As many of you might not realize, there are many different types of acne. Before you do anything else to treat your acne, it is necessary to understand and know what type of acne that you are having. Different types of acne will show different symptoms and you will need to treat them accordingly.

Acne vulgaris is one of the common types of acne that strikes the teens. This kind of acne will also affect adults which have oily skin. It commonly occurs on the face, chest and back of the body. It can be in the form of blackheads, whiteheads, papules and pustules. Papules are usually small, red, solid and usually conical elevation of the skin. Papules do not contain pus. Pustules on the other hand are small, inflamed, pus-filled, blister-like lesions on the skin surface and they can be in white or yellow color.

Comedonal acne refers to the pattern of acne in which most lesions are comedones (blackheads and whiteheads). Comedonal acne most often affects the forehead and chin. Comedones form because plugs of sebum and keratin (old skin cells) block the skin pores (follicles).

Conglobata acne is a kind of acne that will cause fever and pain at the joints. This type of acne is considered severe and affects the face, back and chest. Strange but true, acne conglobata usually affects men but rarely women. This shows inflamed and un-inflamed nodule and scars.

Acne fulminans is a more severe case of acne Conglobata which is very rare and very severe. It usually associated with systemic symptoms and always attack males rather than females. Characterized by an abruption of inflammatory and ulcerated nodular acne on the body producing severe scars. The symptom of a person affected by the acne fulminans are fluctuation of fever, painful joints, white blood cell count is higher than red blood cell and not feeling healthy.

Acne medicamentosa is acne that is caused or aggravated by medication. Because acne is generally a disorder of the pilosebaceous units caused by hormones, the medications that trigger acne medicamentosa most frequently are hormones. Drugs that are often relate to medicamentosa acne are anabolic steroids, oral steroids, contraceptives and testosterone. These drugs are usually administrated to athletes for enhancing their performance. Other medications include halogens, antiepileptics, antituberculous and antidepressants.

Lastly, acne excoriee, this kind of acne is due to scratching. It might sound dumb but it is. People are used to prick or squeeze acne off their face which is not advisable. This course of action may cause infection and scars that will end up looking worse than before. Don’t make yourself embarrassed but stop pricking it and use some medication to treat the acne.