Acne can occur with different degrees of severity

Severity of Acne

The most common type of acne is the acnes vulgaris which is nothing more than an accumulation of sebum and dust in the hair follicle sac. In most cases it stays that way – just a little unsightly blackhead. The real cause of the acne formation, aggravation and disappearance (at later age) is not fully understood and chronicled by modern science. However, it has been observed that the production of androgen does aggravate the severity of acne and thence, the inhibition of this compound reduces it.

The Impact of Acne

There impact of the acne ramifies into two major branches – one is purely physiological and the other is psychological. This two aspects are greatly inter related and depend upon the severity of the acne and the time it takes to treat it.

1. The physiological aspect – as described above, the acne is nothing but an inflammation of the skin, caused by the concentration of sebum in the hair follicle sack. This could be open (whitehead) and closed (blackhead) and are most common on the face and neck, though sometimes it is found on the back as well. The severity of the acne would very much depend upon how many of these blackheads and whiteheads are there on the skin, and how inflamed these become in due course of time.

If the acne explosion is found sparingly over the face and there is little or no inflammation, then this is known as a mild case of acne. This has almost no physiological impact unless the acne comedones are pinched and/or disturbed following which skin inflammation and infection would normally follow.

The moderate, sever and chronic acne conditions are normally characterized by a vast number of acne comedones, pustules and papules all over the face and neck projecting a frog-skin type of look. In some extreme cases these would extend to other parts of the body as well.

When the severity of acne is to this extent, then there is a varied amount of scaring wherever the acne group together forming a deep crater of puss. The skin lesions often look just as bad as the pus filled pustules and are even harder to remove.

The skin lesions and scars thus formed usually require different types of beauty treatments such as dermabrasion, laser treatment, chemical peeling and the like. Some skin scars and lesions (such as ice pick scars) can be removed only by very advanced and persistent beauty treatments.

2. The psychological aspect – there is a great impact psychologically when acne occurs. Basically this is because it occurs at an age when people are most vulnerable. When people enter adolescence, they are looking for creating an impact upon their peers and opposite sex – and due to acne the reaction becomes totally opposite. There is a lot of importance given to physical appearance at puberty time (and even during early adulthood) and the disfigurement caused by acne can create anything mild depression to even suicidal thoughts – depending upon the severity of acne. This is why the psychological aspect needs to be considered with the same importance as the physiological aspect.