If you suffered from mild acne as a teenager, you know all about whiteheads and blackheads. But did you know that there are many other types of acne as well? If you didn’t, consider yourself lucky that you have never had to deal with a more serious type of acne. Here are some other types of acne that are a little more serious than the typical whiteheads you encounter regularly.
Inflammatory Acne
The main difference between blackheads and whiteheads and inflammatory acne is that with inflammatory acne, the body is trying to fight an infection. Instead of being surface-level dirt trapped underneath the skin, these infections are big and red and very painful. They are often very deep underneath the skin, which is why they hurt so much and often produce so much pus. If you have a more serious type of acne, you need to get professional treatment early on.
These types of acne include:
Papules
Although they don’t look like much, these are blackheads or whiteheads that become inflammed. They aren’t very painful and usually don’t contain a lot of fluid, but they are inflamed as your body is trying to fight off the infection.
Pustules
So named due to all the pus inside of them, these are similar to whiteheads except infected and filled with pus. Pus is really dead white blood cells that your body sent to help fight the infection, so the more infection there was, the more pus there will be.
Nodules
A large bump that is hard and firm, a nodule is deep under the skin and should be treated by a dermatologist. They hardly break the surface, but you can see and feel them deep under your skin.
Cysts
Similar to a boil, a cyst is a huge pus-filled lump in your skin. It is considered the most severe form of acne. Because they are so large and are so full of pus, it is important to get these treated by a dermatologist. Do not try to pop and clean them yourself, no matter how many YouTube videos you have seen. Not only will it make a mess, you do not want to risk an even worse infection.
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