New Delhi, November 3 – If there is anything that bothers a teenager more than his or her homework, it’s the ‘curse’ of acne or pimples as it is commonly known. Although it occurs mostly during adolescence, there is no guarantee that one can ever completely avoid it.
“Just as you think that your days of bad skin and pimple popping are over, you experience adult acne or rosacea. This is a problem most people don’t recognise. Acne in adults is a plug of fat, keratin (hair and nails are composed of this) and dead skin stuck in a hair duct.
When it’s open, it’s called a blackhead and when closed, it’s called a whitehead. These often cause the hair duct walls to rupture leading to cysts of acne, papules, nodules, pustules, redness and infection.
Boys are more likely to suffer scarring due to acne as compared to girls, but girls are more prone to adult acne,” says Dr. Nipun Jain, Senior Consultant, Dermatology, Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute in Delhi.
ROOT CAUSE:
Dr. Kiran Lohia, who runs Lumiere Dermatology in Delhi, adds, “The root cause of acne is hormonal imbalance. That is why it usually occurs during teenage years when the hormones are in a flux.
Unfortunately, now with so much stress in our lives, along with the high amount of hormones in our foods (milk, cheese, yogurt and chicken primarily), people are getting acne later in their lives as well.”
Be it a teenager or an adult, the process to prevent the emergence of acne remains the same – stay oil-free. Dr. Rohit Batra, dermatologist at Sir Gangaram Hospital, says: “By washing excess oil off your face and cleansing the skin regularly, one can effectively avoid the acne breakout.
Acne occurs only to those with oily skin and to control acne, a dermatologist needs to control excessive oil by gels, face washes, among others.” “Acne patients,” he continues, “should wash their face 3-4 times a day with a face wash containing tea tree oil, salicylic acid, etc.
The patient should use gel-based moisturizers and sunscreens to avoid the acne breakout. Non-comedogenic make-up can be used in case of excessive acne.” According to Dr. Lohia, the three fastest ways in which acne can be treated are by Acne Peels, LED therapy (known as ClearYou technology) and AFT.
“These three are ideal for eradicating acne faster without side-effects. Acne Peels work by exfoliating from within the obstructed follicles, thereby cleansing out the skin of any existing or upcoming zits. ClearYou LED science works by using light to specifically kill the bacteria that is worsening pimples.
It does not affect the unaffected skin and only specifically targets that inciting pathogen. Finally, AFT works by simultaneously reducing the inflammation and targeting the bacteria. All these three treatments can be done with or without medication, and can quickly get rid of those zits for good,” she says.
-INDIA TODAY
