What acne is and how to treat it effectively
Hi and welcome to Edmonton Dermatology Center. You have found our YouTube channel here and we’re gonna be teaching you a lot about skincare and how to treat different things that you might come across on your skin. So today I’m here with Andrea, who is a registered LPN at the center. And we’re gonna talk today about ways that you can treat acne. It’s a pretty common issue for young to older people and so we thought it’d be great if you guys could learn some ways of how to treat it.
My name’s Karen and I’m here with Andrea and we’re going to just give you a breakdown. So moon Unit Zappa is quoted as saying, I spent most of my life locked in my bedroom, miserable about my raging acne. I’d say that’s pretty accurate on how people feel about having acne.
Most people. Yes.
Yeah, exactly. Absolutely. And actually, statistically 60 million people in the US have acne, so it’s not uncommon at all. Yeah.
And usually Canada’s on that same par as well.
Yeah, totally. So 80% of adult acne cases are women. So we’re here to just teach you about that and how you can treat it and, you know, make your quality of life a little bit better.
So here at Edmonton Dermatology we treat a lot of mild and moderate acne patients. A lot of people misunderstand the causes of acne and are confused to what products they should use or shouldn’t use. So today I’m gonna try and help answer some of those questions.
That would be great. This is gonna be a great session. Yeah. So let’s just back up a little bit and just kind of break it down to the fundamentals.
What exactly is acne?
So acne actually has, like I said, we have mild and moderate acne. There’s also severe acne, so they’re just different stages of acne. Ultimately it’s an inflammatory clogged pore type of condition. So it’s this vicious circle of you get clogged pores and then all of a sudden your white blood cells come in and try and remove that. And then you get this big honk and pimple on your face, which is gross. And no matter how many times or how many things you try, sometimes it doesn’t work or sometimes it causes too much irritation, which then creates more inflammation and it just ends up this vicious circle of not such good skin.
That sounds uncomfortable too. Yeah. Yeah.
So what isn’t acne? That’s probably a good question as well.
So a lot of people do come to us and they’re talking about how they’re really red and irritated in this area. Not, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s acne. That’s why you do need to see a dermatologist or even speak with your family doctor to be referred to a dermatologist. ’cause It may be something different than acne. If you have a lot of dryness and redness in this area, it tends to happen a lot in the winter. That could be something like peral dermatitis, which because it’s dry skin instead of oily skin, there’s different treatments for that. So keep that in mind if you’re not sure. It’s really important to see a physician.
It sounds very important actually. It’s not good to self-diagnose. No. Yeah, Please don’t.
Who’s actually the age group, what age group is affected by acne?
So again, that’s, there’s different types of acne out there. I’m not gonna get too much detail ’cause that’s a lot of information. But of course you have your teenage acne, which is quite hormonal, but then there’s also adult acne, which us poor women tend to get the most. Yeah. Again, it does implicate a bit of hormonal effects. So hormonal acne tends to be right up in here, whereas teenage acne, it’s just everywhere. Yeah. Chest back, everything. Oh, wow. Yeah. so again, those, depending on if it’s teenage acne or if it’s adult acne, we have to treat it a little bit differently. Hmm. So that’s where our dermatologists come in. They help out with that too.
And then we also have treatments that we offer here at Edmonton Dermatology to help out more physically trying to remove things out of the, like the clogged pores out of the skin and reduce the oiliness.
Yeah. It’s definitely best to leave it to the experts.
Absolutely.
That’s great. So are any over the counter or drugstore products effective at treating acne?
Some, yes. They’re not great though. There’s always the usual, everybody’s used Clinique, everybody’s used some sort of popular product that you see on tv. The thing is, is that these are created to be mild enough that everybody can use ’em. So you’re not really getting the full effect to really calm down the inflammation, take away some of that oiliness, clean out your pores because it’s, they’re trying to make sure that if someone with non-ag, acne skin can use it, they won’t get irritated.
So it’s really important to make sure that you’re actually talking to the experts like us here at Edmonton Dermatology to really make sure that you’re using the correct stuff. Also, you don’t know if you’re gonna be sensitive or allergic to some sort of product in the over the counter stuff. So that’s really where it’s like a gamble. You’re not sure if you’re going, if it’s gonna make it better, if it’s gonna make it worse either. So Oh wow. Yeah, it’s best to come talk to us and we can maybe give you a few pointers on what’s the best things to use. Wow.
Yeah. That sounds actually very important. Yeah. So how do I, a person with acne, how do they re reduce the acne flareups? Maybe in between treatments?
So usually acne flareups again that’s when you get the little pimples everywhere and they’re really red and they’re kind of sore. So usually with those, what we ask you to do at home is make sure you have that good skincare. Like I said, the over the counter ones we’re kind of iffy. It’s important to have products that aren’t irritating but are still going to treat those problem things like the inflammation, the oiliness, some of the discomfort that comes with it too. Those products are definitely something that we can help with. Again even just counseling you on what is proper use, what’s to stay away from.
Also making sure that you have a cleanser that’s actually meant to clean out your pores. Because if it’s something that’s hydrating, well of course it’s only gonna increase the oiliness. And then you’re gonna just keep that vicious circle going.
Oh yeah, yeah. I’m kidding. So does the diet affect acne? So, so there’s a lot of debate on that. There’s a lot of research still going into the idea that yes, there’s some foods out there that do cause acne. With the way that our society is going eating healthier, more local foods, natural foods, I really hope that maybe one day we won’t even see these extra flareups.
But like I said, there are debates out there that possibly there are foods that do take a look, be careful of what you look for when you do research. Dr. Google doesn’t tell you everything. Just be mindful, keep on websites like ourselves. The Canadian Dermatology Association, so CDA the a ED or the American Association of Dermatology, they have great resources as well as WebMD. They usually have good clinical trials based on this stuff.
Some of the things that are, are being up for debate is dairy products. Mm, yes. Right. Chocolate. And there’s not a whole, I mean, we all love chocolate, but there’s a few research things out there about chocolate creating it. There’s also actually some benefits of dark chocolate as well as antioxidants. Right. That kind of go along with red wine as well for over the age of 18 though here in Alberta. So debates like that not necessarily does eating like a big bag of chips is going to make you break out. That’s probably more of a hormonal thing that’s going on, right. Deep down.
So again, if you really wanna start researching in that, make sure you’re using reliable resources. Hmm. Yes. Yeah. So should I pop an acne pimple? Please don’t don’t do it. The reason why we ask that you don’t pop the pimple or scratch at it or anything.
I know it’s a human thing. You really wanna just get it off. It’s important because the more you pick and poke the greater chances you’re actually going to wreck the collagen in your skin, which then causes scarring, which then once your acne’s fixed, yay, it’s fixed. Now you have to deal with this acne scarring, which can be as much of a nuisance as the acne itself. Yeah. It’s still like your skin’s texture isn’t the same anymore. So be very, very careful. Don’t pick them, don’t pop ’em. Nothing like that. Just leave it be, it will run its course.
I know it hurts. It’s not, it’s kind of unsightly, but try your best not to poke ’em or pick ’em.
Wow. So when should I see a dermatologist? If I’m wondering if I have acne?
If you are at the point where nothing over the counter is working, your family doctor has prescribed you the odd topical cream to put on, but it’s just still not working, you are more than welcome to ask your derm your family doctor to refer you to a dermatologist. That’s important when you’re just kind of, you got acne all over even on your chest and back. It’s gotten to that point. It’s really important to come and see a dermatologist and all dermatologists are based on referral.
So, and you’re more than welcome to ask your family doctor to specifically pick a dermatologist. So if you wanna come see us here, you specifically ask for Dr. Muba Taher and they can certainly get you booked in with us. Nice.
Okay. That’s great. Maybe you can give us a little bit of help here, but what kind of skin treatments can help my acne once you guys see me?
So yeah, as you know, like you get that clogged pores, you got all that extra oil. There’s also the effect of the p acnes bacteria, which actually is a natural bacteria on our skin. It’s part of our healthy skin flora, but sometimes it just kind of goes a little wacky. It goes a little too much, which is why you get those big white heads on your skin. So the best thing to do is make sure we get those pores cleaned out.
So microdermabrasion is really important. So that helps exfoliate the top layer of the skin. Just to take off any dead skin cells, which tend to, they’re the ones that cause those little white heads, they tend to fall into the pores. So if there’s too much of those cells at the surface, they’ll just keep popping into the pores and clogging them.
So we want to take that layer off gently. And also we suction out the pores, so whatever is in the pores already, it comes right out. We also do chemical peels. So chemical peels will help with inflammation and help reduce them. So salicylic acids, glycolic acids those types of products are important to be able to settle that redness, settle that inflammation angriness essentially. And then it’ll also make sure that your pore stay clean, it will tighten them a little bit as well.
And then there’s also a procedure that we offer here. It’s called the silk peel. Essentially it’s combining those two so microdermabrasion and using a chemical peel, a salicylic acid all in one, and it just kind of exfoliates cleans the pores and helps settle inflammation.
Wow. So many options. That’s great. There is.
So will these treatments actually cure me of my acne?
So a lot of people are hoping like it’s gonna be a one and done type of procedures. Unfortunately they’re not. There’s a lot of things that the body is doing all at once. So like I said before, hormonals oil production can be increased. So it can be a long-term condition. Hopefully one day will get you to the point where you have just maybe the odd pimple here and there instead of the whole breakout. So it’s one of those things that no one procedure’s not going to do it.
We usually recommend starting off with four and then it doesn’t hurt to do these procedures every once in a while either to make sure that everything stays calm. The other important thing is having the proper skincare at home. So again, coming into consult with us so we can discuss a little bit further as to what type of skincare you could use to make sure that you don’t get that big full air out, those angry acne spots that you really want to poke. Stuff like that. So just making sure that you have that long-term maintenance with skincare and then every once in a while, coming in and getting a procedure done.
Nice. Wow. Very informative. Thank you very much for answering so many questions about how to treat acne. Thank you for joining us here on the YouTube channel at Edmonton Dermatology Center. Don’t forget to subscribe and like our videos, so we’ll keep giving you more content of what can help you with your skin.
Awesome. Thanks guys. Bye.