About Adult Acne

Acne is often thought of as a teenage dilemma, and while it is true that acne appears most often during the teenage years, it is arguably just as true that there are a growing number of individuals that suffer from adult acne.

Adults in their twenties, all the way up to their fifties can still experience acne flare-ups. And adult acne can have just as many negative effects on a person as teenage acne. Possibly even more so, as the stress of career and family adds to the strain of living with an unsightly skin problem.

Mental stress can be one of the major causes of acne in adults. It is not a surprise in the slightest that women are often more likely to suffer from adult acne than men, as it has been shown that women have much more stress in their day to day lifestyle, not to mention that they are prone to hormonal imbalances, especially during times such as their menstrual cycle and pregnancy. Just as in teens, hormones play an important factor in the onset and exacerbation of adult acne.

The environmental factors that surround a person, paired with the individual’s lifestyle can also play a huge role in the appearance of adult acne. An improper diet or behaviors such as smoking and drinking affect the skin’s condition and resistance to acne, as well as other diseases.

Prevention is the only obvious way to go when dealing with adult acne. A proper diet, paired with plenty of water and rest is a good start. Trying to relieve stress and maintaining proper skin care and hygiene can also help to prevent acne from occurring.

But what about the pimples that you may already have? There are many treatments available for people who have adult acne.

Anti-acne medications, certain skin care products, and even laser surgery are just a few of the many treatments available for acne on the market today. Visiting a qualified doctor or dermatologist is the only way to determine how severe your acne really is and to find the proper treament available for you.

Acne affects almost everybody at least for some part of their life. It is common during adolescence though it affects many into late adulthood. It causes much disturbance and may sometimes cause depression and low self esteem. The individual affected by acne usually frequently washes the affected area, tries different soaps and other home remedies which rather than reducing acne may worsen it. Following are few tips to be followed for control of acne.

Consult your dermatologist in case you are affected with acne. Do not wait for acne to aggravate. Many over the counter drugs are available for treating mild to moderate acne. Benzoyl peroxide is considered to be the best over the counter product.

Taking food supplements like acuzine is beneficial for the skin as well as body. Its ingredients include anti-oxidants, Vitamins E&C, hydrolyzed collagen, ALA, DMAE, Aloe vera, Bioperine etc. The effect of these ingredients is to strengthen the skin.

A Permanent Cure for Acne Scars?

Ask anybody who has ever suffered from acne what was the least enjoyable part of the whole experience and probably the most possible answer will be the scars – acne scars that remain long after acne is gone. If having acne is considered bad, then what about having acne scars for several years more?

If your acne has already progressed beyond the initial stage of whiteheads and blackheads and you now have pimples and scars on your face, then you have to do two things at the same time – get rid of pimples and get rid of acne scars.

Before discussing how to eliminate acne scars, you may want to know…

What are acne scars?

Acne scars are caused when pimples either get inflamed or do not heal fully. Acne scars are formed when at least one of the layers of healthy skin is injured. When the skin is damaged and bleeding, the body forms new tissue fibers at the place to heal the wound and stop the bleeding. It is these tissues that may appear as a scar.

So getting rid of scars requires that the scar tissue be replaced by healthy tissue by some process or method.

There are several methods to help acne scars but in practice very few of them may be very effective. And some methods may have side effects that you may want to be aware of before you start such a program.

Laser Resurfacing: A carbon dioxide laser burns away the damaged skin, layer by layer. The depth of penetration is controlled. As the outer layers of damaged skin is removed, new skin cells begin to form as the healing process starts and in a few weeks, a younger looking smoother skin surface begins to appear.

Dermabrasion: This uses a spinning diamond instrument or a rotating wire brush to wear down the outer layers of the skin that have been damaged. And when the skin starts healing, younger and smoother skin will replace the old skin removed by abrasion.

Chemical peels for acne scars: Acidic solutions are applied to the skin to peel away the damaged layers and the new skin that is formed is usually smoother. Chemical peels range from mild to deep penetration. Though chemical peels can be applied at home, it would be advisable to get a dermatologist to apply it.

Punch grafts: More suitable for deep and pitted acne scars, this method involves punching a hole to remove the scar and then removing a small piece of undamaged skin.

But the question you may want to ask is… do they work?

All of the treatments mentioned above seem to have a moderate success rate – while they seem to work well for others, some are less than delighted with their treatments. While results like these may be expected with any medical procedure, your face is a very important part of your life and you will want to be absolutely certain that any treatment will be beneficial to your sense of well-being.