One of the most common skin problems regardless of gender or age is acne. Treating acne, however, can be a long journey and needs a clear plan to give your clients the results they deserve. Developing a treatment plan, that caters to your client’s needs can be overwhelming at first. This is why we’ve laid out the most important steps to be considered for addressing active acne breakouts as well as post-acne scarring.
What is acne?
Acne is a very broad term that appears as everything from small, tedious whiteheads or blackheads to larger pimples and even painful cysts on the skin. Generally ance is an infection within the skin that produces inflamed acne bumps in various sizes. While acne typically occurs due to a build-up of dead skin cells combined with oil or leftover products, there are many environmental factors possibly worsening the effects. Hormonal fluctuations, air pollution, stress, medication and topical products could further clog our pores and induce the skin’s inflammatory response. Therefore, a thorough skin consultation with your client should be done before starting any sort of treatment. After consultation and diagnosis of acne triggers, a proper treatment plan can be developed.
Tackling active acne
With any good treatment plan, your client’s active acne must first be taken care of. Fighting ance is no easy task, especially active inflammation. But there are a number of effective treatments that’ll help diminish inflammation and acne breakouts.
Topical Treatments:
There is a wide range of acne-fighting ingredients available, that will help control inflammation and active breakouts. The usual go-to fix is salicylic acid. It not only reduces swelling and helps unclog pores but also has anti-inflammatory properties. Benzoyl peroxide on the other hand kills acne-causing bacteria yet can dry out sensitive skin if used too much. Glycolic and lactic acid are alpha hydroxy acids (AHA) that work as chemical exfoliants on the skin whereas lactic acid is generally a gentler option, great for clients with sensitive skin. Retinoids decrease oil production, help exfoliate the skin and cause skin cells to turn over faster along with anti-inflammatory effects. These are only are few examples of how you can expand your in-clinic skincare range to offer a great variety of clinical and at-home products for your clients.
LED Therapy:
LED therapy is a noninvasive treatment and can treat a number of different issues associated with acne. Especially blue light therapy kills P-bacteria on the skin that causes most acne breakouts. Red light therapy on the other hand has anti-inflammatory benefits and can heal current breakouts. You can offer this treatment with the Spectrum LED device, available on a Laseraid Subscription.
Maintaining healthy skin
After your client’s active acne has subsided, it is essential to keep going with proven skin care products as well as LED sessions. However, maintenance treatments can be included in the treatment plan to keep your client’s skin in a healthy state.
Dermabrasion:
To avoid any new build-up of dead skin cells and small debris that can clog pores leading to new breakouts, dermabrasion exfoliates the skin by removing the outermost layer of the skin. This helps keep the skin cleansed and maintains the clear skin achieved by past treatments.
Carbon Facial:
A great way to ensure pores remain unclogged is a carbon facial. The carbon will settle into the pores and absorb any excess build-up and a Q-Switched laser such as our Helios III will clear the carbon together with the absorbed dirt out of the pores. This results in clean and glowing skin.
Acne scarring
The last thing remaining is acne scars. While laser treatment for acne scars doesn’t completely remove acne stars, their appearance will be reduced significantly. There are a number of different treatment options starting from non-invasive pigment removal to invasive laser options.
Chemical Peels:
To minimize the appearance of acne scars, chemical peels are a perfect starting point as there are different strengths available to find an ideal solution for your client’s skin. Chemical peels speed up the skin’s exfoliation process by removing the top layer of damaged skin. This allows new skin to grow smoother and more evenly pigmented in its place, reducing the appearance of scars caused by acne.
Q-Switched Laser Pigment Removal:
Another way of removing pigmented scarring is a Q-switched laser, such as our Helios III. Short pulses of energy applied to the affected areas cause the pigment to be shattered into small fragments. These get identified as waste by our body’s immune system and cleared away, leaving a more even skin tone.
Ablative Lasers:
With an ablative laser such as a CO2 or er:YAG, the skin’s outer layers are removed while simultaneously heating the under layers of the skin. These lasers produce great results by completely injuring the skin, resulting in new healthy tissue resurfacing. However, the downtime is about two weeks including severe scabbing. These lasers should only be used by experienced medical professionals.
Non-ablative Lasers:
A non-ablative laser on the other hand doesn’t completely remove the top layers of the skin, it simply heats the skin tissue enough to stimulate collagen production. This encourages new cell growth to replace damaged skin tissue without injuring the skin.
Microneedling:
With our SylfirmX RF microneedling device, the skin is gently “stamped” by sterile needles pressing into the skin and creating tiny wounds. While these wounds can’t be seen by the naked eye, the skin recognises the trauma caused and boosts collagen and elastin production. This results in an improved overall skin texture and smooths and tightens acne scars along with wrinkles.
