What is acne?

Acne

Waking up with acne on your face is not the sight that anybody wishes to encounter. Our teenage years may have left us, but our acne hasn’t. Modern lifestyle constitutes of inadequate sleeping hours, excessive pollution, unhealthy diet and many more such factors which contribute towards the appearance of acne. As much as we hate to admit it, but the truth is that acne doesn’t see age.While many of us feel that occurrence of acne is linked with ‘not washing our face enough’, it is not a fact to stand by. To be honest, there is not a concrete reason to the question ‘Why does acne happen?’

Even after it disappears, the problems doesn’t. Many times, as acne lessens, it leaves behind scars termed as ‘acne scars’. Acne scars poses a serious cosmetic concern to people and many are emotionally affected by the appearance of these scars. It is first important to answer a few questions before making any informed decision involving acne-

•        What is acne?
•          Factors that contribute towards occurrence of acne
•          How can it be prevented?
•          The science behind acne scarring and its treatment.

What is acne?

Acne is a very common problem among individuals of all age groups, especially teenagers. It is formed when the hair follicles on your skin gets clogged with dirt and oil. The body tries to repair to this damage by changing the collagen (protein) fibres in the skin. It can appear on the skin in the form of blackheads, whiteheads, cysts, pustules and red bumps.

Factors that contribute towards occurrence of acne

The smaller these acne look, wider is the rage of factors that lead to their occurrence. Few of these causes include-

1.  Hormones: During puberty, both male and female hormones trigger in their growth. The sebaceous glands are sensitive to such hormones. As their growth increases during puberty, the sebaceous glands produce more oil which in turn aggravates acne.
2.  Menstruation and pregnancy: In many women, a few days before their menstrual cycle begins, their skin gets covered in acne. While in pregnant women, the first three months usually bring with them signs of acne.
3. Physical stress: Physical factors like extreme weather, lack of sleep, illness, dehydration and exposure to environmental irritants can trigger acne.
4. Emotional stress: Emotional stress leads to the formation of stress hormone called cortisol which causes an imbalance in the skin. Such an imbalance may result in skin problems like acne.
5. Medication: Certain medicines result into the development of acne.

How to prevent acne?

• Get quality sleep: what is the first thing you feel when you wake up? Is it tired, restless or anything other than peace? Well, then it’s time that you ask yourself what the real matter is. Getting a good quality sleep which leaves you peaceful hand fresh when you wake up is very important to achieve a smooth and flawless skin.
•  Exercise: Exercising has been proved to solve a major spectrum of problems including acne. While exercising, make sure you don’t wear gear that rubs against your body. Apart from this, it is very important to bath after exercising because if the sweat rests on your body for long, it can trigger acne.
• Protect your skin against the sun: In people prone to acne, exposure to sunlight can worsen the breakouts. In order to avoid this, make sure you apply sunscreen before stepping out in the skin.
• Don’t touch your face continuously: Touching your face, again and again, can spread the bacteria and trigger acne. Apart from this, avoid popping your pimples as it can lead to scarring.
• Wash your makeup brushes: For people with acne prone skin, avoiding makeup proves to be great. However, if you do need to wear makeup, make sure that your brushes are clean otherwise it can lead to breakouts.

The science behind acne scarring and it’s treatment

Depending on how much excess collagen the skin has formed or lost, acne scars are formed either  Hypertrophic or Atrophic.

jb/Raised scars- These scars are caused due to excess of tissue and are raised from the skin surface.

Atrophic scars/Depressed scars- These are caused due to loss of tissue and are depressed from the skin surface. Further, they can be of different types- ice pick, boxcar and rolling scars.

Treatment of acne scars

In order to treat acne scars, topical creams are not the right choice because they are not powerful enough to improve anything other than discoloration. So, for their treatment professional help is always required.

Treatment for-

Hypertrophic scars & keloids- There are many different options for treating hypertrophic and keloid scars. These include silicon gels, cryotherapy and injections to reduce and flatten the scar. Co2 laser can also help to reduce hypertrophic scar & keloids caused due to acne.

Atrophic scars-

Chemical peels- Chemical peels can reduce the appearance of depressed acne scar and hyperpigmentation around a healed acne wound. It improves the texture of the skin.

Dermabrasion- This technique uses a high speed brush or other instrument to resurface the skin and reduce depth of scars. Afterwards, it takes the patient several days to heal completely.

Microneedling- In this technique, the acne scars are improved using a set of microneedles. The dermatologist may use Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections to improve the results.

Laser resurfacing – Ablative lasers like CO2 fractional or erbium yag can be used to remove the outer layer of skin & improve the scarring. This technique requires multiple sessions to produce visible results.

Non ablative lasers can also be used for milder scars and have a shorter recovery time compared to ablative lasers.

Soft tissue fillers – A substance such as hyaluronic acid, fat or collagen can be used to fill out certain types of deep, depressed acne scars. Since fillers are eventually absorbed into the skin, the patient requires repeat filler injections after a certain period of time depending on the product used.

Surgery – The acne scar can be removed by surgically cutting out the scar & then the cut is repaired with stitches or a skin graft.

Sulblative rejuvenation using Radio frequency waves – (MNRF) Micro needling radio frequency- This process causes the delivery of radio frequency waves at the tip of insulated micro needles which are injected into skin. The radio frequency pulses delivered to the skin activates the collagen regeneration/regrowth. The untreated tissues in adjoining parts support the healing process.

Make sure to take of your body inside out. What you put in your body is as important as what you apply on it from the outside.

Periorbital Pigmentation

How do we usually confirm that we aren’t getting enough sleep? The dark circles under our eyes answer that for us. They just don’t do that but they also tell us if we are tired or not having enough water. Well maybe we should be thanking them for it. But showing themselves on our faces and reducing our beauty is a far bigger concern why we should eradicate them in the first place. Before making them go away, let’s see what they actually are.

What is periorbital pigmentation?
Periorbital pigmentation in common words is known as under eye dark circles. It is a very common problem nowadays. The condition involves formation of light-to-dark coloured brownish black spots around the eyelids. It gives a tired look to a person and can affect his/her confidence. It’s pretty hard to find the exact reason for their occurrence but it will most probably be one of the following-

• Family History- The problem of periorbital pigmentation is considered to have genetic basis. Many people have pigmentation around the periorbital area in several members of the family. The pigmentation starts early in childhood and gradually increases with age.
• Post inflammatory hyperpigmentation- A person suffering from frequent allergies may rub and scratch the skin around the eye which can cause pigmentation in that area.
• Tear through deformity- The depressed area below the eyelid becomes prominent with age and gives the impression of under eye circles.
• Lack of proper sleep is one of the major causes of development of under eye circles. Apart from that, stress, alcohol overuse and smoking also contribute to the problem.
• Ultraviolent (UV) rays from the sun can aggravate under eye circles.
• Regular and continuous use of spectacles or contact lenses can cause exhaustion of periorbital muscles, leading to development of under eye circles.
• Anaemia or lack of haemoglobin- When enough oxygen doesn’t reach the periorbital tissues, it can make the periorbital region look comparatively darker.
• Use of several drugs like oral contraceptives, hormone-replacement therapy can lead to periorbital hyperpigmentation.
• Several medical problems also aggravate the dark circles like disorders of heart, thyroid, kidney or liver, vitamin K deficiency and Addison’s disease.

Whatever reason it may be, its important to fix the damage it has caused- the stubborn dark circles.

Treatment of Periorbital Pigmentation
Being such a prominent issue, curing dark circles is the mainstay. There are a number of treatments available which can help you to get rid of your dark circles. These treatments include-

• Topical Therapies: Using creams containing hydroquinone, kojic acid, azelaic acid, topical retinoic acid along with sunscreen can help you in reducing your pigmentation.
• Chemical Peels: Lactic acid, glycolic acid, retinol peels, arginine-based peels can be used to reduce the pigmentation.
• Q-switched lasers with nanosecond pulse technology are ideal for selectively treating melanosomes leading to decrease in melanin content of the skin, thereby reducing pigmentation.
• Hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers can be used to correct under eye hollows.
• Radiofrequency tightening: The given treatment can be used in treating puffiness and appearance of eye bags.
• Fat grafting: Fat transfer is a good means to achieve facial rejuvenation.
• Platelet rich plasma: In PRP, your own blood is taken from which the plasma is separated using a special machine. The plasma so collected contains various growth factors and proteins which provide nutrition to the skin. It is injected back into the skin. This puts the skin in a healing mode, leading to the rejuvenation of skin around the eyes.

Verdict
Apart from getting indulged into any medical treatment to cure dark circles, it is important that you take care of a few things like-

• Getting enough sleep: Lack of sleep as mentioned above is one of the major causes of dark circles. So, it is something you need to take care of on your end.
• Apply cold tea bags on your under eyes as they contain antioxidants which will calm your skin down, stimulate blood circulation and improve the appearance of dark circles.
• You can also apply cold cucumber slices on your eyes for a few minutes since it too contains antioxidants which will make your dark circles less prominent.

Acne Scar Removal Treatment

What do you mean by acne scarring?
Acne scarring is a term that conjures uneven skin surface which is seen or is a result of the damage caused to the skin by the prolonged acne.
These acne scars can be raised or depressed in the appearance.
The raised scars are called hypertrophy scar and the depressed one being called as strophic scars.

Now, you must be wondering what causes acne scarring?
Acne scarring can be a result of prolonged acne where its condition is more of a deep-seated, inflammatory as well as a prolonged one. In such scenarios, it can destroy its immediate skin tissues. Furthermore, due to this damage, it can lead to scarring.
Now, another question that lingers in our mind is that,
What is the difference between acne scars and pigmentation?
Pigmentation is the black or brown spots which will be more of a depressed in the appearance.
On the other hand, the acne scars are identified to be more elevated or raised.

What are the treatment options available to treat acne scars?
In contrary to the popular notion, the creams and tablets don't work on the acne scars. They will only work on the discoloration, but to eradicate it completely from the epidermal layer of the skin, it is suggested to opt for procedural treatments.
The procedural treatments are further categorized according to the type of the scars-

• Treatment for raised scars-

1. Injections where the solution so used in it, are the medicines. These are furthermore repeated in three weekly sessions.
2. Lasers

• Treatment for depressed scars-

1. Dermaroller
2. Micro needling Radio frequency
3. Lasers (CO2 ablative fractional laser)

What is the difference between these three procedures?
1. Dermaroller- It is designed in a way where a plethora of needles is embedded on a drum roller. It is then used on the affected skin area.
2. Micro needling Radio frequency- The working principle is such that through the needles, Radio frequency waves are passed
3. CO2 Ablative Fractional Laser- It is a type of a laser where the CO2 beams are passed in the affected or concerned region.

The principle behind these procedures-
1. When these procedures are employed, then a momentarily controlled damaged is done in the deeper layers of the concerned area.
Now, you might be wondering why that is important. Well, such an act will create a stimulation, where the collagen is induced in that area, thus, leading to the healing. The multiple sessions will help to refill these scars.

Few things to note-

• The multiple sessions will be performed within 4 to 6 weekly intervals. Moreover, for visible results, a minimum of 4 sessions is mandatory.
• Which treatment will be beneficial for your skin will depend on the situation, downtime as well as the depth of the scars.
• After the dermaroller as well as Micro needling Radio frequency procedure you will feel or witness a mild redness which further stays for 1 to 2 days.
• In the CO2 ablative fractional laser, you will experience a rusting on the skin for 3 to 4 days. According to these, the treatment options are categorized.

Preparations-
Pre- Treatment-
Before undergoing any of these procedures, a numbing cream is applied to the affected area. Therefore, one procedure may account for or may take 1 to 1.5 hours.
Post-treatment-
You will be provided with an anti-inflammatory cream which is advised to be applied for 2 to 3 days. And, even a broad spectrum sunscreen is also suggested.
The only side effect a person will experience is the redness as well as the mild swelling.

How to prevent acne scars?
1. Do not take acne scarring lightly, consult a dermatologist.
2. No matter how tempting it is, do not touch or fiddle the pimples. This is because it may aggravate the damage further and thus, may result in an acne scarring.


For more information about the acne or acne scarring, you can visit our website or clinic.