How to get rid of pus-filled acne without leaving acne scars?

Doctor's Answers 2

I can fully understand that patients can be frustrated by recurring acne problems on their face, as I personally also had acne issues during my teens, which was fortunately resolved by medical treatments back then.

For females, acne outbreak at the lower part of the face occurring near to menstrual period has a hormonal factor to it. If your acne outbreak is red and filled with pus, it is termed as inflammatory acne, like what Dr Joanna has mentioned.

If you wish to get rid of the pus-filled acne without leaving acne scars, the first thing to note is NOT to squeeze them out yourself, no matter how tempting it can be. More often than not, inappropriate self-squeezing can worsen the acne inflammation further, causing more acne blemish marks (red or brown) or even acne scarring (eg depressed scars in the skin).

Good news is that, there are effective medical treatments to treat and control your acne problem with eg topical creams, oral medications, chemical peels, or lasers, etc. Thus I would recommend you to speak to an experienced doctor to discuss on the most suitable treatment options for your case.

I would also suggest you to seek medical treatment as soon as possible to prevent acne scarring. Once scarring is formed (eg depressed scars), it is permanent, and can be costly to treat with resurfacing lasers.Hope this helps!

Cheers!

Dr David Ng C H

Photo of Dr Joanna Chan
Dr Joanna Chan

Aesthetic, General Practitioner

Your description of your pimples sound like inflammatory acne. You mentioned you tend to break out before your period, suggesting a hormonal component to your acne.

The body naturally tries to “heal” your skin of acne through the process of inflammation, where your body recruits white blood cells (fighters of infection) to kill the Propionibacterium acne bacteria in your inflammatory acne. The pus you see actually contains dead bacteria and white blood cells.

Unfortunately, the inflammatory process is also what leaves a blemish/mark, known as post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, or a scar, which could be depressed (most common), raised or even keloidal.

Your solution would be to control your current inflammatory acne and the factors leading up to your acne in the first place. This may be a combination of factors such as excess sebum production, which could be driven by hormonal factors, abnormal kerarinization of the skin cells, excess P. acnes bacteria on the skin, or a combination of the above factors.

Do see a trusted doctor to go through these in detail with you and advise on appropriate management. Hope this helps! :)

Regards,

Dr. Joanna Chan

Similar Questions

How to best improve my pitted complexion? (photo)

Hi, Thank you for your enquiry. There are several treatments for your acne scars. You have mixed types of acne scars consisting of box-car acne scars, rolling acne scars and a few ice-pick scars. I routinely use a combination of energy-based devices (CO2 Fractional Lasers, INFINI RF, Pico Fractional Lasers), Subcision, Rejuran and TCA Cross to treat acne scars. A few points to note regarding acne scar treatments in Singapore: 1. A Combination of Treatments are required for best results - there is no 1 perfect treatment that can treat all types of scars.

Photo of Human

Answered By

Human

Which lasers are best for red and brown acne pigmentation on the face? (photo)

As inflammation from an acne breakout resolves, it may leave behind residual redness (post-inflammatory erythema, PIE), brown pigmentation (post-inflammatory pigmentation, PIH), or true scars (pitted or raised). Often times, a patient may have any combination of PIE, PIH and true scars. Developing new scars often have redness within them as well. Although PIE and PIH tend to resolve over time (as opposed to permanent true scars), these blemishes are understandably frustrating and treatment is commonly requested.

Photo of Dr Wang Theng Tan

Answered By

Dr Wang Theng Tan

Aesthetic

Ask any health question for free

I’m not so sure about a procedure...

Ask Icon Ask a Question

Join Human

Sign up now for a free Human account to get answers from specialists in Singapore.

Sign Up

Get The Pill

Be healthier with our Bite-sized health news straight in your inbox