate us to a hopeless life of acne blemishes.  We have the best natural acne treatments right at our fingertips to battle the problem with the best defenses. 

As we discussed the other day, acne scarring can many times lend to the “old” look of skin, because as our skin ages, it loses elasticity, and along with that, our acne scars take on a noticeable sag and many times are more visible because the skin is not pulled as tightly as it was when the scar originally formed.

Did you know that not every acne bump that sprouts up on your face will result in an acne scar? That’s right, many times, we are lucky enough to have the more minor blemishes not end up marring our skin, but unfortunately the more severe your acne is, the more likely you are to suffer scars after the acne itself has healed, from trauma to the skin site.The deeper, cystic acne is what almost always results in a scar. As a matter of fact, all the scars that are/were on my chin can be attributed to a serious, deep acne cyst that most likely took days to go away, and required some serious TLC to even get it close to healing.

I remember when I used to live by the concept of using a hot compress on my big zits that wouldn’t seem to go away, and just seemed to need a “helping hand” with coming to the surface so I could safely, gently squeeze them to be extracted by my then expert hands.  Now, I’m not so sure that the hot compress works any more, at least not on me with adult acne.

I currently have a real whopper of a pimple on my chin, thanks to tons of stress and anxiety, and a few too many diet cokes and other caffeinated beverages.  I tried the hot compress and all it seemed to do was further irritate my pimple, not really bring it to the surface safely or anything. 

It also made the pimple form a crust over it almost instantly, making it harder to conceal with my ever so important concealer stick.  I decided to try to make it heal faster with my handheld home laser that I bought about a year ago and unfortunately did not have enough time to use every night. 

The handheld home laser helps things to heal faster by stimulating collagen as welll as stimulating skin cells to regrow healthy new tissue.  It did seem to help a bit, however, I’m still stuck with a mountain of a zit to cover up in the mornings before work.   

There has been a lot lately written about the Fraxel laser, and how this method of laser skin resurfacing is superior to other earlier methods, since it penetrates different skin layers discriminately, so it leaves the ones that make the skin heal faster in tact and allows for less recovery time than a traditional laser skin resurfacing. 

But does the fraxel laser work well on acne scarring?  Well, it appears it does from the few before and after pictures I looked at.  I only saw one where it didn’t really deplete the scarring residuals, but it did put a good dent.  Keep in mind, this picture was of a woman with severely scarred skin from acne.

The other good thing about fraxel lasers as an acne scarring product is that they only require a topical anasthetic, so you’re out the door, and out and going about your regular activities almost immediately.  It’s not like deep laser resurfacing typically used on aging skin, where the recovery time if sometimes months before you see your skin look a normal color.

The Fraxel laser was approved fairly recently by the FDA as an acne scar treatment, and it can also improves the appearance of your pores, making them clearer, tighter, and more refined.  The side effects of the fraxel laser treatment are usually fairly minimal, ranging form a little tenderness and swollen redness that can be covered by makeup the next day if necessary.

The costs usually runs a couple grand though, when all treatments are said and done, so it’s really not all that affordable for a whole lot of us, but it’s worth looking into if you’re willing to dish out big bucks for some pretty serious cosmetic results and a noticeable reduction in your acne scarring. 

The Fraxel acne laser treatment is also good for healing skin that has photodamage (sun damage), and produces noticeable effects on sunspots and agespots as well many times.  It is also sometimes used as an anti-aging treatment that is a little less harsh and more discerning than a regular, full strength, deep penetrating laser.