Acne in aesthetics: a common skin condition and the practitioner's role in helping

Acne is an extremely common dermatological condition and can present in a variety of manifestations. Often, the subject of acne is raised during consultations for aesthetic treatments that generally begin with a discussion about overall skin care. It can be surprising for clients when they have visited a practitioner for a certain procedure, only to be asked about their skin care regime. However, this is vital if practitioners are to provide holistic treatments to clients that are based on their identified needs.

Plewig (2019) suggests that acne invariably begins in the early teens and, for this reason, can be considered to be one of the most common physiological manifestations of puberty. However, in some cases, acne can first present in the early twenties and thirties.

The inflammatory process may be one of the most important triggers for acne. Understanding the physiological process of inflammation to appreciate the role it plays in acne is important so the aesthetic practitioner can incorporate this information to provide treatments specifically suited to reducing inflammation. Therefore, the author suggests that acne should be considered a chronic inflammatory disease. However, more often than not, traditional treatments have focused on treating acne as an acute infection or an acute flare-up, rather than a chronic disease. In itself, this is complex. Dreno et al (2015) suggest that there are several physiological processes that lead to the inflammation, and that the inflammation is present in all acne lesions including comedones, inflammatory lesions, erythema and hyperpigmentation.