What is acne?
Acne is an acne that settles on the pores of our skin, is red in color, appears as puffy from the skin, and can be inflamed from time to time. It is usually seen on the face, then on the back, shoulders and chest V region. Not all acne is acne in an analogous appearance. Sometimes ingrown hairs, called folliculitis, can also look like acne.
Who is it seen in?
It is frequently seen in the middle of the age of 12-25, as it is the problem of the adolescence period. Today, this age range is sometimes reduced to the ages of 9-10, especially in girls. Despite being in adolescence, blood hormone levels are usually normal.
However, the dominant hormones called androgen hormones can increase the production of sebum on the skin, making the skin shiny and oily, enlarged pores, and filled with blackheads (comedone). In fact, these hormones can cause hair growth on the skin. However, if girls have more severe hair growth and menstrual irregularity is seen, it is useful to be evaluated by a gynecologist in terms of the condition called polycystic ovary (cystic structure in the ovaries).
Oily skin’s pores are easier to clog, since clogged pores are a pleasant living space for bacteria, bacteria nest in these tiny holes and swell there, causing acne.
Acne Treatment
The principle in the treatment of acne is to wash the skin regularly with warm water in the morning and evening and with gels suitable for oily or acne-prone skin.
Then using tonic is suitable in such cases to remove the remaining oil and to clean the inside of the pores better. Mild salicylic acid solutions formulated with this target also have ameliorative properties on acne.
Moisturizers designed for acne-prone skin can be used on cleansed skin. If the skin is well hydrated, there is no need.
It is essential to use the acne medications recommended by your doctor regularly in the morning and evening and to be patient for 2-3 months. Because, at least this period is needed for the volume to get through the monthly cycles and for the works used to respond positively. Sometimes, short-term antibiotic treatments can be added to the drugs used. Low-dose forms of these drugs used for acne, which can be used for 2-4 months, are successful many times, but unfortunately acne can recur. Because this disease is always under the management of androgen-effect hormones during a period of rowing to the current.
What is cystic acne?
Some acnes are not minor. The exits of many pores are kept at the same time. It is in the form of large nodules or cysts, which are quite hard, sometimes slowly softened in the middle, inaccurately changing colors from pink to purple, often painful and large. The treatment of these is not with drugs, but with orally recommended retinoids, that is, with vitamin A derivatives. If these treatments are not started on time, these lesions leave significant scars because they heal too late. These scars can be in the form of pits from the skin, sometimes in the form of fibrous (hard) bands or shrinkages.
Retinoic acids
Vitamin A, which plays a role in cell growth and differentiation, is a vitamin that is needed in all systems involving vision, reproduction and other reproducing cells. Naturally occurring retinoids and synthetic derivatives of vitamin A (retinol) are similar to vitamin A in their chemical structures and functions.
Natural retinoids; Vitamin A (retinol) and its metabolites retinaldehyde and retinoic acid. Anything that contains retinol and the like will work like vitamin A. It is activated in the dermis and basal layer, which is the second layer of the skin and the key place of its youth. Here, it stimulates fibroblasts (the factory cells of the skin) to increase the production of the transparent connective tissue in the consistency of sugar jelly called collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid. By increasing the production of collagen and elastin, it regains the lost elasticity of the skin. It repairs the cellular production-genetic software of skin and hair cells (keratinocytes). By regulating the production of new vessels in the skin, it repairs the skin and gives it health.
Pharmacies have synthetic retinoic acids containing isotretinoin, which can only be obtained with a prescription from a dermatologist. Your doctor usually follows you every month. These monthly follow-ups, which are made by looking at blood tests and liver enzymes more than once, last 6-8 months. When the patient, who is followed up every month, starts to get better day by day, his morale will be restored, so he simply accepts patience and never interrupts his follow-ups. In this treatment, the skin is almost peeled from the inside. However, it is such a naive and long-term robbery that; we only see this as drying on the skin, including the lips. The result is usually very good, rarely there may be acne problem again, but this situation can be solved in a shorter and faster way.
References:
1.Elias PM, Williams ML. Retinoids, cancer and the skin.archives of dermatology 1981;117:160-180.
2. Connor MJ. Mechanism of retinoid actionin the skin. In:Lowe NJ, Marks Reds.retinoids a Clinician’s Guide, (2nd ed.).london.Martin Dunitz ltd,1998; 1-7
3. Savaşkan H.Oral Retinoids.ed. Tuzun Y. Advances in Dermatology, Istanbul. Istanbul Dermatology and Venereal Diseases Association Publication, technographic Printing, 1991; 67-72