Here is part II of our special series on the types of acne cysts and general kinds of acne that can invade one’s skin, no matter what age you are.  We started with a generally large description of the acne skin condition in general, as well as mild acne, which is typically just a light scatter of bumps on the chin and forehead. Now let’s get into a little more depth on the topic.

Hormonal Acne

Teenagers usually experience this type of condition although increasingly more adults are as well – this is not exclusive to men or women, both can get it at any age and typically it is exacerbated by stress and diet.  It can be contributed to the increased production of hormones and usually is also mild. During puberty the oil glands activate from hormonal stimulation. Dead skin cells clog the pores, blocking the skin openings. Clogged pores cause a build- up of oil under the skin.

Bacteria feed off the oil and multiply causing the surrounding tissue to inflame. A papule of inflammation then forms on the skin. Severe cases of hormonal skin conditions it may be necessary to seek treatment from a dermatologist. Treatment for severe cases can include oral antibiotics.

Severe Acne Vulgaris

Severe Vulgaris is a condition caused by over-active oil glands. This condition can occur in teenagers or young adults. The overproduced oil gathers under the skin. This oil can cause inflammations throughout several layers of skin. Treatment by a dermatologist is necessary and can include oral and/or topical medications. Dermabrasion is the removal of scar tissue by laser and chemical peels are also a typical treatment.

Cystic

Cystic types of inflammation occur when the oil duct becomes clogged or infected by bacteria. Cystic inflammations are most common in teenagers. Steroids or antibiotics may be necessary for the worst cases. Extreme cases of cystic skin inflammations are also known to cause permanent scarring.

Boils

Boils are caused by clogged sweat glands that become infected. Boils start as red, tender areas and become firm or hard. The center softens as the boil is filled with pus. The pus forms a head and will eventually spontaneously drain.

Boils should be treated as soon as possible by applying a heat compress to the infected area. For smaller boils treatment can be done at home. Larger boils are extremely painful and lancing, or surgically opening and draining is usually necessary.

Hey guys, this is going to be a two parter, because it simply cannot fit all in one without boring the reader (or maybe it’s just me that has the attention span of a gnat).  At any rate, I wanted to share with your this educational piece about the various types of acne cysts and generally, the types of acne that can occur on the skin.

It is likely that you may have experienced one or all of them if you are reading this blog, so it should be good reading material if not to reinforce what you already know, then to educate you a little more on WHY these types of acne typically occur in so many people today.

Let’s start with the foundation of what all acne is for a general overview of what acne stems from in general. 

Acne – A General Overview

Acne is a disease of the hair follicles, usually located on the face, chest and back. Congested pores also known as a whitehead or a blackhead, tender red bumps known as pimples or zits, pustules and occasionally cysts or boils appear. Whitehead and blackhead are also known as comedos. A whitehead is an open comedo.

The hair follicle dilates with skin debris, oil and bacteria and has an obstructed opening to the skin. A whitehead may rupture and cause a low-grade skin inflammatory reaction. A blackhead, like a whitehead is a dilated hair follicle full of skin debris, oil and bacteria. A blackhead has a wider opening to the skin and has been capped with a blackened mass of skin debris.

After an inflammation forms the body sends white blood cells to fight the infection. The liquid combination of oil, skin debris, bacteria and infection fighting white blood cells become pus. A papule is a small, solid round bump rising from the skin and is basically a pimple or zit before the pus forms.

A pustule is a papule that has a collection of pus in the center of infected area and is on the top layer or two of the skin. A pimple is an infected papule that is deeper than two dermal layers. Several types of inflammation can occur and are the result of different types of conditions.

Mild Acne

The most common form of these types of breakouts is mild and appears in most males and females. Mild breakouts are usually in the form of pustules, papules and comedos and can be hormonal. Treatment includes using an over the counter topical cream. It is not usually necessary to seek medical treatment. Further breakouts can be prevented by practicing good personal hygiene, cleaning the face and hands often with antibacterial soap and avoiding pore clogging skin irritants like cosmetics.

Treating Cystic Acne With Retinol

There are several different types of acne, and each type requires a different treatment. Cystic acne is the most severe form, and it often does not respond to typical treatments. Retinol has proven effective in the treatment of cystic blemishes, although it has some potentially serious side effects.

Anyone at any age can get this medical condition. There are several myths surrounding how not to get it, such as different foods to avoid and ways to wash the face. The fact remains that some people will suffer from this medical malady, regardless of what they do.

Cystic blemishes are the most severe form of this illness. Many people will refer to a severe case of this illness as being cystic, but in order to truly be cystic, it must be coupled with soft, fluid filled cysts under the skin.

The cystic sufferer may complain of the cysts being very painful. Sometimes the cysts can be accompanied by hard lumps under the skin as well. These hard areas are called nodules and they are painful too. The worst cases of this illness takes a long time to heal and often leaves areas of discoloration where a blemish was.

Retin-A hit the market over 30 years ago as a way to treat the worst cases of blemishes. Over the decades, this medication has been improving and is now available in several forms. Retin-A is vitamin A in its purest form. Vitamin A is one of the best vitamins for the skin.

The retinoids in vitamin A work to decrease the amount of excretory fluid released by sebaceous glands and regulate the rate at which skin cells are sloughed off, the two main causes for the worst type of blemishes caused by this illness.

Until recent years, Accutane was only available in pill form. The treatment consisted of taking oral vitamin A for a period of time, as determined by a physician. During this time, patients were required to undergo blood tests to make sure the vitamin A was not harming the body.

Recent years have seen the addition of a topical preparation of vitamin A. The topical preparation is most effective for patients who suffer from mild to moderate acne vulgaris. Side effects are significantly less with the topical preparation of Retin-A, and results have been almost as effective as the oral preparation of this medication.

Retin-A is an effective way of treating the most severe case of blemishes. This medication is now available in different formulations for patients to use. The main ingredient in Retinol is vitamin A. Patients will need to be followed by a physician while using Retinol to ensure no adverse effects of this medication are experienced.

Acne affects a majority of todays teen population as well as a lot of the adult populatoin, but did you know that there are different types of acne that people can get? There a six basic types of acne that people are known to get and it is important that you identify what kind you have before you try to treat it.

The first type of acne that most people are familiar with are called blackheads. Blackheads are caused because dead skin over layers a pore and then the pore becomes clogged becoming nothing more than a pestering zit. The next type most people could easily name off the top of their head is called a whitehead.

A whitehead is caused by hair follicles that block the pore thus making the glands that produce oil just fill up the pores and puff up the skin – hence the importance of keeping the pores clear of all dirt, debris and bacteria by using gentle yet effective acne face washes.

Like whiteheads there is another acne called acne vulgaris.  The two get confused for one another but the causes are different. The main cause of vulgaris acne is because of oversecretion of oil due to puberty or hormonal spikes that the person has. There are different reasons on why vulgaris acne starts but most of the time it is due to this.

Acne rosacea is a type of acne that appears small and red the red is a blood vessel that has risen due to the clogged pore. One of the last types of acne that is not as often seen is cystic acne which appears to be much larger compared to other forms of acne because the pus in the pore ruptures under the skin thus moving into the deep layers of the skin giving it plenty of room to grow.

It is best if this acne is treated before this happens because it has the potential of leaving permanent damage to the skin resulting in facial scaring. The last type of acne that in common to see is nodular acne which is basically vulgarls acne but the pus under the pore hardens into a solid object thus leaving potential for damage to get rid of.

All six of these acnes have different types of treatments that may work best – it’s up to you to find one that suits your skin best.

Seeing your newborn with small, pimple-like bumps on their face can be dismaying. The acne you sometimes see on small babies usually appears within a few weeks of birth. It usually appears on the face, chin and forehead, but is not totally limited to those areas in all cases.

Acne in infants is caused by hormones that were passed from the mother to the child that causes hormonal changes in the baby’s skin. It usually does subside on its own, but there are some things you can do in the meantime to help it clear up faster.  Following a few treatment steps will clear up your baby’s skin in a few short weeks.

Make sure to keep the baby’s skin clean. Wash your baby’s face twice a day using warm water and a mild cleanser. This will prevent your baby’s acne from becoming infected. It also helps soothe the skin’s dryness and irritation which helps to support the healing of the existing acne bumps on your baby’s face and other areas.

Use a soft wash cloth, rough scrubbing can cause the skin condition to worsen. Do not allow droll or spit up to stay on your child’s face. Have a bib around to clean up any spit up or drool that drops on his face.

Baby’s scratch and rub their skin during an acne outbreak. Hypoallergenic creams keep the face well moisturized. The moisturizers also help relieve the itching. Do not use lotions meant for adult skin. There are plenty of all natural moisturizers that are designed specifically for infants’ sensitive skin.

To prevent further irritation, babies should wear soft clothing. Also, try to avoid rubbing the baby’s skin against your clothing. Some adult clothing is washed using hard detergents and contain synthetic fibers that can aggravate the skin condition. There are detergents designed for babies that are hypoallergenic and do not contain fragrances.

Check the baby periodically for overheating. You can tell the baby is overheating by looking at his back. If the back is sweaty, then change your baby into something that is not as warm. Sweat can act as an irritant to acne, keep babies cool and dry.

Baby acne looks far worse than it is. It is something that affects many infants. With time and proper skin care, this condition clears up without creating any long-term skin issues.  Now, when your baby becomes a teen, it’s a whole different ballgame

Acne is such a wonderful thing (you can hear my voice dripping with sarcasm I hope). Yesterday, for no reason at all, in my mid thirties, I woke up with a big, cystic type of acne lump on the back of my neck. What an odd place for a huge cyst bump to pop up on!

I went through in my mind why, for the second time in the past few months, I might be getting these huge cyst like acne breakouts on the back of my neck, and I couldn’t come up with why for the life of me.  I mean, I’ve heard of body acne, but who knew there were so many oil glands on the neck!

That’s part of the great mystery about acne. Sometimes you will go a month without breaking out on your face (which is reason enough to be thanking your lucky stars if you have very oily, acne prone skin), but in place of facial acne, you get it popping up in weird places like on your neck!

In addition to the back of my neck large cyst, I’m also getting them under my chin. So I guess if I have to be grateful for something, it’s that these are in relatively low visibility areas that you can only really see if you are at certain vantage points of ir I have my hair up in a high pony tail.

BUT, I do wonder – WHY? Why are they in the location that they are?  If you’ve been an acne sufferer for years in your youth like I was, then you know the process or trying to figure out that common denominator.

I went through my head, trying to think if I had something pressed up against these areas that may have triggered a breakout – couldn’t think of anything. Then I tried to think if I applied any different type of lotion to these areas. Still came up empty.

I even tried to think of the foods and drinks I’d had in the past few days, or supplements or even pain relievers I had taken in the past few days – still nothing out of the ordinary. In short, I came up totally empty on what the reason could possibly be for my odd placement breakout.

I do know that my face is clear now, but my neck and under-chin area seem to be taking all the heat. If anyone else has had this type of experience, please share!

Or even if someone thinks they know the reason for these counterintuitive types of breakouts, please share! It helps everyone to know that others experience the same frustrations as they do when it comes to maintaining clear skin.

It’s that time of the month. And you know what that means. At least, I know what it means for me. It means my skin becomes a veritable greasepit, working overtime on producing sebum, and needing a lot more attention when it comes to using my good ol’ blotting sheets.

My skin is very oily naturally as it is. At any given time of the month, you will get a lot of oil on the blotting sheet on almost every portion of my face.  This goes doubly for my chin and my forehead, as well as the areas immediately adjacent to my nose, which also tends to be hyper-oily.

During PMS, and for some women, during their actual monthly cycle, the skin tends to go into over oil over production. This is simply due to the natural fluctuation of hormones that occurs during this time of the cycle. 

Many times, our estrogens (female hormones) and our androgens (male hormones, these are the primary cause behind acne) tend to be out of balance during this time.  Some women have less of a problem with this, especially if their skin tends toward the drier side, or if they’ve never really had issues with acne in the first place. 

Chances are, if you have major PMS symptoms, your skin may also be a lot oilier during this time, as the same hormonal imbalance that is related to other unpleasant parts of PMS like mood swings and water weight gain, are the same imbalances that are generally responsible for oilier skin.  Hormonal acne is the worst.

Even if you are on the pill, like I am, you will probably still experience oilier skin during PMS or during your actual period.  There is really nothing you can do to “prevent” it, but you can make sure your skin is absolutely clear of debris by cleansing it twice a day.

Why will this help you maintain acne-free skin during the oily time?  Well, because it takes a few things to create a breakout-friendly atmosphere on your face. First, it takes excess sebum production, which you get during PMS. Second, it takes bacteria and debris accumulation, which penetrate the pores and infect them, creating an acne lesion, which can be a whitehead or blackhead or cyst.

If you take the bacteria and the debris out of the equation, it’s impossible to break out. So voila, you at least reduce the likelihood!

Just as there are some foods and types of stimulants that will aggravate acne in certain people (myself included, which you definitely know if you’re a regular reader), there are some prescription drugs that can greatly aggravate acne, or even cause acne to become a problem for people who may have previously had pristine skin.

I have talked already about my own personal experience with taking extra strength Vicodin and breaking out horribly. It was odd too, because it was almost a sort of delayed reaction. I had actually been on Vicodin for a few days for some oral surgery I had gotten on my gums, when I started to break out.

That’s how your body reacts to things sometimes though. Maybe my body had reached a tolerance level for whatever active ingredient it was in Vicodin that made my skin react so violently.

Other drugs that can either cause or aggravate acne are anticonvulsants.  Steroids are a big acne causer. These are often prescribed to people as a way to help reduce swelling and to help quicken healing in people who may have some sort of traumatic injury.

It is also prescribed on a regular basis for people with certain diseases. Steroids are basically hormones, and taking them can throw your body totally out of hormonal balance and harmony, which is the ultimate way to guarantee an acne breakout.

This is why you often hear that men who are abusing anabolic steroids break out in terrible acne – it’s because their testosterone levels are way too high.

It is testosterone, or androgens, which actually are the hormonal basis of acne causation, so taking any drugs which induce them to increase to high levels, will in turn make your skin erupt in acne lesions. 

Lithium, which is a fairly serious drug to help correct mood imbalances and certain psychiatric disorders, has also been commonly linked to aggravating and causing acne breakouts.  Lithium users frequently report back and chest acne.

A lot of people are witnessing the devastation and human tragedy that is occurring over in Japan right now. I sat and watched, mouth open, the water pouring over bridges and tossing homes and cars as if they were feathers. Truly frightening stuff.

And even more frightening is the fact that the country is also facing threat of nuclear facility meltdowns. So, they were hit with a devasting high magnitude earthquake, then walloped with a tsunami that has claimed thousands of lives – the death toll somewhere around 10,000 and counting the last I looked, and now they are faced with potential radio active exposure.

Things are really not good right now for the Japanese people. There has been a great outpouring of financial help from all countries. You can help too – any amount is not too small – it all will go to help people who have truly been devastated by this cruel act of nature.

You can visit the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, and there are several other nonprofit organizations that are lining up to lead the way to helping Japan rebuild and prevent further disaster, while tending to its displaced, injured, and no doubt traumatized people. 

Let’s all pray for them, and hope that nothing happens to make this already precarious situation even worse.

Just when you start cursing your skin for the various common skin complaints such as aging skin, acne prone skin, oily skin or bumpy, red skin, you read about someone who is struggling with an immense, incurable skin condition, and it really brings things into perspective. At least for a while.

I read a heart wrenching story about a little 5 year old girl who was born with a genetic skin disorder called icthyosis. Icthyosis is where the skin is red, irritated and scaly all of the time, almost looking like a bad sunburn. It becomes thick and scaly if not exfoliated every day and smothered in special creams several times a day.

And the really curious thing is that it sheds, in it’s entirety, every single day. Whereas normal skin sheds about once every two weeks, and we don’t see the obvious outcome since it does it little by little, icthyosis patients see their skin shed like this every day.  The skin condition is extremely rare, as it is statistically about one in three people in every one million who have it.

When this particular little girl was born, she was encased in a sheet of her own skin, so apparently the condition begins right from birth, and is gestational in nature, occurring right in the womb and having to be addressed as soon as the baby comes out of the mother’s uterus.

The person’s hands and face are the worst off, having to be rubbed down with a special cream every half hour. You can imagine how high maintenance and how life-intruding this disease would be, especially for such a little person just starting out in life who looks around seeing their friends and family not having to go through the same rituals every day.

There is no known cure for the ichtyosis skin condition, but it is known that there are a few genes that, if mutated, carry this in a mother of father and can be passed on to their infant in some cases.  Since the disease is so rare, unfortunately it lacks any really big funding that is large enough to continue serious research into a cure.

Genetic research is, by it’s very nature, expensive to carry on, and when a disease is genetically contracted, that’s the only way that a cure can be found.