Skin Care - What to do When Break-outs Occur

Hi, this is Dr. Courtney Herbert from Fleur-de-Lis dermatology and we are talking about how to fix problem skin. We just talked about how to cleanse your face, now we are going to talk about what to do when breakouts occur on your face. Breakouts can occur both on your face and your back and chest. On our model today, we are just going to examine facial breakouts. As you can see, on Zarina, there are some red bumps on her left and right cheeks which are acne breakouts.

There are a lot of products out there, if you go to CVS or Walgreen you can be overwhelmed by the amount of topical available products. You can start by using Clean & Clear or the ever popular Proactiv. However, the best products are those recommended and prescribed by a dermatologist. We are going to start out today with the first thing I would use, if you notice you have a new pimple.

There are many options out there however, one of my favorites is a combination of benzal peroxide and clindamycin. For Zarina, what she would do is apply a small amount to her cheeks where the breakouts are in the morning. Then, she would go about her business for the day and in the evening there are a couple options to use as well. She can use a Retin A derivative called Ziana which has clindamycin as well as Retin A or Retin A in and of itself.

Both of these products help with exfoliation and they will help with skin turnover so as to encourage her skin to evacuate the oil and open up the pimple. Finally, another option is something called Azelaic acid. In Zarina s skin she has darker pigmentation therefore, a pimple if it is been there for a while may leave a scar and this product will help with the scarring and the dispigmentation as well.

Now, there are other things available that you can do while using those treatments. There is something called a chemical peel which is available at a salon or at a physician s office. Obviously, we recommend that you go to a physician s office, so that you could be monitored. That one example today, we are going to talk about is the SkinMedica peeling solution. What happens when you get a chemical peel can vary from where you go and as to how bad your acne is.

The SkinMedica peel is generally applied to the areas where the breakouts occur. It is left on for several minutes and then removed after and the patient is allowed to go back to work or school. Often times, this will work hand in hand with the medicines I mentioned earlier and help again increase skin turnover so that the pimples will become less evident. Finally, another available technology for pimples is a microdermabrasion machine. We at our office use the Dermatone Facial Resurfacing System. It is very good for evacuating early pimples, turning over the epidermis which is the top layer of your skin, helping with fine lines and wrinkles as well as small little breakouts. How the microderm machines works is it will -- it is a fine sanding machine that goes along the skin in single strokes with a small amount of vacuum pressure. When this occurs, pimples are evacuated the patient enjoys having the procedure done because it feels very soothing and also help with a general exfoliation.

Another example, what is going on here and generally this, generally the entire procedure takes about 15-20 minutes. Now, as I mentioned the chemical peel in the microdermabrasion are available at salons but as recommended by myself as well as the American Academy of Dermatology most of these procedures should be formed by a trained and board certified dermatologist.

That is the end of our discussion today on when breakouts occur. Next, we are going to talk about what to do when you actually get a painful pimple and how to take care of it.