Acne, one of the biggest problems faced by teenagers the world over. This disease is due to the bodily changes in adapting to the hormonal imbalances within. Testosterone is said to cause acne. Testosterone is a boy’s hormone but to make it, a boy’s body has to produce a female hormone first. The testosterone produced breaks out of your body through the skin causing all the problems. This does not mean that you have abnormal levels of testosterone in you. It is just that your skin does not know how to react to this. The body starts producing oil on your skin called Sebum. When the tubes holding your body hair become gummy, they block Sebum. This results in pimples or Acne.
When a pimple or acne lesion heals it leaves behind a red mark or at times a hyper pigmented mark on the skin. This could go away with time but there are a lot of occasions where the marks could lead to depression.
Acne scars are broadly classified as pitted or pigmented. Pitted are the ones that could be of varying types for example keyloid acne scars or ice pick scars. The keyloid is not a common one and these scars are indicted because the skin produces too much of collagen. This can be treated with one or more of the following:
- Injections of steroids into the scars
- Silicone gel dressing
The ice pick scars could be cured by surgery or derma brasion. Derma brasion means applying a local anesthetic and brushing through the surface of the skin. Punch grafting or surgery is the other technique used in this. The procedure is cutting down through the fat and then grafting a layer of skin. Subcision is another surgical procedure that could be used to take care of these kinds of scars.
Pigmented scars are easier to heal and applying anti acne scar products is of a lot of help. It is often the case where the old blemishes have not gone and the new ones arrive. These scars are in a vicious cycle meaning that the previous one is not completely healed and you find that a new lesion has already been developing. This leaves many people with acne feeling that they would never ever have brighter, fresher looking skin. Exposure of the skin to sunlight can be damaging to your skin and if you have acne it can worsen it. So applying a good sunscreen is not only important but a must. There are certain medications that are present over the counter in the market that can be used to cure these.
Dermatologists the world over are coming up with new techniques and new products that raise hope that a permanent cure or better still a prevention method which is sure shot or mechanism would be found for this problem that has been nagging the human kind for ages. Till that time these techniques can be a boon for acne scar sufferers.