Acne (acne, acne) on the face: causes, treatment with scientific and folk methods

In the vast majority of cases, vulgar acne is benign. Severe forms, resistant to treatment, prone to complications and relapses, disfiguring appearance, are less common. Some doctors “blame” hormones on them, others “clogged pores” or once skin infections, imbalance of the skin microflora. But treatment, taking into account any and the indicated opinions, gives the result infrequently and looks more like a palliative measure. So, none of them is absolutely true.

Complex of reasons

Single "imperfections," as cosmetologists delicately call them, can occur throughout life in all people. Acne is called only systemic, regularly repeated or continuous rashes. They “take a fancy” to the most oily and intensely renewed areas of the skin — the face, shoulders, chest, and sometimes can appear on the stomach, back, and buttocks. All the causes of their occurrence have not yet been established, but most often the following are called on their list.

• Hormonal changes. Imbalances, excess testosterone (it increases the activity of the sebaceous glands in both sexes), special periods and conditions (critical days, menopause, pregnancy, hormonal therapy), in which the background changes dramatically in a natural framework.
• Infections Usually lowering local immunity of the skin or associated with a violation of its microflora (pores infect conditionally pathogenic bacteria that are part of the normal composition). Of these, demodex, the causative agent of demodicosis, is also an activity of the tick.
• Heredity. The special structure of the sebaceous ducts, which complicates the outflow of the fat they produce on the surface of the skin. There is also an increased secretory activity of the sebaceous glands found at the genetic level.
• Digestive pathology. Intestinal diseases are most often manifested by skin rashes. They also indicate a connection with gastritis associated with Helicobacter pylori infection.
• Keratinization. Layering of dead epidermal cells with insufficient hygiene or its too rapid renewal, which leads to clogging of pores.
• Chemical exposure. Frequent contact with chlorine, bromine, lithium, barbiturates, iodine or their administration for therapeutic purposes. This also includes women’s makeup problems - excess foundation, powder coating and blush.

Forms and stages

Acne rashes are divided into the following forms.

• Comedonal. It is characterized by the formation of many “plugs” of white (yellowish) or black color in the skin pores. Dirt or its absence has nothing to do with it - we are talking about different types of rashes.The main advantage of a comedic rash over other options is a low percentage of inflammation under the “plugs”, especially with regular cleaning of the stratum corneum of the skin surface. And its main drawback is the ability to gradually stretch the skin pores, making them noticeable.
• Papulopustular. It is more pronounced, it gives patients more discomfort, since the papule is an inflammation of the pore, a pimple without a purulent head or shaft. The pustule is the next and final stage of the process. It is an abscess beneath the surface of the skin that occurs after the papule “ripens”. After breaking the pustule, healing of the lesion begins. A papular-pustular rash is especially not good at being able to leave purple-cyanotic spots after itself (a temporary phenomenon, but it lasts from several months to six months) and cicatricial grooves, which make the skin uneven, although they do not violate its functionality.
• Cystic. Belongs to the most severe forms of acne. With it, foci of suppuration in individual pores merge, spreading not only to the sides, but also deep into the skin. This results in inflammation of the subcutaneous tissue with the formation of large nodes resembling a boil or carbuncle. The difference is that in their center the place of the purulent rod is occupied by black comedone. A cystic rash is painful, severely disfigures the appearance, leaves behind deep “craters” on the skin.

The severity of the condition can be different - from a dozen scattered papules on the forehead and cheeks with several pustules at different stages of "maturation" to merging nodes that turn the skin on the face into a "Martian landscape." An abundant rash is less common on the chin and beard line of men. The activity of the sebaceous glands there is small, and the thickness of the subcutaneous fat layer is minimal.

Similarly, with the neck: acne almost never pass from the face to the chest and shoulders with a single "carpet" - only bypassing it. But this rule is not strict. For a strong and fair sex, the distribution of rashes may differ - not only because of the difference in hormonal levels, but also the presence on men of areas of constant irritation (when shaving), skin care methods and means, the frequency of special procedures (peeling, whitening) .

Medical remedies

Due to difficulties in clarifying the nature of acne, its treatment is a long occupation, requiring self-discipline and not giving any guarantees. Improvement occurs in 98% of cases. But to cure acne completely, even with strict observance of all measures, only 20-30% of those suffering from it are over 30 years old.

Dermatology considers acne a rather hormonal problem, simply with a layering of other “aggravating circumstances”. But hormones do not treat acne for several reasons.

• Unpredictability of Result. Intervention in the natural background of the body often leads to unpredictable and incorrigible consequences in the future.
• Need to act at random. If the doctor does not guess with the direction of correction, the situation can deteriorate sharply.
• Low performance. The direct effect of steroid therapy for acne is about the same as that of safer products for the endocrine system.
• Unjustified force impacts. Acne spoils the appearance, but it is not dangerous for health and life. The consequences of even severe acne are reduced to more or less noticeable scarring, which does not change the basic properties of the skin.

A blood test for hormones with acne rash really pass.It is possible to conduct treatment together with a gynecologist, especially if there are other signs of hyperandrogenism. Then women are recommended to take combined oral contraceptives with antiandrogenic effect:

• "Jess";
• Jess Plus
• "Yarina";
• Diana 35
• Dimia.

But the following medications and measures are among the main medicines for acne.

Light antiseptics and anti-inflammatory

Among them are acetylsalicylic, hyaluronic, citric acids. Organic acids are present in the vast majority of products for problem skin, as they have a whitening effect. But they give a good effect only in mild cases - in adolescents and youth. For persons over 20 years of age, it is more advisable to prescribe combination preparations (the rate of skin regeneration is already slowing down, and a rash remaining at this age worsens the prognosis for its treatment in the future). Among them are Regecin (hyaluronic acid plus whitening, which has a slight anti-inflammatory effect, zinc) and Delex Acne (boric and citric acids in combination with anti-inflammatory herbs - calendula and nettle).

Clay and sulfur masks also belong to this type of product. Sulfur disinfects and dries up inflamed skin, while clay “pulls” comedones themselves from the pores, tightens the “holes” formed by them.

Antibiotics

They are "heavy artillery", but they help even in the most difficult cases of extensive purulent lesions of the subcutaneous tissue. When applied topically, the effect of antibiotics on the body as a whole is small. For the prevention of acne, they are not suitable, unlike other means. Before their appointment, the doctor must make sure that the rash is not provoked by a specific infection - even if it’s long or hidden (syphilisHerpes virus). In this case, treatment will require general and with the help of specialized drugs.

Topically used against acne semi-synthetic broad spectrum doxycycline (tetracycline series of the latest generation, resistance to it in bacterial microflora of the skin is still rare). It contains, for example, Unidox.

Mesotherapy

Her purely medical "specialization" is explained by high technology. The essence of the method is the introduction deep into the subcutaneous layers of one or another means. It is more commonly known as “beauty injections” and can be used not only for the treatment of acne. With the help of mesotherapy, cosmetologists fight aging, age spots, unevenness of the fat layer of the skin, its excessive dryness.

With acne, the same acids are injected into the skin - organic (to whiten and fight inflammation) or amino (to speed up regeneration). Sometimes injections include whole protein molecules - collagen and elastin. This option is relevant after the age of 40, when cosmetic defects due to past and present foci of inflammation become more noticeable, and the skin's own regenerative resource is greatly reduced. An antibiotic solution can be administered in this way, but this will complicate control over the total dose received by the patient.

Other means

A patch is also suitable as a method of applying the above preparations or even extracts of medicinal plants. Acne patches contain the same components as gels, masks. Due to the alleged "ease of use", their cost exceeds the severity of the therapeutic effect several times, because their purchase is usually impractical.

As an aid in inflammation, patients are prescribed a diet with a restriction on fats (both animal and vegetable). It reduces the activity of the sebaceous glands slightly and indirectly, therefore, it serves only as an addition to treatment or a way to prevent exacerbations.

In the arsenal of medicine, there are several procedures with unproven effectiveness. For example, plasmolifting.Now this procedure with a catchy foreign name is served by cosmetology clinics as an absolute novelty. In fact, something similar was practiced by Soviet dermatologists. Plasmolifting consists of three stages.

1. Seizures of a small amount of arterial blood from a patient.
2. The hardware release of plasma from it.
3. Injection of plasma into the skin of the face.

In helping to smooth wrinkles and scars, tighten the skin and eliminate the other effects of acne, it helps more than in the fight against acne. The “prototype” of the technique was developed back in the USSR, and it consisted of injecting the patient’s own arterial blood into the upper lobes of his buttocks. Science cannot say how both manipulations work, but they help to get rid of rashes on the face for the next few years in 60-70% of cases, including severe ones.

Folk methods

The threats posed by folk remedies are two:

• increased risk of allergies;
• untested effectiveness.

The basis of alternative acne treatment, even approved by doctors, is made up of local applications of anti-inflammatory herbs - celandine, daisies, St. John's wort, calendula officinalis, mint, oak bark. Almost all of these plants are moderately toxic. They contain elevated concentrations of alkaloids and tannins. These compounds are poisonous not only for bacteria with fungi, but also for animals and humans. Their effect is especially noticeable on the functioning of the nervous system - central and peripheral. Their presence also explains the frequent acute reactions of the immune defense to the use of these plants. But natural antibiotics in the form of decoctions of herbs really help to overcome acne or reduce the brightness of the manifestations of the disease. To use them, any of the recommended herbs should only be brewed in high concentration (two tablespoons per glass of water) and wiped with cleaned face skin three times a day with the resulting product.

Usually plants with the properties of antiseptics to combat rashes are enough. But sometimes traditional medicine can also advise clay-clay masks (a tool taken from her by official cosmetology), as well as even more exotic recipes.

• Pure fresh citrus. There are a lot of citric and ascorbic acids, which manifests itself in the form of an antiseptic effect.
• Mask of the mummy. But the effectiveness is not proven, the risk of developing allergies is great.
• Propolis, apitoxin and other beekeeping products. Use topically or orally. No one has objectively tested the degree of their effect on immunity, and subjectively (according to reviews) it is equal to zero or close to it. But the high ability of honey and bee products to provoke allergies is well known.
• Yeast. Also used internally or externally in the form of masks. Yeast improves the condition of the skin, hair and nails, accelerates their growth and regeneration simply because they are a multivitamin supplement. They contain half B vitamins, fundamentally important for horn cells (they form the nail plates, hair and epidermis), vitamins D and E. Taking these same ingredients with any other food or supplement has the same effect. And local application of yeast to the foci of inflammation is impractical and dangerous worsening of the situation. Yeast is an ideal breeding ground for pathogens of various types. Yeast “enriched” with the same vitamins as in its natural composition is sold in the form of Nagipol tablets. But the drug does not contain recommendations for taking acne - only to improve the appearance of hair, nails and skin.

According to experts, the effectiveness of folk remedies in the treatment of acne is not higher than that of official medicine methods. They have their own side effects, often not inferior to pharmaceutical drugs in scale. And there are no ways to eliminate skin defects caused by "past" inflammations at the disposal of healers. But they are more convenient for use at home, and they are cheaper. True, profitability in view of “lifelong treatment” is often higher.