Welcome to Acne Advice Guide
Acne is the word used to describe clogged skin pores (whiteheads and blackheads) and pimples that are most often found on and around the face and neck. But there are people whose acne occurs on the chest, shoulders, and upper arms and at the back. Usually acne affects young adults but there are also some elder people who experience acne even in their late 20’s and 30’s. The good thing is that acne is never a life-threatening condition. Severe acne usually leads to severe and permanent scarring of the face or any parts of the body where it could be found.
When reading about acne, you may encounter words like comedo, pustule, nodule, papule and cyst - these are the lesions of acne. A lesion is the radical and physical change in the skin caused by either injuries or diseases. Lesions maybe internal (e.g. cirrhosis, lung cancer, atherosclerosis in blood vessels) or could be external (e.g. cuts, skin cancers, psoriatic plaque, acne). An acne lesion ranges its severity from cysts, nodules and comedones. Comedones (singular comedo) are sebaceous follicles that are plugged into sebum, dead cells, tiny hairs and oftentimes include bacteria. Examples of these are the whiteheads and the blackheads. When comedones are closed they are commonly called whiteheads because it is lighter than the skin because of the inflamed bumps in the skin. While when comedones are open, they will be called blackheads they have blackish color.
Whiteheads differ in tone from the blackheads because of the opened pores wherein sebaceous follicles that are plugged are closed and narrow so they would make a different contrast to the distended openings in the follicles that of the blackheads. If ever you have one of these, don’t squeeze or pick them because definitely, it would lead to scars and some acne are cystic in nature in which, if picked would lead to the first stage of cancer. It is the job of dermatologists to eliminate those but never do it yourself. There are times when acne is squeezed or picked; it would lead to infections caused by streptococci and staphylococci or other skin bacteria.
Once in your adult life, you will probably encounter and experience having acne, but just play safe, and remember acne should never be squeezed and picked unless done by professionals.
