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Getting acne....Q&A............(part 3 of 5)

I’ve started getting acne spots. How long do they last? This depends on what type of spots they are and, even then, it can be very difficult to predict what will happen. Some spots will appear and then disappear during the course of a day but others will evolve more gradually through the various stages. Comedones can be very persistent if they don’t get inflamed. Mildly inflamed spots will last 5–10 days before settling down, but can leave a flat red mark (macule) for several weeks. Nodules and cysts may last for weeks or months unless you get some treatment. What is the difference between a whitehead and a yellow- head spot? These two common terms describe quite different types of spot. A whitehead is a closed comedone where the pore is blocked and not open to the air. There is no inflammation (redness). A yellow- head suggests a spot with pus in it. The medical term is a ‘pustule’. Whiteheads may become yellowheads if the blocked pore becomes infected. My daughter is only 9 but she seems
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Giving your skin a drink!

The next time you take a long bath or stay in a swimming pool for a long time, notice
how soggy and rippled the skin on your palms and soles looks after a while. That’s
because they’ve been immersed in water for a long period and your waterproof pro-
tective layer of sebum (the oily stuff that plays a large role in acne, as I discuss in
Chapter 3) got washed away, so water can now get readily absorbed into the outer
layer of your epidermis.
The rippling or wrinkled appearance develops because your skin has increased its
surface area to accommodate all the water it absorbed during that time. It’s water-
logged! The “wrinkling” is so obvious on your palms and soles because they have
the thickest stratum corneum. If you watch your hand for 5 minutes or so, you’ll see
that the corrugated look disappears. That’s because the water soon evaporates
from your overhydrated stratum corneum.
Now, if you apply a moisturizer before the water evaporates, you can “lock in” the
water that was absorbed while you were bathing or showering. Moisturizers don’t
add water to the skin; instead, they reduce water loss by slowing its evaporation.
Your take home message: If you have dry skin, apply a moisturizer while your skin
is still damp.
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