You might think that acne means the same thing in all people, but it is not so.
There are various types of acne.
Some of them are harmless zits while some are very painful forms.
Read on to know about some common types of acne.
Whiteheads - Whiteheads are white, small elevations on various parts of the skin.
They are trapped follicles that have not been able to come out of the surface of the skin.
Because of this, they remain within and appear white.
They do not cause much distress because they go away in a couple of days.
Blackheads - When the pockets under the skin known as follicles are able to break through the skin and emerge on the outside, the skin present in them undergoes excessive pigmentation.
This darkens their color and they appear black.
This is what is known as a blackhead.
Blackheads can become larger in size than whiteheads.
They are more persistent than whiteheads.
Papules - Papules occasionally come up as raw pink-colored lesions on the skin.
They are an inflammatory form of acne.
They are not quite harmful themselves, but can complicate to serious forms.
Pustules - Pustules are distinctly visible as red and white eruptions on the skin, where the red forms the circumference of the eruption and the white forms the middle.
The pustule is easily breakable, but shouldn't because it could increase the aggravation.
Nodules - Among the most painful types of acne, we have the nodules.
When comedos are not able to come out of the skin, they remain trapped within and may burst, spilling their contents there.
To combat this, the body will trigger a defense mechanism that will form pus.
The erupted comedo and the pus that is formed then remains trapped within the skin, which is known as the nodule.
Acne conglobata - Acne conglobata is found very rarely.
A bacterial strain is known to cause it, or at least compound it from other less severe types of acne.
The posterior area of the body and the chest are the commonly affected parts.