Acne

Acne is an inflammatory, relapsing skin condition that appears when the pilosebaceous opening (the pore) becomes impacted with dead skin cells. Sebaceous glands produce oil intended to keep hair and skin lubricated and waterproof. When that sebum combines with dead skin cells, environmental debris and certain cosmetics, pores become blocked and bacteria will thrive. The plugged pores become swollen and inflamed, and sometimes fill with infection. If the pore is ruptured in the process (or from picking and squeezing), discoloration and scarring can occur.

These breakouts go by many names – whiteheads, blackheads, pimples, pustules, nodules, cysts, and comedones – depending on their locations and characteristics. However, if you’re one of the 17 million Americans with acne, you probably aren’t as concerned with the name as you are with clearing your skin.

Acne isn’t just an adolescent ailment or specific to women. Males and females of any age can have acne. It commonly occurs on the face, neck, back, buttocks and chest. Friction can result in worsening of the acne.

While medical science continues to learn more about the precise causes of acne, we know that it is often triggered by hormonal changes. Puberty, menstrual cycles, birth control pills, pregnancy, menopause, and stress are common reasons for acne flare-ups. There is increasing evidence that certain foods (especially those with a high glycemic index) can exacerbate acne. There is often a family history in those with severe or early-onset acne.

Acne isn’t generally a threat to your physical health, but it carries a big emotional burden. Here at the Lupo Center, we guide our patients in a three-step program to eliminate it:

• Heal current acne. After a thorough skin analysis and consultation to understand your medical situation and lifestyle, our doctors customize a treatment program to eliminate existing acne lesions. They may begin with an individualized combination of topical treatments (benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid or retinol) and oral medications (antibiotics, Accutane®, low-dose contraceptives). Additional state-of-the-art techniques such as chemical peels, dermal infusion, resurfacing, and laser therapy efficiently alleviate even severe breakouts.
• Prevent future acne. An at-home regimen with high-quality products for your specific skin type keeps your complexion soft, refines pores, and minimizes future acne flare-ups.
• Prevent and remediate scars. Professional treatment and excellent home care products greatly reduce the risk of scarring. However, our doctors have a number of minimally invasive revision techniques for patients with acne damage.

You don’t have to suffer from acne or risk a lifetime reminder of an acne-prone period in your life. Talk with our doctors about modern treatment options.

Related Videos

Don’t Pick Acne

It can be tempting to pick acne! Dr. Lupo helps you understand acne and how blemishes form, in an attempt to help you visualize how the blemishes and scars are formed because of picking acne.

Video Transcript

So everyone knows that dermatologists are always nagging our patients not to pick. And that seems sort of mean because when you got a big old pimple there it is only natural to want to squeeze it, get that stuff out and maybe have it heal quicker. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, when you squeeze a pimple you make it worse. But let me explain to you why. I am a big believer that if you can visualize something and understand it you are going to be more likely to be more compliant with the doctor’s recommendation. So think about your skin as the surface of a pore as an opening. And there’s a shaft which is the pore itself that goes down deeper into the skin, past the epidermis into the dermis of the skin. Then envision that there’s an offshoot of that shaft and there’s a smaller shaft with an oil gland or sebaceous gland at the end of that. So what normally happens in the skin is the sebaceous gland produces the oil which goes out of the sebaceous duct, into the pore duct and then it is extruded to the surface of the skin. Unfortunately, when you have the acne, the skin cells that line that shaft are not behaving properly and they start to clump. This is called diskeratinization. And this is why retinoids are so important because retinoids help with the process of keratin or dead skin cells extruding from the pores. So when those dead skin cells build up, so does the oil. Now, if you squeeze that blemish, you can actually fracture that shaft and the reason that is bad is all of that oil and all of the dead skin cells which is supposed to be in the pore, in that shaft actually get extruded into the dermis of the skin. This causes a foreign body reaction. This means there is an influx of white blood cells, an influx of inflammatory mediators and you get a nodule underneath the skin that can trigger scar tissue. In addition, there is pigment in the skin cells that gets disrupted and it goes deeper into the skin. Deeper pigment in the dermis is darker from the surface. It is called the tyndall effect. And this is why dark spots that you get from squeezing acne blemishes last for a long long time. Because the pigment is in the wrong place. So now if you know why it is so bad to squeeze those pimples, maybe you won’t do it.

Tailored Acne Treatments for Females

Dr. Lupo explains four different acne treatment options available to females. She also discusses the effects of diet and hormones on acne and how these can be addressed.

Video Transcript

Dr. Lupo explains four different acne treatment options available to females. She also discusses the effects of diet and hormones on acne and how these can be addressed.

Tailored Acne Treatments for Females

Dr. Lupo explains four different acne treatment options available to females. She also discusses the effects of diet and hormones on acne and how these can be addressed.

Video Transcript

Dr. Lupo explains four different acne treatment options available to females. She also discusses the effects of diet and hormones on acne and how these can be addressed.

How stress can damage your aesthetics

Dr. Lupo helps you undesrtand how stress can affect your overall aesthetics. She discusses the different skin conditions that can be triggered by stress and talks about how you can ensure that stress doesn't get ahead of your health.

Video Transcript

Hi everyone, it is November 2020 and I think we can safely say that this has been a pretty stressful year. And it doesn’t look like this stress is going to go away. So let’s talk about stress effects on our skin. We all know that stress is bad for everything but let’s talk specifically about our skin. When you are under stress, your resistance is down. That is actually why fever blisters, also known as herpes simplex will often come out when you are physically or emotionally stressed. Another problem dermatologists see is telogen effluvium. Telogen effluvium is the shedding of the hair, in response to stress. That occurs when the normal growing cycles of the hair follicles all go into telogen or shedding phase at the same time. The good news is telogen effluvium can usually be improved with the use of nutrafol. Now, we all know that stress causes acne breakouts. So lot of people are talking about masking, which is acne for masks but really and truly guys, it is from the stress. So the reason for that is that stress has a direct effect on cortisol, increasing it, which has a direct effect on our oil glands to increase the oil output. The greater the oil output, the greater the chance that that pore will get clogged and you will get a blemish. Always remember no matter how bad that blemish looks, please don’t pick it because it actually increases your chances of scarring. A lot of people don’t know that seborrheic dermatitis, which is a flaky condition in the scalp, sometimes called dandruff, but it can also affect between the eyebrows, in the ears and in other parts of the body. Well seborrheic dermatitis, also exacerbated stress, in addition, atopic dermatitis and psoriasis are two chronic conditions of the skin with itchy, flaky patches and plaques that will also be worsened by stress. So I know you can’t control the stress, but try to control the stress’ effect on your system. Do thinks like regular exercise, make sure you are getting enough sleep, talk to friends, talk to therapists, try to do deep breathing techniques, meditate, do whatever you can do to help you manage your stress. It is worthless to be upset about something that you directly can’t control so don’t let stress make you get more stressed because your skin breaks out.