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

Doctor's Answer

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

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