Tracking acne’s footsteps

In its full glory, teenage acne generally looks like a mixture of
blackheads and whiteheads (comedonal acne) with papules and
pustules (inflammatory acne) and macules (healing lesions).
Awesome! Here’s how teenage acne can look in different kids.
Maybe you’ll find your type in one of the following descriptions:
 Initially, the main lesions may be whiteheads and blackheads.
Often they start out in a nice, embarrassing, central location —
the nose and forehead. This part of the T-zone is where your
skin tends to be most oily and, therefore, likely to develop acne.
As time goes on, you may discover a zit (also called pimples
or papules; the red stuff) here and there, and an additional
blackhead or whitehead now and then. There’s a good chance
that they will come and go. At this point, we’re still in the “it’s
no big thing” stage. This type of acne is a rite of passage that
almost all of us go through. If you’re lucky, this will just pass
by itself or you can help it clear up with some inexpensive
over-the-counter stuff that you can buy at your local drug-
store (see Chapter 7 for the names of these medications).
 Sometimes, however, the going can get a little rougher: The
whiteheads and blackheads want to hang around a lot longer
and sometimes a population spurt of inflammatory papules
and pustules really start making their presence felt. They can
be seen in the center of the face but may also be scattered all
over the place including your neck, chest, and back.
If you have dark skin, you may not see all of this red stuff
because your acne may look brown or even darker on your skin
(see Chapter 12 where I go into acne that’s seen in darker skin).
As individual acne lesions heal, macules (dark red or purple
spots) form and linger until the lesion heals completely. The
macules may look brown or almost black in color if you are
very dark-complexioned.
 In some teens, especially those who have inherited a ten-
dency to develop scarring acne, acne nodules may appear.
They can get quite large, lumpy, and painful. They’re inflamed
lesions that are situated deeper than ordinary papules and
pustules and can, if they go untreated, leave deep or thick-
ened scars. This is called nodular acne (see Chapter 3 for a
full description).
Fortunately, even if acne reaches this point, dermatologists can
treat it very effectively in many people with oral antibiotics
and, if necessary, with an oral retinoid, known as isotretinoin,
or Accutane. (I discuss this powerful drug in Chapter 13.)
Besides these strong medicines, we have many new tricks up
our sleeves, such as lasers and special lights to treat your acne.
Chapters 14 and 16 explain these cutting-edge treatments.

It’s Greek to me
he original name for acne was derived from the Greek word akm — and Latin acme
eaning high point or peak. I’m thinking the name came from the fact that some of
he pimples looked like the size of Mount Olympus to akm — sufferers.