What is the BEST way to treat Severe acne? Severe acne can be classified as Acne grade 4. Moderately Severe acne is technically classified as acne grade 3. The best way to know if you have severe acne is how severe the inflammation is along with the amount of red pustules, papules, and even some cystic or nodules that exist. Severe acne can still have some whiteheads and blackheads.
Moderately severe acne has significantly more inflammation than grades 1 and 2 acne.
Best Acne Ingredients for Acne and Oily Skin
Moderately severe acne has more red papules, and pustules than whiteheads and blackheads.
This is a good example of moderately severe acne:
You can see the presence of more inflammation where the break outs look painful and quite a few are large, red, and some have formed pustules.
Severe Acne (Acne Grade 4):
After treating many clients with acne, the term, “severe acne” is subjective. Severe acne can be categorized as grade 4 if the acne appearance has:
-significant amount of inflammation
– cysts and /or nodules exist (very painful ) may take a long time to heal
-significant amount of red papules and/or pustules
-may have more blackheads and whiteheads
-2/3 or more of the face is covered in break outs
These photos below show examples of the severity of acne. One has more nodules and cysts and the other have more pustules and papules .
If you find that your acne looks similar to one of these photos, then the typical over the counter treatment may not be enough.
Best Treatments for Severe Acne:
After administering over 26k treatments, I found that the best way to treat severe acne is also the most challenging part of treating acne grades 3 and 4.
Step 1: Oil/Water Balance: Between treating inflammation, avoiding over drying the skin and not increasing oil production, is a very tricky balance and that comes with working with the individuals skin to see how the skin responds.
Step 2 Reducing Inflammation while trying to kill the acne causing bacteria
Step 3: Determining which series of treatments/protocol will work best with the client.
The causes of acne can be very different ranging from:
-Genetics
-Response to certain ingredients in skin care products/antibiotics
-Environment
–DietAcne and Diet
-Stress
Best Ways of Treating Severe acne can be include:
-Light Therapy
-Hormone therapy
-Nodular Acne can also be treated with cortisone injections and or antibiotics
Although severe acne can affect both men and women, men typically will experience more bouts of severe acne . Extremely severe acne can be frequently seen in adolescent males and males who are using steroids. The male hormone can have an influence on the type of sebum and how much sebum is produced. Males will usually see the concentrations of break outs along the jawline and along the brow line and forehead.
Women usually will see more break outs around the chin. However, when women stress or have hormonal issues, women may see an increase of break outs also along the jawline and forehead area.
Treating moderately severe and severe acne can vary greatly. By the time someone comes to see for this type of acne, they are usually very frustrated at the amount of time, money and energy spent on trying to clear, much less reduce the acne on their face, chest or back.
***There is NOT ONE MAGIC type of treatment or product that will clear severe acne. Depending on their skin, lifestyle, what medications they may be taking, and skin care products they are using , this will determine what treatment path to take.
Best Cleanser for Severe Acne:
If you have pustules, papules, blackheads, whiteheads, and even nodular or cystic acne AND you do NOT have oily skin, or are using Retinoids or antibiotics it may be best to use a balancing cleanser. If the skin is red and inflamed and already sensitive and oil is not the problem, then a gentle balancing cleanser may work better than one that is a harsh acne control cleanser.
If you are taking oral/applying topical antibiotics, then please consult with a professional in regards to if, how, and how much of these ingredients you could/should be using:
These can include:
Benzoyl Peroxide
Retinoids
Salicylic Acid
Glycolic Acid
Lactic Acid
Malic Acid
Some additional information for acne;
Best Acne Ingredients for Acne and Oily Skin
Benzoyl Peroxide vs Salicylic Acid vs Retinoids for Acne
10 Daily Habits That May Cause Acne Breakouts!
Acne Treatments to AVOID if you have SEVERE ACNE:
If you have extremely inflamed skin with many pustules, red papules, nodular and/or cystic acne, it is best to avoid these treatments, especially if your acne lesions are oozing. The best way to treat severe acne is to avoid these treatments.
Avoid any treatments that will have a potential to open up acne lesions, and spread the bacteria and open up healing acne lesions such as:
-Microdermabrasion
-Acid Peels
-Facial Massage
-Using Clarisonic exfoliating brushes
-Jade Rollers
AVOID Facials oils , especially heavier oils such as nut oils and coconut oils. Especially if you already have oily skin. If your skin is oily, your skin does need added oils that contain essential fatty acids and sugars that the acne causing bacteria can feed on.
Tea Tree Oils does very little for severe acne.
Severe acne treatments needs more that just the best cleanser for acne, or just popping a few antibiotic pills or using a topical antibiotic, it takes understanding your skins history.
Severe acne needs drastic measures which usually needs the assistance of a skin care professional and /or a doctor.
TREATING SEVERE ACNE SCARS:
If you have quite a few acne lesions with the acne scars, focus on clearing up the acne lesions BEFORE concentrating on focusing on lightening acne scars. Just by using many acne controlling products, some of the acne scars will begin to lighten.
Severe Acne can also leave severe acne scars such as pock marks, ice pick scars and box car scars.
These types of scars are caused by lesions that were deep in the skin and the uneven collagen production can cause the uneven texture of the skin.
These types of acne scars (as far as texture goes), can be best addressed with acid peels and/or microdermabrasion/laser that will help even out the skin texture. These treatments can be painful and invasive.
***PLEASE GO TO AN EXPERIENCED SKIN PROFESSIONAL FOR THIS AND PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE TYPES OF TREATMENTS USUALLY TAKES SEVERAL VISITS OVER TIME AND BEST DONE IN THE WINTER***
***THIS CAN MAKE ACNE SCARS WORSE IF YOU DO NOT GO TO SOMEONE WHO HAS EXPERIENCE WITH THESE TYPES OF TREATMENTS.
If you are interested in learning more about the different modalities, then let us know in the comments.
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