Akanksha Arora • 25 Jul 2024
What Causes Acne On Your Body? Understanding The Skin Condition And Its Treatment Options
What Causes Acne On Your Body? Understanding The Skin Condition And Its Treatment Options. (Image: iStock)
Are you having acne that is stealing your peace of mind? Something that is making you conscious all the time and you are not feeling confident enough. Moreover, those acne scars can be distressing and cause stress and anxiety in many people.
Acne vulgaris (commonly known as pimples or zits) is one of the most common skin disorders in humans, especially affecting the younger age group. Severe and later stages of acne can lead to disastrous scarring further causing severe emotional distress and reduced self-esteem. Similarly, a close relative of acne, which is called Rosacea, can also lead to scarring or swelling and thickening of different regions of the face, more importantly, the nose, leading to what is called a Potato nose/Rhinophyma.
What causes acne scars?
Acne scars result from fibrosis of the skin tissue as it heals after pimples subside. At first, the skin produced by the body at the site of the damaged area looks and functions differently from the rest of the body's skin. However, with time, the body tends to replace it with skin that more closely matches the rest of the body's skin. Dr Rinky Kapoor, Consultant Dermatologist, Cosmetic Dermatologist & Dermato-Surgeon, said, "Fading of scars depends on certain factors that include size, type of scar, depth of the scar, and other personal factors such as age and genetics. Types of scars include hypertrophic scars, atrophic scars, rolling scars, box scars, ice pick scars, and keloidal scars. Scars in addition may or may not be hyper or hypopigmented."She further added, "They may have associated broken capillaries in them, and may or may not be associated with deformity or disfigurement of the surrounding tissue."
Treatment options
Dr Rinky Kapoor also elaborated on some of the treatment options that we have:- Laser treatment options include the use of non-ablative or ablative lasers: Heat and light of measured intensity are delivered into the desired deeper layers of the skin to regenerate fresh collagen and refill depressed scars. As it eliminates the dead and damaged layers of the skin, this technique also helps to eliminate pigment and thus lightens scars simultaneously. The non-ablative laser delivers heat deep into the skin to cause changes in dermal collagen and thus remodel the scar. It is suitable for the milder variety of superficial scars. Ablation laser treatment is the best option for deeper scars and it involves controlled removal of the epidermis up to a particular level and causing dermal collagen remodeling, together they cause good better improvement in the scar appearance.
- Fractional radiofrequency techniques: Derma rollers, Cryo rollers and chemical peels for shallow scars, Microdermabrasion for very minor scars, and Scar revision surgery are some of the techniques which are commonly used.
However, it is important to note that every skin is different, just like every individual is unique. One must have realistic expectations and not get carried away by advertisements, results obtained from other patients, or celebrities. A trained expert cosmetic dermatologist with ample years of experience should be your treating physician. It is imperative to note that, being an ablative laser, it needs precise training and experience to perform this procedure and to give you the desired results. Inaccurately done treatments can lead to pigmentation, laser burns, and scarring, more so in Indian and pigmented skin types.