 When you read about acne or other skin diseases, you may see the words or phrases that may do not understand. For example, the words used to describe the kind of acne— pustule, papule, comedo, nodule and cyst.
Plural comedones or as usually called comedo is a sebaceous follicle plugged with sebum, dead cells from inside the sebaceous follicle, tiny hairs and bacteria. A closed comedo is usually called a whitehead; its appearance is that of a skin-colored or slightly inflamed "cone" in the skin. When a comedo is open, it is usually called a blackhead because the surface of the plug in the follicle has a blackish appearance. The whitehead differs from the blackhead by its color because the opening of the plugged sebaceous follicle to the skin’s surface is closed or very narrow, in contrast to the distended follicular opening of the blackhead. Blackheads and whiteheads shouldn’t be picked, squeezed or open, unless extracted by a dermatologist under sterile conditions. Tissue defectives by squeezing or picking can become infected by streptococci, staphylococci and other skin bacteria. The following photos are characteristic of acne with comedones:
A papule is a small, about 5 millimeters, strong damage slightly overhead above the surface of the skin. A group of microcomedones and very small papules may be almost invisible but you may fill them to the touch. A papule is caused by localized cellular reaction to the process of acne.
A pustule is a dome-shaped, fragile lesion containing pus that typically consists of a mixture of dead skin cells, bacteria and white blood cells. A pustule that forms over a sebaceous follicle as a rule has a hair in the center. Acne pustules that cure without progressing to cystic form usually don’t leave scars.
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