Category: 皮肤医学

“Doc, I am not a teenager anymore! Why do I still have such an outbreak?” This is a recurring question that I get from irate patients with adult acne.”

I have to inform them that around 20-40% of adults over the age of 25 still suffer from acne, in one form or another. Women have a higher rate of being affected by adult acne.

In my contact with patients & media articles, I gathered some of the common beliefs on Adult Acne:

• Acne in adulthood differs from the one during puberty.
• Adult acne occurs specifically around the jawline and chin area.
• Adult acne is associated with hormonal imbalances.
• Adult acne has fewer but bigger and more inflamed acne spots.

However, a large-scale international study on adult acne was published in October 2014. This study involved 374 adult females over the age of 25 from many countries including Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, and it revealed some interesting findings:

• The data shows that 90% of facial acne distribution among the study subjects is similar to that of adolescent acne. This debunks the belief that adult acne is thought to occur only on specific locations of the face e.g. the jawline and chin area.
• It reveals that most of the women experienced an extension of the acne problem from the adolescent period, rather than an adult outbreak with no prior acne history at all.
• Most of the women involved in this study were not suffering from any hormonal disturbance. However, it did show that high-stress levels contributed to the severity of the acne condition. It is also interesting to note that no observations were made in regards to acne and dietary intake.
• Another interesting finding derived was that acne scarring (59.4%) and pigmentation (50.4%) were common in women aged 25-30 with a decrease in frequency in the older group i.e. 30 years and above.

Overall, this study has shed new and important insights into the problem of adult acne especially amongst women above 25 years old & above. Many unfounded myths were debunked!

Reference
1. Large-scale international study enhances understanding of an emerging acne population: acne females. B. Dreno D. Thiboutot, A.M Layton. et al. JEADV 2014

A lot of people still consider acne outbreaks a hygiene issue. Despite stepping up their cleansing routine and frequent change of cleanser, their acne still persists! Little did they realize that excessive and too vigorous washing can sometimes make acne worse!

Acne Marks- cleared with subsequent skin & laser treatments

In a straightforward case, washing one’s face with a gentle cleanser and water 2-3 times a day will suffice. The main use of facial cleansing is to remove dirt, sweat, grimes, cosmetic and dead skin cells and it has very little impact on the control of the acne.

Many of the acne patients like to pick and squeeze their acne because a successful pop is always very satisfying! If you’ve given into the temptation before, you know the ugly aftermath: a red or brown mark that stuck around for months as a result of skin trauma.

Not that squeezing or extracting acne is absolutely bad, but one should only limit to blackheads! The hands should always be clean and the squeeze clinical and precise! Inappropriately squeezing the inflammatory lesions is likely to cause worsening inflammation, expansion of the lesion, and leads to even worse scarring!

Many patients were also talked into believing that acne is due to the accumulation of toxins and that they need detoxification treatment. Amazingly, some even believe that when their acne gets worse while on detox treatment is good as the treatment purges out the toxin from their face!

Many other myths about acne care are widely accepted and practiced and unfortunately, they contribute to the delay in seeking proper treatment. Sadly, this leads to acne scarring. Hence, early consultation and treatment by a skin specialist are all the more important if one is to minimize acne scarring during their youthful and acne phase of their life!