The appearance of pimples on the face is completely normal, especially in times of stress, in some phases of adolescence, after imbalances in the female hormonal cycle or during a time when unhealthy food is eaten, for example. The condition of the skin is a good indicator of the health of the rest of the body, since epidermal changes are the first to be evidently noticed in the face of some pathological processes.
Acne vulgaris, one of the most common forms of pimples (especially on the face and back), affects 40 million people worldwide, including girls from 11 years of age and boys from 12 years of age. Although this epidermal condition is considered almost exclusive to adolescents, it has been shown that 10% of people who manifest it are between 35 and 44 years of age.
In any case, beyond acne, there are many other reasons why pimples appear on the face, some pathological and others normal. If you want to know everything about the different types of grains and their characteristics keep reading.
According to the Royal Spanish Academy of Language (RAE), a pimple is each of the small protuberances in the structure or surface of some bodies, including the skin. Although we all understand each other when talking about grains, In reality, this term has no medical interest, since it does not refer to the underlying cause of the bulge in question
In the following lines, we are going to extend the meaning of “pimple” to all the raised processes on the skin related to acne, to finally explore those entities that can be confused with pimples but that really are not. Do not miss it.
1. Blackhead or whitehead
This is the most common type of grain of all and the one we usually refer to when we use the word. Anyway, The most appropriate term is “comedone”, and this refers to a hair follicle that has been blocked
Whether due to an excess of dead epidermal cells and keratin on the skin’s surface (hyperkeratosis) or due to excess sebum production by the sebaceous gland, the pore of a hair follicle can become clogged, causing buildup. of fat and substances under the skin. This is how blackheads or whiteheads appear, “closed” by a film and isolated from the environment. This is the primary efflorescence of acne.
2. Black point
The premise is the same: a microcomedo is formed by the clogging of a hair follicle. The difference with the previous case is that, On this occasion, the sebum is in direct contact with the outside, which gives the efflorescence a black tone Contrary to popular belief, the brownish tone of the blackhead is not due to dirt in the follicle, but rather to the presence of melanin and the oxidation of fats.
3. Papules
Until now, we have been dealing with non-inflammatory conditions. The pustules They are the first sign of a more severe type of acne, since in this case there is an immune response that inflames the pimple, giving it a redder and raised tone. This inflammation occurs in response to bacterial invasion of Corynebacterium acnes of the follicle, a commensal microorganism that feeds on decomposing organic matter, such as sebum.
4. Pustules
Pustules are the next step, characterized by greater invasion of C. acnes and the subsequent inflammatory response in the skin. These formations are characterized by the accumulation of pus at the subepidermal level, composed of lymph, white blood cells or lymphocytes, dead cells, cholesterol, glucose and remains of bacteria. They are bumps larger than papules, soft to the touch and with a pus-filled center.
5. Nodules
Nodules are inflamed, deep, hard lumps without a pus center, which reflect an infiltration of inflammation and infection to deeper layers of the skin As C. acnes expands, the greater the localized tissue damage. For this reason, nodules usually leave scars after they disappear.
A cyst is a sac of membranous tissue that contains fluid, air or other substances, in this case pus. It represents the most severe type of acne, which appears on the face and back with multiple reddened lesions that are very painful to the touch. At this point, medical intervention is essential since the damage caused to the skin environment can be irreversible.
7. Milia
From here, we move away from the acne picture. We present to you those formations that can be confused with pimples or comedones but that, in reality, have not been triggered by an accumulation of sebum at the level of the hair follicle.
For its part, Milia are small bumps that appear on different parts of the body, usually under the outer layer between the skin and the eyelid, around the nose and eyes or in the cheek area. It corresponds to an accumulation of dead cells (corneocytes) and keratin trapped under the surface of the skin, which gives rise to small colorless and painless formations similar to a wart.
Milia is very different from acne, since in this case, the condition is not caused by the accumulation of sebum in the epidermal environment, there is no bacterial invasion and, therefore, no inflammatory events occur. They are not usually bothersome formations, but if they cause aesthetic discomfort, they can be eliminated with cryotherapy or facial chemical peels.
8. Wart
Warts are a very curious case, since very few people know why they appear, but almost all of us have them. As surprising as it may seem, These formations appear after infection with the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) which is really a virus with more than 150 different variants that affect different species.
When we have a wound or scratch the skin thoroughly, some of the HPV subtypes can enter the skin environment, and after a few weeks, the wart appears. HPVs 2, 7, 4 and 1 are some of those that cause warts in different parts of the body. Other variants (such as HPV 16 and 18) are much more dangerous, causing more than 70% of cervical cancer (CCU) cases in women.
In reality, a lipoma has absolutely nothing to do with a normal pimple, but people less familiar with the medical field may confuse it with an overly prominent comedo, a cyst, or even a neoplastic tumor. Nothing is further from reality: the vast majority of lipomas are harmless
Lipomas are nodules of fatty subcutaneous tissue of a non-invasive nature. They are distinguished from a normal tumor in that, if you touch them, you notice that they are soft and move under the skin. On a medical level, lipomas do not pose any problem.
10. Melanoma
Every journey through epidermal growths has to end, in one way or another, in melanoma. In any case, we are not in favor of placing special emphasis on cancers, since they generate more hysteria than anything else, when in reality they are almost never the causal agent of a lump on the skin.
Melanomas form in the skin cells responsible for producing melanin (melanocytes), hence they closely resemble spontaneous moles, with irregular and red edges.
Summary
We have presented you with many types of pimples on this occasion, but we have left many others along the way, such as pimples that appear during an allergic reaction, hives, hives, rashes due to dermatitis and many other things. Since the term “pimple” refers to any swelling of the skin, we can encompass a huge number of epidermal growths
In any case, most skin pimples are found in the form of pimples, blackheads, milia and, at most, papules. Except for the last type, the others are harmless and cause nothing more than aesthetic discomfort.
