Mild Acne Best Treatment Tips
The
comedone
or mild acne best treatment will provide simple guidelines to deal with this least severe type of acne. The first signs at puberty are an increased oiliness of the face and mild dandruff on the scalp. Small skin coloured eruptions (whiteheads) appear mostly on the forehead, nose and on the cheeks. You may also find varying number of blackheads in between. There may be mild itching when new lesions appear, otherwise the comedones are non symptomatic. When blackheads are pressed from sides, a putty material may come out. This is nothing but the sebum and the cornified cells inside the hair follicle.
ACNE NEWSLETTER
What is the best treatment for mild acne?
General Measures
- Wash the face with mild face wash or soap and water. Do not overdo it. Wash the face only 2-3 times a day. If you wash the face frequently, it can irritate the skin and promote more acne formation.
- Include more green leafy vegetables, salad and fresh fruits in the daily menu.
- Avoid chocolates, fried fast food, aerated drinks and milk products.
- Do not manipulate the pimples. Most teenagers become conscious of their acne lesions and make a habit of touching wishing that it would go away by itself?) and pressing the lesions. This will further irritate the skin.
- Finally, be patient. Acne is a disease connected with your hormone levels, life style and psychological factors. All these have to be taken into account while expecting results from the treatments advised by your dermatologist.Do not expect miracles!
- The main goal of treatment of acne is to minimize the chances of permanent damage to the facial skin in the form of scars and to prevent frequent recurrences. Acne, cannot be "cured" in the real sense of the word. But it can definitely be kept under reasonable control with proper measures and guidelines on the best treatment for mild acne provided here.
Specific Measures
Following is my choice of the best treatment for mild acne: - First I assess the extend and severity of the acne lesions. Here it is mild acne or comedone acne.
- Provide general advice as above.
- If blackheads are present, I use a comedone extractor to express out the accumulated sebum. This accelerates the response to the topical applications.
- For sensitive type of skin, I advise a lower strength(0.025%)Isotretinoin gel to be applied bedtime. For normal and oily skin, I would suggest the usage of higher strength of 0.05% of the topical retinoid.
- I advice the patient to start applying the gel over a two hour period to start with and then, after two days, if there is no excess redness or peeling, to apply the gel overnight.
- With topical retinoids, a flare up may be noticed after about 2-3 weeks of daily application. Most patients tend to mistake this as worsening of the acne condition and stop the medication. Actually, these flare ups signal a useful reaction. The breakouts result from an inflammatory blow up of the comedones and indicates the beginning of recovery period. Hence applications should not be stopped during this period.
- If the flare up is high I prescribe a 2 week course of oral antibiotics.
- A non comedogenic regulating cream is also prescribed for morning application to soothe the skin.
- If after 4 weeks, the response is not encouraging, I either add 2.5% or 5% Benzoyl Peroxide or Topical Antibiotics.
Further Reading
|
