Do You Have An Acne Consultation Form?

How can we treat acne properly if you don't have a consultation form that is strictly in-depth acne questions?

Name__________________________________                                                         Sex-   M   or F

Age_______   Race________________________  Occupation __________________________

Address_________________________________________________________________________

Phone: ________________________________________    Email:_________________________________________

Family Acne History:

1) Circle any relatives who have (or had) acne:     None      Brother     Sister       Father       Mother     Grandparent          Aunt           Uncle      

2) Age acne began in above relatives  _________  

3) Elaborate on what type of acne they have or had__________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Your History

1) At what age did your acne begin? ________

2) Is your acne:     Worsening                   Improving                Staying The Same

Your Treatments                                                              Improvement                                                            Status

______________________           Worse,   Better,  No Improvement,   Same       

______________________           Worse,   Better,  No Improvement,   Same         

______________________            Worse,   Better,  No Improvement,   Same        

______________________             Worse,   Better,  No Improvement,   Same        

______________________             Worse,   Better,  No Improvement,   Same          

Notes

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Medically Supervised

1) Have you ever had your acne treated by a physician _______________

2) If yes, fill out the following treatment information by making a check beside any treatments below which have been tried on you.  Then rate its effectiveness as you did previously.

Treatment                                                          Improvement                                                                    Status

1) Vitamin A acid - Retin-A                         Worse,  Better,   Improved,   None         

2) Benzoyl Peroxide                                     Worse,  Better,   Improved,   None             

3) Drying Lotion- sulfur, salicylic...             Worse,  Better,   Improved,   None              

4) Oral Antibiotics                                         Worse,  Better,   Improved,   None            

5) Topical Antibiotics                                    Worse,  Better,   Improved,   None           

6) Special Diets                                             Worse,  Better,   Improved,   None           

7) Chemical Peels                                          Worse,  Better,   Improved,   None            

8) Injections into Cysts                                  Worse,  Better,   Improved,   None             

9) Special Soaps and Scrubs                         Worse,  Better,   Improved,   None              

Others

______________________                     Worse,  Better,   Improved,   None                   

______________________                     Worse,  Better,   Improved,   None                   

______________________                     Worse,  Better,   Improved,   None                     

For Women

1) Do your acne flare-ups follow a month pattern?        Yes        No       

If so, when does the flare-ups occur?  During menstrual period       Mid Point of Cycle        Week before periods

2) Have you ever taken birth-control pills?       Yes    No   List Brand Name _________________________

3) Did birth-control pills make your condition     Better      Worse      No Effect

4) If you have ever been pregnant, did pregnancy flare up your acne condition?    Yes    No

What I Use On My Face

List all skin care products or cosmetics currently used on your face.  Start with cleansers or soaps, continue with everything that touches your face (astringents, toners, makeup, blushes, powders, moisturizers, spf lotions). ________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Other Factors

1) Do you find that your acne is related to stress         Yes      No 

If yes, why do you believe so _____________________________________________________________

2) Does your acne seem related to amount of sleep     Yes    No

3) How many hours of sleep do you get on average a night? ____________________________

Time you usually go to bed_______________   Time you wakeup ____________________

4) Do you work around any chemicals, oils, humid or hot conditions?    Yes          No

5) Do you play sports?     Yes    No

6) Do you notice flare-ups or clearing when you go to a different climates?     Yes         No

7) Does sunlight seem to affect your acne?        Yes     No    How__________________________________

8) Circle any of the following that regularly touches your face, back, or any other area affected by acne.  Headband      Tight hat      Chin Strap    Tight Clothes   Backpack   Glasses   Hands on face    Cell Phone

Picking Habits

1) Do you squeeze , pop, or manipulate your pimples?   BE HONEST!   Yes    No

2) If yes, do you squeeze or pick?    Everyday       Once or twice a week      Once a month     Other

3) Explain how you squeeze ( fingers, scratch with nails, open with a needle) _________________________________________________________________________

4) When you squeeze do you ?   Usually get contents out easily      or   Seldom get anything out

5) Do you pick at lesions deliberately in front of a mirror? _____  or  

 Do you pick unconsciously _____

State of Health

1) List any seriously illness _______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

2) List any Allergies _________________________________________________________________

3) Are you taking medications for any of the above conditions? _________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

4) Are you on any special diet requirements or restrictions? __________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

5) Do you take vitamins or minerals? ____________________________________________________________________

6) Are you currently on a diet to loose weight? Describe ____________________________________________________________________

Emotional State

1) Has acne affected you emotionally or socially?        Yes         No

2) Make a check beside any statement below that applies to you

____ Acne causes me to feel depressed quite often

___ _ Acne causes me to feel depressed occasionally

____ I don't date or socialize because of my acne

____ I sometimes call off social engagements when I'm flared up

____ Even though my acne makes me self-conscious, I never cancel social plans

____ I do not avoid people because of may acne

____ I have trouble looking people in the eye when I talk to them because of my acne

____  I act cheerful and outgoing so people will notice my acne less

____ I don't believe my acne affects my social relationships at all

____ I get upset when people tease or question me about my acne

____ I joke about my own acne in front of my friends

____ I feel that people stare at me because of my acne

____ I have learned to live with my acne.  It doesn't bother me

____ I hate to look in the mirror

Other comments about your acne emotional effects. ___________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

__________________  __________________________________________

Products

Name of Product __________________________________________

Percentage of ingredients

How many hours or min did you leave it on

How often did you apply it

Did you experience a burning sensation

Circle any other affects :  Itching      Redness    Soreness    Flaking    Peeling

How many days did you wear it before you began to notice flaking or peeling

Did any of the above go away after time?   Yes    No

Did you experience clearing  from the product

If so, how long did it take before you noticed clearing? _____________________

Products

Name of Product __________________________________________

Percentage of ingredients

How many hours or min did you leave it on

How often did you apply it

Did you experience a burning sensation

Circle any other affects :  Itching      Redness    Soreness    Flaking    Peeling

How many days did you wear it before you began to notice flaking or peeling

Did any of the above go away after time?   Yes    No

Did you experience clearing  from the product

If so, how long did it take before you noticed clearing? _____________________

If you would like for me to send you a word document or PDF of this, please feel free to email me at www.advancedskinacademy@gmail.com

What Causes Retention Hyperkeratosis ?

In my last post we talked about What Is Acne
This is where I discussed that acne was a inflammatory skin disease and not a skin condition.

What Happens Differently In Acne

As I have discussed Retention hyperkeratosis is at the very heart and soul of acne, and it is the process you must interfere with in order to outfox the disease. The stratum corneum sloughs off a layer of cells each day very easily, but not very well inside the pore.  The dead cells begin to stick together and form a mass (impaction) down inside the follicle. The chemical compisition of our sebum is not sticky, the sticky part is the dead skin cells in the follicle brought on by Acne Bio-Film (we will get to that in the next article).  So acne is the renention of dead skin cells and the mad proliferation of additional cells to make matters worse in the pores of acne-susceptible families.

What Cause Retention Hyperkeratosis?

There are lamellar granules present in the the skin which produce an enzyme to break down the ‘glue’ between skin cells in order for them to be sloughed off in a normal manner.  This leads to congestion in the follicles.  There are many of these granules down in a healthy pore where the layer is normal and thin, but if you look onto an acne-affected follicle with it's thicker layer, there are few granules.

A popular misconception about acne is that the oil hardens and plugs up the pore opening.  This in not true. The oil plays only a minor part in the acne impaction. It is the retained cells, not sebum, that produces the mass itself. In fact, as the lesion develops, the sebaceous glands become smaller, and whatever oil they continue to produce is not actually trapped. Studies show that a clear channel is always maintained between the sebaceous gland and the surface. The channel appears to be kept open by protein- digestive enzymes that gradually digest the dead skin cells in the center of a lesion.  This explains why an acne impaction often reaches a certain size then appears to stop growing. Even though more cells are rapidly being produced by the follicular wall, the lesion does not enlarge because the cells next to the bacteria on the inside are being digested about as rapidly as new cells are being dumped into the impaction. This happens in the mildest form of acne Grade 1.  The white heads and blackheads reach a certain size but do not burst into inflamed acne.

Stay tuned for my next post where we will talk about P-acne bacteria and Acne Bio Film

What Is Acne?

My quest to understand acne started with questioning extraction procedures.  My Journey
But then quickly changed to what actually goes on in the body when a person suffers from acne?
What are the bacteria cells doing?
What chemical breakdowns are happening?
What is the chain reaction of events?

We were are all taught in school

Acne is caused by dead skin cell accumulation in the follicle (hyperkeratinization) mixed with p- acne bacteria and sebum, combined with a lack of oxygen.  This creates a pimple. Simply put, that is true, but there is much more that goes on. This is not for the client that has breakouts here and there during menstruation.  This research is for clients that suffer from chronic acne.

ACNE IS A DISEASE

Acne is not a skin condition, but rather an inflammatory skin disease. Acne is a disease just like any other genetic disease.  Take diabetes, for instance.  As yet, there is no known cure for diabetes.  There is insulin that helps control it, but no known cure. Acne is not as serious as diabetes, but the comparison is important. Acne also knows no cure.  We have treatments and products that keep it under control, but no known cure.

SO WHAT GOES WRONG? The chain of events that lead to acne.

1) At puberty the body starts producing testosterone
2) An enzyme in the skin changes testosterone to dihydrotestosterone
3) Dihydrotestosterone stimulates the sebaceous glands to begin producing sebum
4) In the acne-defective follicle, sebum sets off retention hyperkeratosis (acne).

The first three processes occur in everyone.  We all begin producing hormones at puberty.  Everyone's pores begin to flow with sebum in adolescence.  But it is only in the individuals with a special vulnerability to the fourth that a reaction occurs- retention hyperkeratosis, which produces the acne explosion.

HORMONES THEMSELVES DO NOT CAUSE ACNE! 

"Acne sufferers do not necessarily produce more testosterone.  Hormones merely trigger the process in genetically acne-prone skin.  Oily skin does not cause acne. True, most acne sufferers do have oily skin, but you can possess very oily skin and still never sprout a pimple.  Oily skin is just the triggering component, once again affecting only those with the genetic defect. In those individuals, sebum provides the match that ignites the acne fire."  Dr Fulton: Acne RX

Genetic Connection

Acne is often inherited as a dominant characteristic, which means that if both parents had acne approximately three out of four offspring will develop acne.  If one parent had acne, one or two offspring out of four will develop it. In addition to genetics, cultural and environmental factors could affect the entire population.

Stay tuned for my next article.  An inside look at the chemical reactions, and breakdowns that cause acne.