Posts Tagged ‘Newborn Babies’

How To Welcome The Arrival Of Unwanted Guest Acne?

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Acne is the most unwanted guest. It arrives at the most unsuspected time, without any notice. It is a universal skin disorder. Call it a skin disease. It is not contagious. Is it hereditary? There is no consensus on this point among the researchers dominating the acne wonderland. Acne spares none, not even infants, children, men. And for women, it is not only a physical ailment, it is more of a psychological one.

All the more, when acne attacks your face, ‘a face saving devise’ has to be found on the top-priority basis. The market is flooded with soaps, lotions, gels, creams and antibiotics, and, above all, with highly capable sales-force to promote these products.

Acne infantilis is the term used for acne that grows on newborn babies. As for the middle aged people, it is known as acne rosaces. And there are many classifications of acne, according to the nature and severity of the disease. Comedo is the form where all the severe acne cases originate. Whiteheads and blackheads are two forms of comedo.
Wherein, whiteheads are deeply situated into the skin layers.

How do you know acne has arrived? Observe and take note of red swelling or small lesions on the skin. The skin coloration is on account of accumulation of dark skin pigments called melemin, supported by hardened sebum and other skin debris and particles. Pus filled lesions are termed as pustules. When acne assumes serious proportions, it is called cyst.

What is the cause of acne? Very difficult to pinpoint as such. But it is highly probable that some of the causes are, poor diet, stress, weather elements, hormonal imbalance and to some extent, genetic influences.

Greasy and spicy foods can cause oily or acne skin. Foods that aggravate acne are acid producing foods. Foods that benefit and help to mitigate the suffering of acne are those containing minerals, especially iron rich foods.

Dry, rough, scaly skin, wrinkling, itching, pimples loss of elasticity, premature aging, enlarged pores, irregular sebacious gland production, dandruff, split/peeling nails, poor night vision, burning and itching eyes, thickening of cornea, skin being slow to heal and grow these all are the positive indications of the impending arrival of acne.

So, get advice and help from your dermatologist and cancel all the future appointments with acne!

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Acne: A Basic Understanding

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

Statistics indicate that as high as 80% of the entire American population has ever had acne. Acne afflicts all genders, sexes and ages making it a universal skin disorder. As a form of skin disease, the good news is that acne is not transmittable.

Although acne is not contagious from person-to-person, it can spread to the whole face and can severely affect all the skin tissues that have pilosebaceous units. It is not true that acne just affects those going through puberty. Even infants or individuals who may be well over their forties, can develop this skin disorder. Acne infantilis is the term used for acne that grows on newborn babies, on the other hand acne rosacea is related to middle-aged people.

Acne has different classifications, according to the severity of the infection.

Comedo is the form where all severe acne cases originate. This is characterized by red swelling or small lesions on your skin. Whiteheads and blackheads are two forms of comedo. Conversely, blackhead is an open comedo. The coloration is due to the accumulation of dark skin pigments called melanin, plus hardened sebum and other skin debris and particles. This is the basic structure of whiteheads, however, the only difference is the coloration and these are deeply situated into the skin layers.

If you have sandpaper-like skin around the tissue of your mouth and on the surface of your forehead, chin and cheeks, you probably have papules. Pus-filled lesions are also termed as pustules.

Nodules on the other hand are similar with pustules. However, nodules are firmer and are larger acne growing deep in the skin. Inflammation may develop your pustules into containing semi-liquid or liquid materials composed of white blood cells (which are dead because of the acne-infecting bacteria named as Propionibacterium acnes), dead skin cells and active or inactive bacteria. This can result into more serious acne called cysts. In such situations, you may need the assistance of a skin dermatologist or physician.

What is the cause of acne? It is quite difficult to exactly determine what may have caused your acne infection as reasons differ case to case. Studies indicate that the skin disorder may be brought about by many factors, including poor diet, stress, weather elements, and hormone changes or may be genetically influenced.

Medically speaking, acne starts from the formation of hardened sebum, or the oily substance secreted to the skin through the sebaceous glands. This then will be permeated with acne-infecting bacteria, which in return will trigger the immune system to release white blood cells to obstruct the attack of the bacteria. As this happens, dead white blood cells and bacteria will accumulate in the hair follicles mixed with skin debris and dead skin particles, which then will inflame the lesions.

Most mild case acne may be treated with over the counter acne medications. They are generally topical drugs, which you apply on your skin for acne treatment. They may come in the form of soaps, lotions, gels and creams. Conversely, systematic acne medications are taken orally. The most common of which are the antibiotics.

Knowing that you are not the only one inflicted with acne at some point in life or another helps in that there will always be new research and new products coming on stream. Continue to read up on acne research and help your fight against it.

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A Brief Overview Of Baby Acne

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Small babies may develop acne because of the lingering maternal hormones after delivery, which may cause stimulation to the baby’s sebaceous glands. Your baby receives these hormones from the placenta, after the delivery.

Don’t worry if your baby has pimples. About 20% of the newborn babies are affected by baby acne, also known as acne-neonatorum.

Let know the various aspects of this peculiar type of acne. First things first, the treatment for infantile acne is not the same as that of acne treatment for any other age group.

Infantile acne is gender-biased. Male babies are more affected than their female counterparts. Normally babies have the acne attack at the age of 3 weeks. Some babies have it from the time of delivery. Generally the types of acne you find in infants are papules and pustules. Papules are red bumps and pustules are whiteheads. They have a collection of pus.

Some babies also have acne on the scalp. Acne in babies does not require treatment as such. The lesions will take care of themselves within a period of four months. But do take the normal care of the baby as you would take care of its other body parts.

Use mild baby soap and gently clean the face once in a day with water. Do not try harsher methods by using oil and other lotions which you think are good. They may at times, worsen the condition. Know for certain that infantile acne will disappear when it has to.

In your anxiety to photograph the baby, don’t stuff his/her cheeks with cosmetics and if at all you need to have the touch-ups, do it in an imaginative way.

If you or your family doctor feel that the baby has severe acne, treat it with benzoyl peroxide, keratolytic agents or topical creams like retinoids.

The ways of acne are indeed mysterious. If you have a family history of acne, that doesn’t mean that your baby will have acne. And just because the baby has acne, it doesn’t mean that, it will suffer from the attack of acne, when it grows up. Acne has its own working style and attacking strategy.

Infantile acne, which normally appears after the age of three months in a baby, quietly disappears after the age of 12 months. No special efforts of treatment are required. In some babies, the condition may last up to three years. It is due to the genetic makeup of your baby. You have something to contribute to it, as the hereditary part.

You have nothing to do with the infantile acne, relating to the treatment part. Just observe its arrival and departure. Well, arrival with anxiety and departure with pleasure!

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