Acne vulgaris is also known as male Adolescent Acne. It normally happens with the onset puberty in males and is thought to coincide with the increased production of testosterone. Also known as cystic acne, this common male skin care problem has been around forever and is generally known by the physical skin contusions. Some of these include blackheads, pimples, and even just red scaly skin.
Acne Vulgaris Scarring
Often Acne will produce scarring on the skin. This scarring can also cause mental scarring for some people. Since acne generally begins during the teen years when there is already a lot of social awkwardness, many males feel quite depressed. They often feel that acne and acne scarring inhibit any chance at dating and social living. In order to deter those feelings many males will seek treatment at the first sign of acne.
Acne Vulgaris Causes
Since Acne Vulgaris normally begins with puberty for most, this comes with the increased hormone productions levels. But it's not really certain if it comes from the hormones or perhaps the bodily changes associated with puberty. There is also a bacterium that is part of the acne thing, could the bacteria be the cause of the acne or is the acne the cause of the bacteria? Acne vulgaris also tends to run in families. If one of your parents had acne, there is a much better chance for one or more of the children to be subjected to acne as well. Also the severity of the acne vulgaris infection can be inherited from parents or grandparents. If the case is severe in the parents it will tend to be severe in the children as well. There is also some indication that your diet can affect the severity of your acne. Certain foods such as dairy products and foods high in sugars can increase your acne. It has also often been linked to eating lots of chocolates and eating lots of salt but research does not really show this to be a real cause.
Acne Vulgaris Treatment
There are a pretty large variety or medications available for the treatment of acne. Some of these include a variety of antibiotics, creams, hormones, and more.
Antibiotics use is starting to be limited because like in all other areas of life, they have been over used and are no longer near as effective as they once were.
Hormone treatment is pretty much for women only and generally consists of giving an oral contraceptive. The hormones seem to have a normalizing affect on the skin.
There is a huge number of creams and topical medicines you can apply to your acne. One of the most popular is benzoyl peroxide. This is applied to the affected areas and works pretty well with very few side effects. The biggest issue is normally dry or red skin. There is also a bigger chance of getting sunburned since your skin becomes more sensitive to sun after use.
There are also several procedures that can be performed by a Doctor or a specialist. These include phototherapy, dermabrasion, laser therapy and even surgery.
Phototherapy uses light a specific frequencies reduce your incidence of acne by 65 to 80 percent. It seems to work by creating free radical which then kill the bacterium which cause the acne.
Dermabrasion is a process of causing the skin to peel. This is done in a variety of ways, some are chemical peels, and other methods use what is basically sandpaper to remove the outer layers of skin. This is normally done under some type of anesthesia.
Laser therapy has not been proven in long term studies yet. It has however been approved for use on humans and does show promise for some types of acne vulgaris.
Surgery is mostly only used when treating large cysts or boils. These can then be surgically lanced to help relieve the swelling and speed the healing time.
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