Acne vulgaris: Grades of severity and treatment options

Abstract

Acne is the most common skin condition treated by dermatologists. Acne is a polymorphic disease exhibiting a number of diverse lesions: comedones, papules, pustules, nodules, cysts, sinuses and scars. Despite this diversity, acne can be reduced to a two-stage sequence of events. Firstly an abnormal hypercornification and desquamation in the infundibular segment of the pilosebaceous unit (the infundibulum is the part of the hair follicle from the orifice of the sebaceous gland duct to the opening on the surface) leads to the formation of a comedo, initially without an inflammatory component; and later an inflammatory reaction results in disorganisation of the epithelial capsule.