Acne can occur as different types

Types Of Acne – How Many Are There?

What is acne? Why does it happen? How can one prevent and cure it? These are some of the basic questions everybody who suffers from acne would like to know.

What Is Acne?

Acne is a condition of the skin where the excess secretion of sebum invades the hair follicles causing mild to acute inflammation. The mild ones are normally called blackheads and these are – just their name indicates – little black plugs of sebum and dirt. When this collection of sebum and dirt breaks into the follicle wall, pus formation occurs as an automatic response from the immune system of the body. Now the acne looks and feels awful. This is not all. There is a third stage – the sever acne problem. Here the acne is fully inflamed and you can see that the acne have turned into real just-about-to-erupt pus mini-volcanoes.

How Many Types Of Acne Are There

Basically the above are the most common classification of acne – mild, moderate and severe. However, these are further classified into the following heads:

1. Common acne (Acne vulgaris) - this is the most common of all acne problems. This happens when the skin is ‘over-oiled’ by some reason or other. No one really gets very upset with one or two blackheads. However, when the blackhead expands into the hair follicle, there is an internal war in the body, causing the immune system perform its role, and thus in no time you would have a huge pus filled throbbing pustule.

2. Sudden and serious acne (acne fulminans) – when this happens the acne is already badly aggravated and the result is that you have a good number of pus-filled pustules on the face; plus you would get fever owing to the severity of the infection. Some people also experience joint pains.

3. Chronic acne (acne conglobata) – in this type of acne you would find scarring. This is represented by huge-cratered acne where the inflammation would mean deep scarring and other bad effects on this skin. The acne here would be formed fast and the transition from normal acne to a highly inflamed type would be rapid. This would be a recurring problem despite active and advanced medical treatments.

4. Resistant acne (Gram-negative foliculitis) – this particular type of acne is caused by bacteria but resists cure because the bacteria are more or less stronger than the medicines prescribed. When one is affected by this type of acne, the treatment is long and might involve third and fourth generation antibiotics.

5. Spread-over acne – this acne is one of the most dreaded conditions. Here the acne is not only highly aggravated, but also is spread all over the ace neck and back. The acne that is thus formed usually is deep and close enough to join and form those huge indescribable pus-filled pustules which are as painful to feel as they are to see.

Besides, the acne that occurs in women at puberty is definitely different than what boys suffered from at the same age. This is because the acne in women is more aggravated due to the extra hormones produced from the ovaries, which promote the production of androgen.