Severe Types of Acne

Severe acne is often a painful condition that may affect both men and women, usually under the age of 30, and will usually require some form of ongoing treatment, especially to avoid permanent scarring of the skin.

The most severe forms of acne vulgaris are divided into four types:

Acne Conglobata: This type of acne often causes permanent damage to the skin due to inflamed pus-filled nodules that form and then lead to ulcerations, or eventually scarring. For reasons that aren't yet fully understood, men in the 18 to 30 year age range are far more likely to be affected by this type of severe acne than women. Some other characteristics of acne conglobata include widespread blackheads and deep abscesses.

Acne Fulminans: Often appearing suddenly, acne fulminans causes many serious symptoms including pain, fever, and joint inflammation, particularly in the vital knee and hip joints. This type of severe acne often appears after acne conglobata has been diagnosed and unsuccessfully treated and may continue with reoccurring attacks.

Gram Negative Folliculitis: Named for the bacteria itself and the process used to identify it, gram negative folliculitis is caused by a bacterial infection which often arises after long-term antibiotic use for treating acne.

Nodulocystic Acne: Nodulocystic acne causes large and painful nodules to form into cysts that may appear either on the face, or on other parts of the body including the back and chest. This type of severe acne will most usually require an aggressive form of ongoing treatment.

Effective Methods for Treating Severe Acne

In addition to oral antibiotics and topical applications, which are usually more effective for milder cases of acne, more extreme methods of treatment such as surgical extraction and the use of laser therapy may be necessary.

Chemical Peels: For reducing the appearance of red bumps and removing blackheads, chemical peels are done using agents like glycolic acid applied to affected areas of the skin.

Laser Treatment: Laser therapy, also referred to as phototherapy, is one method of treating the kind of severe acne that's cause mostly by clogged hair follicles. Since the use of lasers is a relatively new process, the efficacy over the long term is not yet known, and different skin types and degrees of acne may be better suited for this form of treatment than others.

NSAIDs: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications are used to reduce the pain caused by some types of severe acne, including acne fulminans.

Surgery: The largest and most severe of cysts and comedones, or acne lesions, will often require surgery as they generally do not respond to other less invasive forms of treatment. A comedo extraction is a procedure that removes blackheads and whiteheads as well as painful cysts that will most likely need to be drained prior to extraction.

Attempting to excise or "pop" large pimples on your own is never recommended as both serious infections and scarring are highly likely to occur. Our number one recommendation for treating severe acne problems, is a powerful acne treatment called Exposed Skin Care. Exposed treats even the most severe forms of acne.