Acne Magazine

This is a really quick one, more like one of my quick thoughts for the day.  I was examining some spots on the side of my face the other day, and almost mistook them for age spots.  Age spots are those light to darkish brown spots that appear on the skin over time from, you guessed it - age.  They are not melasma, which is an actual skin disorder which causes brownish discoloration of the facial skin, but they are rather a little larger than a typical freckle, and have a usually irregular shape.

They usually are not that dark, but they are a little more pigmented than a slight discoloration of the skin.  Age spots can be corrected by microdermabrasion and dermabrasion, as well as with repeated acid peels and also as another option, may be treated with a laser if you have the time and money to spare. 

Acne scars that have long since faded may sometimes appear as age spots, which was my whole point before I totally digressed, and these spots, like age spots, may also be treated in the same fashion.  If you are using a home kit for acne scarring or microdermabrasion, you just need to exercise some patience for results, as it needs to slowly slough off the damaged skin over time to make a truly beautiful improvement and lightening in the color of the scar. 

A friend of mine at work and I were having an interesting conversation today about Vitamin K cream, which comes in many forms, but is perhaps most notorious through the brand of Vitamin K vitamin called Vita-K.  Vitamin K concentrated creams are supposed to be good remedies that are natural for dark under eye circles, which quite a few men and women struggle with these days.  Dark under-eye circles may be from lack of sleep, or even tougher to get rid of, they may also be genetically inherited or from some sort of nutritional deficiency.

She was interested in getting a Vitamin K cream for circles she said had formed under her eyes, but notes that Vitamin K could also be used for acne scarring, which I actually had heard in passing years ago, but had never tried.  Concentrated Vitamin K creams are supposed to help fade acne scars, but to my knowledge, they would not help with pitting and ice pick scars caused by acne lesion leftovers.  If any of my great, informed readers know more please do post a comment

I will keep up on this topic, as I think it could be a great, inexpensive way for people with hyperpigmentation left over from acne scars to cheaply treat them and help to fade them, but hesitate to recommend it for this, because I have read mixed reviews about the ability of Vitamin K cream to help fade dark under eye circles, which would make me doubt the efficiency it would have in reducing red acne scarring. 

Again, if you have some knowledge or personal experience on the subject, please do share!  I wanted to take a minute to thank all those readers who have taken the time to post their ideas and share their stories on everything from home made acne remedies, herbal supplements for acne, acne irritants, makeup for acne, and their personal experiences emotionally with acne. It truly makes AcneMagazine a gathering place for kindred spirits! 

I am checking into Restalyne soon at a dermatologist/cosmetic guy around here in my neighborhood soon, and while I’m in there asking him about how I can fill in my increasingly bad crows feet, if he can maybe inject some pothole scars in my face from acne, namely one that I can’t seem to diminish completely with home microdermabrasion and other acne scar kits that I’ve tried that no doubt work well, but cannot completely get rid of this very deep one.

This one is right by the fold by my nose, and I think that as I’ve aged the depth of it has gotten worse because my face has sort of lost some of it’s tightness, so the hole seems to have gotten wider and deeper.  I’ve read before that cosmetic dermatologists can actually use dermal fillers such as Restalyne and other popular fillers to fill in some acne scars or other trauma scars on other areas of the body, but it just may require a little more filler and be more expensive to do it.

I did inquire about the cost, and it usually costs you per syringe, so this guy charges about $500 per syringe, and it depends on how many wrinkles or scars you would want filled as to how many syringes he will use on you.  Also, I was advised that it would last around 6-8 months before you would need to go in for touchup fillings, and you would of course then again need to pony up the money for the next syringe. 

I’ll keep you all posted, as I have a consultation appointment to talk about this further with his aesthetician in two weeks, and I of course will be sharing any of that information with all of you!  If anyone has any experience with fillers for acne scars, please share them here in comments! 

Remember months ago, how I told you all about my experience with my handheld soft light laser from Beurer, and how I really thought it helped my acne lesions heal a lot faster?

After looking through a pamphlet today at the dermatologist office, I got curious about a certain product that they said patients with discoloring from acne and other scarring had was treated with something called hydroquinone, which I’d only heard briefly about before, but never really knew what it was meant to treat.

Well, hydroquinone, it was interesting to find out, is in a class of chemicals called phenols, of which the polyphenol, the magical ingredient in green teas and olive oil, touted for it’s antioxidant properties, is a member of as well.  Hydroquinone is used in medicine to help fade discoloring of the skin, as in from acne scarring and people with simply uneven skin that want to even their skin tone out more.

However, one interesting fact I also read about this dermatological product use in skin care and scarring/fading treatments is that many are concerned about its possible links to cancer. 

I remember reading this about a skin fading cream a while ago, but I thought it was a different one commonly used in black skin to fade discolorations, and I had thought it was banned, but maybe that was yet another skin fader that was found to be potentially cancer causing. 

At any rate, I think out of sheer avoidance to say the least, I’d probably avoid this product and isntead choose something like chemical peels, dermabrasion and other things that can help to even the skin tone rather than taking chances and potentially increasing your risk of cancer.  I’d rather try an alternative acne treatment any day! 

OK, admittedly I haven’t been doing my home microdermabrasion as often as I should be lately, and it’s really showing in my face, because for some reason my acne scars seem more pronounced when I am not doing it faithfully every weekend, or even sometimes (when I’m really good), twice a week.

I know this is a gross topic, but bear with me, I know you all will know exactly what I’m talking about if you’ve had acne in your life, especially the deeper type of acne which becomes almost cystic in nature, which is usually (at least in my case) derived from hormone fluctuations or stress.  Have you ever gently squeezed one of your zits, and it came out perfectly? 

No crusting, no bleeding, maybe very little, and it barely left a red mark?  That probably meant the zit was ripe for squeezing (gently mind you).  The other 90% of the time, unfortunately, we squeeze our zits before they are ready to be extracted, and what does this result in?  A red, crusty mess. 

The issue here is that when you squeeze one that still is deeply rooted and hasn’t come to the surface fully, there will be a lot of watery-type oozing coming out of it, in fact so much that you could probably keep a compress on it for a while and still have fluid coming out of it an hour later. 

This fluid will keep on coming, so you might as well only blot a few times.  This is the clotting stuff - this is what makes the zit crust over and creates an aesthetic nightmare for about 3 days or more.  What can you do to help it look a little better?  Just try washing with a gentle salicylic acid cleanser or some sort of natural alternative acne treatment, and then put a nice thick coating of moisturizer on it (I know, counterintuitive, but you need to get the crustiness and dryness to go away).  Then, hopefully, if you’re lucky, an acne scar won’t result (we hope!)

If you’ve ever had acne, and chances are, if you’re reading this, you have, you most likely have also gotten some sort of scarring from acne, since the trauma to the skin from certain zits in particular usually leaves some sort of residual mark on the skin.