Acne blackheads, whiteheads and pimples affect and frustrate about 17 million people in the United States every year, according to the Kids Health website. Blackheads, commonly seen in milder cases of acne, can be especially troublesome because, as The Acne Skin Guide explains, blackheads do not inflame and rise above the surface of your skin as whiteheads or pimples do. Instead, blackheads clog your skin pores, harden and form a plug. Preventing and treating blackheads, then, requires special consideration to create a skin care plan that works.
Identification
Blackheads are oil, dead skin cell and debris-filled skin pores that appear in varying sizes of dark brown or black dots, usually on your face or arms. Although blackheads, also called open comedones, originate due to overproduction of the skin oil sebum just as with any other type of skin blemish, they look different. As Acne Skin Guide explains, the characteristic dark color of a blackhead results from a chemical reaction called oxidation. This reaction causes skin oils to darken in color as they rise to the surface of your skin and meet atmospheric oxygen, the guide says.
Prevention
According to the principles of ayurvedic medicine, two factors under your control can cause blackheads to develop. These factors are, according to the ayurvedic informational site Ayushveda, stress and a poor diet. Ayushveda recommends stress-reduction techniques, such as yoga or meditation, as well as making changes to improve your diet as part of a skin care plan to prevent blackheads. Dietary changes, says Ayushveda, can include drinking more water to flush toxins and other impurities from your body, eliminating junk food and refined sugar products, and reducing consumption of high fat meat and dairy products.
Treatment
A skin care plan that includes deep-cleaning and topical treatments can be effective in treating blackheads. Because surface cleansing cannot get to the root of the problem, you should include deep cleansing options such as facial scrubs and masks. Both options, says Acne Skin Guide, penetrate into skin pores and use a process called exfoliation to draw out oil, dead skin cells and dirt from pores, leaving the pore clean and blackhead free. According to the University of Michigan Health System, the best skin care treatment involves the use of topical retinoids, such as retinoic acid, adapalene or tazarotene. Retinoids work by accelerating skin cell turnover, shrinking oil glands and by strengthening the underlying structure of your skin, the DermNet NZ website says.
Considerations
As Acne Skin Guide notes, facial cleansing alone is not the best way to prevent or treat blackheads. Taking steps to keep your face clean, however, is still important. The Acne Resource Center Online recommends washing once or twice each day, as well as avoiding oil-based cosmetics that can clog skin pores.
Warning
Attempting to treat blackheads by squeezing or popping is a bad idea and can lead to infection and scarring. Although forcible extraction is an option to remove blackheads, the Acne Resource Center Online recommends letting your doctor perform this procedure.
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