Acne: A Common Skin Condition
Everybody may have had a pimple or acne once in their lives, especially during puberty. Scientifically, acne is an inflammatory disease of the skin that affects the pilosebaceous units, this are the skin structures that consists of a hair follicle and a corresponding sebaceous gland).
Acne is very common, but have you ever asked why they grow out from your skin especially right before a date? Well, acne is caused by the blockage on the hair follicles by dead skin cells and excessive oil secretion from the sebaceous glands. The development of acne is due to a combination of several factors, such as heredity, age, gender, diet, grooming habits, environmental pollutants, and/or hormonal levels. A cure for acne hasn’t been invented yet, though there are numerous kinds of treatments formulated to keep acne at a minimal and under control. The wide variety of acne treatment is due to the several different factors that causes and/or exacerbates acne. Each treatment may one or several factors. Also, an acne treatment that may work for you may not work for another. This is due to the complexity of acne.
Acne treatments can be acquired through prescription or over-the-counter. Prescription acne treatments are proven to be more effective than the over-the-counter ones, but it’s still best to consult a qualified dermatologist first before investing on different acne treatment programs.
Below are some of the acne treatments available out in the market:
Exfoliation with AHA and BHA
Exfoliation is a common element of acne treatment programs, since it removes dead and hardened outer skin cells. Topical treatments applied after exfoliation seeps in the skin cells better. Alpha-hydroxy acids (AHA) and beta-hydroxy acids (BHA) are common in exfoliating agents used in acne treatments.
Topical Antibacterial
Topical bactericidal agents have been used in acne treatment given that bacterial growth in the pores is a factor in the development of acne.
Benzoyl peroxide is the most common topical bactericidal agent. It is a strong oxidizer that generates oxygen free radicals to kill bacteria. The best thing about benzoyl peroxide is that bacteria do not develop resistance to oxygen, therefore if this treatment works for you, it is likely to keep on working as long as you use it. The problem is that not only do the free radicals damage the bacteria, but it damages your skin as well. Prolong use may cause your skin to irritate and dry out; damage skin cells; and even speed up the skin aging process.
Antibiotics
An alternative to topical bactericidal would be topical antibiotics. Topical antibiotics may even have an advantage over benzoyl peroxide because the antibiotics target the acne- bacteria. This causes minimal damage to the skin, but gets the work done.
Most commonly used antibiotics for topical acne treatments include erythromycin, clindamycin and tetracycline. Topical antibiotics have less side effects than the oral ones, but are still effective. The oral antibiotic’s side may be in the form of a diarrhea, dysbacteriosis, colitis and others. However, the advantage of oral antibiotics over the topical ones is that it’s easier to use, especially if acne affects large areas of the body.
The downside to an antibiotic treatment for acne is that it may not be used for a long duration since bacterial resistance to the drugs may develop.
