ACNE

What is acne?

Acne is a common facial rash that occurs in teenagers and young people with up to 80% of young people suffering from some signs of acne. It is more common in young men than in young women. Acne is characterised by the appearance of spots on the face, upper chest and upper back. The spots called whiteheads, blackheads and pustules are caused by blockage and infection of the oil glands in the skin called sebaceous glands.

If the infection is severe a pustule forms which may cause the skin to scar during healing. Some cases of acne can be extremely severe and cause major disfigurement.

Who gets acne? Any young person can develop acne but it is far more common in young men. The spots gradually resolve over time but some cases can persist long into adulthood. Adults rarely suffer from acne unless they have been exposed to certain drugs such as corticosteriods or chemicals such as hydrocarbons in the oil industry.

What are the common symptoms of acne? Acne presents as a rash of spots on the face, chest and/or back. The affected skin is often greasy and may be inflamed. Damage to inflamed areas of skin can result in deeper infection and scarring. In addition to the physical problems acne can also cause psychological problems. Puberty and adolescence are often difficult times for young people and have a severe facial acne can result in loss of confidence and in some people depression.

What causes acne? An acne spot forms once the sebaceous gland becomes blocked by a plug of sebum. Sebum is normally white yellow in colour so the first spots to appear under the skin appear white (whiteheads). If the plug of sebum is pushed up onto the skin surface it comes into contact with air and change colour to become dark black-brown for a black spot called a blackhead.

The blockage allows the skin bacteria to collect and multiply in the sebaceous gland, causing an infection to develop. The infection causes the surrounding tissue to become inflamed making the skin red and sore. If the inflamed areas rupture the bacteria can get deeper into the skin and cause more severe infection which is likely to result in scaring.

What treatment is available? Conventional medical treatment for acne attempts to prevent skin scaring by decreasing any infection and reducing skin irritation. Treatment must continue for at least 2 to 3 months before any improvement can be seen.

General advice includes regular washing with special acne soaps to remove excess oil from the skin and not squeezing the blackheads or pustules as this make them worse.

Many patients have mild to moderate cases and treatment applied directly to the skin (topical therapy) is usually sufficient. Topical therapy consists of creams or ointments containing antibiotics to fight the bacterial infection, agents to reduce blackhead formation and vitamin A derivatives to promote skin healing.

More severe cases require antibiotic tablets and/or phototherapy with ultraviolet light.

Very severe cases need to be treated in hospital with powerful vitamin A derivative's such as isotretinon and acritretin however these drugs have potentially serious side effects and the patient must be monitored carefully.

BIOPTRON Light Therapy in Acne

BIOPTRON Light Therapy may help to treat acne by reliving pain and inflammation, by promoting a healing response in the skin and by stimulating the immune system to fight of any skin infection.

How do I use BIOPTRON Light Therapy if I have acne? It is simple! BIOPTRON Light Therapy is complete safe and easy to use. The BIOPTRON Light Therapy device can be easily positioned so the BIOPTRON light shines on any areas where acne is present such as the head, face, upper back, upper chest. Treatment should be applied to each affected area for 4 to 10 minutes per session for up to 1 or 2 sessions per day as long as is required.

Herpes skin infections
The herpes family of viruses cause many types of condition with the main characteristics being their ability to hide within the human body, establishing a silent infection for the rest of a persons life. Herpes viruses are very difficult to eradicate. The two main forms of herpes virus that cause common skin infections are herpes simplex, which causes cold sores, and varicella zoster, which causes chickenpox (mainly in children) and shingles (also called herpes zoster) in adults.

Herpes simplex and varicella zoster can infect anyone at any age, although infection is usually during childhood. People with weakened immune system are particularly vulnerable to herpes infections.

What are the common symptoms of herpes skin infections:

The initial infection often has no signs or symptoms although in some cases the patient may feel generally unwell. The herpes simplex virus then goes into hiding in the body nervous system.
Approximately 30% of people infected are not able to kills the virus in their immune system. Reactivation is often triggered by common factors such as stress, mouth trauma, and illness. The virus travels down the nerve into the skin around the mouth or nose area resulting in symptoms of itching or burning sensations before small, painful blisters appear on the skin area which are termed cold sores. Some cold sores can weep fluid before eventually forming a scab usually lasting between 7 to 10 days before healing.

BIOPTRON Light Therapy is an effective treatment in reliving the symptoms of skin infections by promoting a healing response. Treatment should be applied to each area for 4 to 10 minutes per session and either or two sessions a day for as long as required until improvement is observed.

Eczema in children

The main symptoms of allergic eczema is intense itching, which when severe can disturb sleep, scratching or rubbing the skin often causes further irritation making inflammation and soreness even worse.
The majority of children who have allergic eczema will spontaneously improve as they get older with 50% of children free of the condition by the time they are 6 years old and more than 75% will be clear as teenagers. However, a minority will suffer from recurrent disease during their teenage and adult life.
Bioptron Light Therapy is an effective treatment for relieving the symptoms of allergic eczema in children by relieving pain and inflammation and promoting a healing response. BIOPTRON Light Therapy is completely safe and easy to use given the BIOPTRON Light Therapy device can be positioned so the light therapy can be applied to head, face, arm, leg, chest, groin area etc. Treatment should be applied to each area for 4 to 10 minutes per session and either or two sessions a day for as long as required until improvement is observed.

Psoriasis is a common skin disease that affects approximately 3% of the general population. It is unpredictable with some people having an outbreak once or twice and then going into permanent remissions whilst other people experience it as a life long condition.

Psoriasis occurs equally in men and women and can develop at any age bus onset usually occurs in people between 15 and 40 years of age.

The outer skin layer (the epidermis) is made up of several layers of cells which move out towards the skin surface as they grow and mature. The cells eventually fall off and replaced by younger cells from the next skin layer. This process is continuous and normally takes around 4 weeks for a new skin cell layer to reach maturing and be shed. In psoriasis the skin cell turnover rate is dramatically accelerated and often only takes about 4 days.

What does psoriasis look like? Psoriasis usually present as well defined, red scaly lesions (called plaques) that appear on various parts of the body. There are several forms of psoriasis:

Chronic sable psoriasis this is the most common type of psoriasis where skin lesions occur on the outer surface of the knees and elbows and also my form on the lower back, ears and head.

Guttate psoriasis is a type which commonly occurs in children and young adults where the plaques are small (around 1 cm diameter) and often appear when the child has a sore throat.

Flexural psoriasis occurs in older adults and is characterized by plaques in the groin, button cleft and under the breasts.
Erthrodermic and pustular psoriasis is the most severe form of psoriasis where the plaque lesions are large, severely inflamed and may fuse together. Pustules can form on the hands and other parts of the body.

Bioptron Light Therapy is an effective treatment for relieving the symptoms psoriasis by relieving pain and inflammation and promoting a healing response. BIOPTRON Light Therapy is completely safe and easy to use given the BIOPTRON Light Therapy device can be positioned so the light therapy can be applied to head, face, arm, leg, chest, groin area etc. Treatment should be applied to each area for 4 to 10 minutes per session and either or two sessions a day for as long as required until improvement is observed.

Atopic dermatitis occurs in people who have allergies to common items found in the environment such as grass pollen, animal hair and certain types of foods. Such allergies may result in the development of conditions such as hay fever, asthma and atopic dermatitis.
Atopic dermatitis is also know as stopic eczema or andeogenous eczema and presents as itchy, red, scaly skin patches that can occur anywhere on the body. The condition has a variable progression where some people have it for a few years and then their skin clears up whilst other people have more sever long term skin allergy.

Atopic dermatitis is also known as atopic eczema or endogenous eczema and presents as itchy, red, scaly skin patches that can occur anywhere on the body. The condition has a variable progression where some people have it for a few years and then their skin clears up whilst other people have more sever long term skin allergy.

People who have the condition have an overactive immune system which means their body results in over reacting when they come into contact with certain triggers such as grass pollen, animal hair or certain foods. Some external factors also make this form of dermatitis worse such as detergents, certain chemicals, woolen clothing and cat / dog hair. Certain types of food such as dairy products along with feeling unwell or getting stressed may also cause the condition to flare up.

Common areas of the body affected by atopic dermatitis include the front of the knees and elbows and around the neck. In infants and young children the lesions often appear on the face and neck. The first sign of atopic dermatitis is the appearance of small blisters which leak a water fluid and make the skin wet. The skin them becomes inflamed and sore with the appearance of patches of red scaly skin. The affected areas often become very dry.

The main symptom of atopic dermatitis is intense itching which cab be extremely severe in many cases and may interfere with sleep. Scratching or rubbing of the skin causes further damage worsening inflammation and soreness and making the skin thicken. Broke skin can become infected by viruses or bacteria.

What happens to people with atopic dermatitis? The majority of children who have atopic dermatitis will spontaneously improve as they get older and 50% will be free of the disease by the time they are 6 years old and more than 7%% will be clear bas teenagers.

Bioptron Light Therapy is an effective treatment for relieving the symptoms atopic dermatitis by relieving pain and inflammation and promoting a healing response. BIOPTRON Light Therapy is completely safe and easy to use given the BIOPTRON Light Therapy device can be positioned so the light therapy can be applied to head, face, arms and legs. Treatment should be applied to each area for 4 to 10 minutes per session and either one or two sessions a day for as long as required until improvement is observed.

Mild and Moderate - Common Acne - Acne Vulgaris - Acne comedonica - Acne papulopustulosa - Acne conglobata

A common skin disorder which both doctors and beauticians are presented with is common acne or acne vulgaris.

Common acne is one of the most widespread skin disorders. It typically begins during puberty, often - but not always - subsiding when patients are in their thirties. Depending on the severity of the disorder, acne vulgaris can appear in three different forms:

Acne comedonica which is characterized by the predominant presence of open and closed comedones appearing in varying numbers and intensity but mainly around the facial region.

Acne papulopustulosa with the inflammation progressing painful papules tend to appear, often leaving behind visible scars after healing and therefore creating considerable emotional distress.

Acne conglobata is the most severe form of common acne. Acne conglobata is characterized by the concurrent presence of comedones, pustules, indurated papules and abscesses with the interconnecting sinuses that affect large skin regions. Often developing on the nape of the neck and back and in the latter the conditions is termed acne inversa. Patients are generally more stigmatized by the numerous pronounced and even disfiguring scars.

Acne and BIOPTRON Light Therapy Acne is a dermatological disease that affects about 40% of the population between the ages of 12 to 30 years. As part of its reproduction and metabolic process, the Propionilbacterium Acnes (P.Acne bacteria) releases the pigment porphyrin. Porphyrin molecules,on absorbing the light therapy photon, become chemically active and transform into a state of aggregations that results I several formations. One of the formations is a free oxygen radical that attacks the cell membrane and leads to the destruction of the P.acne bacterium.

Like any photochemical reaction the efficiency of the process is determined by the production rate of excited porphyrin molecules, influenced by the concentration of porphyrin, concentration of photons and the wavelength of the photons and BIOPTRON Light Therapy systems have specially designed for the treatment of acne by providing the correct spectrum and power density of photon energy.

Acne scale and reasons for accelerated acne development