Acne is an inflammatory, usually chronic, disease of the sebaceous glands, characterized by papules, tubercles, or pustules, or a mixture of these lesions, and seated usually about the face.
At what age does acne usually occur?
Between the ages of fifteen and thirty, at which time the glandular structures are naturally more or less active.
Describe the symptoms of acne.
Irregularly scattered over the face, and in some cases also over the neck, shoulders and upper part of the trunk, are to be seen several, fifty or more, pin-head- to pea-sized papules, tubercles or pustules; commonly the eruption is of a mixed type (acne vulgaris), the several kinds of lesions in all stages of evolution and subsidence presenting in the single case. Interspersed may generally be seen blackheads, or comedones. The lesions may be sluggish in character, or they may be markedly inflammatory, with hard and indurated bases. In the course of several days or weeks, the papules and tubercles tend gradually to disappear by absorption; or, and as commonly the case, they become pustular, discharge their contents, or dry and slowly or rapidly disappear, with or without leaving a permanent trace, new lesions arising, here and there, to take their place. In exceptional instances the eruption is limited to the back, and in these cases the eruption is usually extensive and persistent, and not infrequently leaves scars.
What do you understand by acne punctata, acne papulosa, acne pustulosa, acne indurata, acne atrophica, acne hypertrophica, and acne cachecticorum?
These several terms indicate that the lesions present are, for the most part, of one particular character or variety.
Describe the lesions giving rise to the names of these various types.
Blocking up of the outlet of the sebaceous gland (comedo), which is usually the beginning of an acne lesion, may cause a moderate degree of hyperæmia and inflammation, and a slight elevation, with a central yellowish or blackish point results—the lesion of acne punctata; if the inflammation is of a higher grade or progresses, the elevation is reddened and more prominent—acne papulosa; if the inflammatory action continues, the interior or central portion of the papule suppurates and a pustule results—acne pustulosa; the pustule, in some cases, may have a markedly inflammatory and hard base—acne indurata; and not infrequently the lesions in disappearing may leave a pit-like atrophy or depression—acne atrophica; or, on the contrary, connective-tissue new growth may follow their disappearance—acne hypertrophica; and, in strumous or cachectic individuals, the lesions may be more or less furuncular in type, often of the nature of dermic abscesses, usually of a cold or sluggish character, and of more general distribution—acne cachecticorum.
What is acne artificialis?