Acne Treatment & Prevention for Back to School

Jul 5, 2018

For teens, going back to school is both fun and nerve-racking. It’s great to reconnect with friends and get back into activities, but with the teen years also comes acne. Though it is the most common skin condition impacting people of all ages, acne tends to be more prevalent in teenagers. Teenage girls seem to be especially affected due to fluctuations in hormones due to the menstrual cycle. Acne can include the garden-variety break out of pimples, blackheads, whiteheads, and cysts. Acne starts when hair follicles become blocked by an overproduction of oil or due to certain bacteria in the hair follicle. Besides the face, acne breakouts can occur on the chest, back, neck and arms. Having breakouts is bad enough, but it adds insult to injury when the same breakouts leave scarring and deep pitting on the skin. Scarring and pitting are made worse when patients squeeze or pick at pimples, and this behavior can also create infection leading to more redness and inflammation. It’s natural for teens to want to do anything possible to get rid of acne breakouts, but picking is the worst thing the patient can do. Advances in dermatology provide new and exciting treatments for acne beyond topical creams and ointments. In some instances where there is a severe lesion, the patient can receive an injection to promote more rapid healing. Being a teenager is difficult due to peer pressure, demanding academics, hormones, and many other things, but acne need not be an impediment to a teen’s self-confidence when there are options to treat and control acne.