Infected Seborrheic Keratosis

By definition, Seborrheic Keratosis also known as seborrheic verruca or senile wart is a skin condition which is non-cancerous and involves brown skin growths that originates in keratinocytes. It occurs mainly in older people and occurs on the face, shoulders chest and back. Its one main feature is the stuck-on or pasted-on waxy look and is usually likened to brown candle wax having been dropped on the skin. It is usually painless, and does not require treatment though some people undergo their removal because of cosmetic reasons or if they affect clothing through irritation. Care must be taken to avoid their infection which can be caused through scratching or rubbing them. This causes them to bleed as well as leading to infection. This what leads to having infected Seborrheic Keratosis.

When clothing rubs on them, it can result in irritating the Seborrheic Keratoses and causes them to grow more. As they are not contagious but rather hereditary, Seborrheic Keratosis should be left alone. What specifically is affected in this skin disorder is the oil glands. The word Seborrheic is derived from the word `seborrhea` which means the `pour of oil`. Sweat glands are in charge of discharging sweat as a way of modifying the warmth of the body and at the same time eliminating toxins. However, the oil glands produce an oily material to ensure that the skin is suitably moisturized in order to keep the skin and hair silky-smooth and soft.

Whichever the case, a dermatologist is recommended as to whether you should treat Seborrheic Keratosis or not. These conditions are not severe and no harm arises from them though irritation may require a medical checkup. The doctor may opt for curettage which involves cutting or freezing of the patches, which is normally applied to patients with severe or large Keratoses.

During this period after visiting your doctor, care should be taken to follow to details every procedure as instructed. Do not abandon treatment if your condition improves. Notice the changes as they take place; initially they may be present in large patches then gradually disappear. Use the treatments a little at a time following the prescription as this helps to ascertain the suitability of the medication being used.

Finally, avoid any exposure of the infected areas to conditions that may cause re-infection. These include taking a lot of junk food, pollution and much exposure to sun rays. Also never treat Seborrheic Keratosis during very cold weather conditions and ensure your skin is dry and clean as it thrives in dirty or oily skin. The condition is self-curable and should never cause you any panic.

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Hyperpigmentation of the Skin and its Causes

Uneven complexion, age spots, freckles and dark spots are the usual signs of hyperpigmentation of the skin. Basically, hyperpigmentation is the uneven and high production of melanin in the skin. However, there are still other causes of hyperpigmentation of the skin. If you are having dark spots on your skin, it might be the right time to examine your skin and find out what is the truth behind those spots.

One reason why there may be a higher production of melanin in the skin is hormonal change. For one, pregnant women may suffer from a specific type of hyperpigmentation known as melasma and this only ends a year after giving birth. In such case, doctors do not recommend the application of any kind of skin-whitening treatment unless melasma has faded off already.

The appearance of dark patches may be a sign of an underlying disease. Two of the many diseases that are associated to hyperpigmentation of the skin are Cushing’s disease and Addison’s disease. It is best to see your physician if dark patches on the skin are appearing along with other symptoms like mood swings and muscle pain.

Darkening of skin may be caused by skin irritation or skin inflammation. Most of the time, the dark spots of the skin do not fade right after the disappearance of the infection. There are effective cosmetic products that can treat skin conditions like this.

There are topical treatments that affect the pigmentation of the skin. Certain medications such as salicylic acid for acne and cisplatin for chemotherapy contribute to the appearance of dark spots. There is nothing to worry about the spots caused by medications and chemicals because they become clear once the treatment is through.

The most usual cause of hyperpigmentation of skin is sun exposure. The more you are exposed to the sun, the more likely it is that your skin will produce a higher level of melanin to protect it. The melanin helps a lot in protecting your skin from ultraviolet rays. Obviously, the best way to deal with this is to avoid going out under the sun during noon when the  sun is at its peak. It is also best to wear appropriate sunscreen and protective clothing whenever there is a need to go out during peak hours.

If you are becoming suspicious about the condition of your skin, it will not hurt to consult your doctor to discover what is the reason behind the hyperpigmentation of your skin. Various treatments are now readily available for the convenience of patients.

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Keratinosis

Keratinosis is a skin condition that usually affects people as a result of exposing their bodies to the sun rays. Keratinosis is common among people who are above forty years of age and it is important to note that children are not affected by this condition. This condition usually appears as small, red, rough marks on the skin which are not easily seen by most people. This condition is normally recognized through the appearance of rough spots which may also be burning or itching. These marks may disappear for sometime and re-appear later on the same area. One should also know that this condition may affect women as a result of hormonal changes in their bodies or as a result of use of drugs. Both light skinned and brown skinned persons are affected by this condition. In some cases, keratinosis in the form of actinic keratosis may develop into skin cancer which may present serious problems to the victims. However, dermatologists can prescribe effective medication for keratosis treatment.

To be able to prevent your self against this skin condition, it is important to reduce the time you spend basking in the sun. Note that, though the sun provides us with warmth and other important nutrients which are very essential to our bodies, it also emits dangerous rays such as ultraviolet rays which cause destruction to our body parts. Protective clothing such as hats will enhance protection of our bodies against Keratinosis. There are also other professional ways of dealing with the situation and they include the use of chemical peels and dermabrasion provided by therapists. To get maximum results, a complete treatment process has to be adhered to whatever method chosen.

Note that the purchase of chemical drugs over the counter for the treatment of keratinosis can do you more harm than good. Some of the most effective ways of dealing with this condition include avoiding shower using hot water. This is because of the fact that hot water has the potential of drying up the surface of your skin there by giving it a rough touch. Again, it is important to balance your skin with natural ingredients which will neutralize radical damages on the surface of your skin. Effective use of tropical antioxidants will moisturize and reduce the effect of sun rays on your skin thereby reducing keratinosis. It is also necessary to seek medical attention from competent professionals immediately if you discover that you are suffering from actinic keratinosis.

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Age Spots & Keratosis

Old Age Spots On Skin

Old age spots are often referred to as liver spots, but they are actually the same thing. This is simply because of the similarity in the colors of age spots and the liver. This is how far the relationship between the two goes; aside the issue of color, there is no link whatsoever between the liver and liver spots. Old age spots can affect anyone, males or female. Age spots mainly affect the older generation but can sometimes be found on those in their 30’s if they run in the family or the person has accumulated a lot of sun exposure over the years. The medical name for age spots is solar lentigines, or sun spots due to their association with the sun.

Age spots more frequently appear on those areas of the skin that are thin. Old age can also make the skin get thinner and this makes the skin to react more quickly to the sunlight and produce excess melanin.  There are some parts of the skin that are however naturally thin. Such a part of the skin is the back of the hands which is a common place to see age spots, and of course, the face.

It is very important to use sunscreen to prevent age spots, but once you have them you need to find an effective treatment if they bother you a great deal. If you want to treat age spots, its best to do it a soon as they appear. Age spots can become darker in color as it takes longer time on the skin.

Color change

At the initial stage, age spots looks rather small and pale in color. Thet tend to be only one or two shades darker than you skin tone and at this point they may not be easily noticed by people around until you draw closer to them. But if the age spots are allowed to remain for a longer period on the skin, it is possible for them to develop a darker color. The darker color of age spots makes them more obvious and anyone standing at some distance form you will be able to see them. You can either choose to cover them with make-up or you may decide to look for a treatment.

Getting rid of age spots

The same method that can be used in getting rid of the new age spots on your skin can also be used to get rid of old age spots on skin. There are many skin lightening creams available to remove age spots. You however need to understand that it may take longer to get rid of age spots in comparison with how long you will need to treat the ones that have just formed on your skin.

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Cure For Liver Spots

Age spots are commonly known as liver spots due to their color. This skin condition is not harmful in the least and it is most certainly not contagious. Liver spots do not lead to cancer and they can disappear on their own after some time. Conversely, liver spots can also become darker and become more prominent. It had also been discovered that liver spots can affect both males and females alike. Liver spots affect mainly those older than 40 but in some cases they can be found on people as young as 30.

There are several treatment methods that can be used for the removal of liver spots from your skin. Some of them can be practiced at home and some other ones can only be carried out by a qualified dermatologist. Here are some of them:

Laser Treatment

This method of liver spot treatment is very popular. It can only be carried out by a qualified therapist and it can be relatively expensive. It is however very effective at targeting the skin condition and results can be seen after only a few laser treatments. After undergoing laser treatment it is important to wear sunblock and limit your exposure to the sun to prevent further liver spots appearing.

Topical Creams

Topical creams too can be very effective at removing liver spots permanently. Topical creams are usually in the form of skin lightening creams. All you have to do is to directly apply the cream on the surface of the skin. Some topical creams can contain vitamins, which are helpful at fading liver spots. There are some of them that contain a chemical like hydroquinone, which works to lighten the skin by bleaching it.

Home Remedies

There are many old wives remedies for treating liver spots using household ingredients. One uses an onion to treat liver spots; Chop the onion into very small size and squeeze the juice directly on the surface of the skin using a cheese cloth. You can also apply apple cider vinegar on the liver spots directly. This can also be mixed with the onion juice to make it stronger. The mixture should be applied once or twice a day and you can leave the application on the skin for as long as 30 minutes. A consistent application for about 6 weeks should see an improvement. Another home remedy uses lemon juice to fade liver spots, applied daily the acid will exfoliate the skin and reduce the pigmentation.

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Dermal Melasma

Dermal melasma is a kind of melasma that appears from deep below the surface of the skin. It is diagnosed by a dermatologist with the use of a Wood’s Lamp. Melasma comes in form of a brown color, but can also appear as gray or blue color. This pigmentation can show up on the forearms, the face and the neck. Every one suffering from dermal melasma needs to understand that the skin condition is caused by hormones, and for this reason it needs to be treated by a doctor to find out the root cause of the hormonal imbalance, the pigmentation is only a symptom. It is also not contagious in the least, many worry about this as melasma can often appear to spread.

Research conducted on this skin condition has discovered that dermal melasma can occasionally disappear on its own after some time if it is left untreated.  It is however expected that anyone having the skin condition will want to get rid of it immediately without waiting for it to disappear on its own, but dermal melasma is notoriously difficult to treat.

How does Melasma occur?

Dermal melasma occurs due to increased pigmentation of the skin.  This pigmentation usually occurs directly under the surface of the skin. It had been discovered that occurrence of this skin condition is due to some genetic malformation in the cells of the skin. The sun can also trigger this genetic problem. Melasma can also be caused by pregnancy and for this reason has acquired the nickname “Mask of Pregnancy”, and in this instance it will usually disappear of its own accord. The contraceptive pill can also cause melasma and so it can sometimes be treated by changing your pill or stopping it altogether.

How easy is Melasma treatment?

Anyone having dermal melasma needs to understand that the skin condition may be somewhat difficult to treat. This is simply because it does not occur directly on the surface of the skin like many other forms of skin conditions; this one comes up directly under the skin and it may be somewhat difficult for any treatment method applied on the surface to have much effect on it. But with consistent application, the treatment methods used for the skin condition should give positive results.

Pregnancy & Melasma

Many pregnant women have dermal melasma. The skin condition is some times referred to as the pregnancy mask. It can come up after you get pregnant and stay on through the period of pregnancy. But after giving birth, the brown patches tend to disappear on their own. It can also come up again with greater intensity in subsequent pregnancies.

Conclusion

Due to the difficulty encountered in the treatment of this skin condition. Medical experts have come up with the opinion that a combination of treatment methods should be used to get rid of melasma. The use of laser, topical creams and several other methods can be combined to get rid of the skin condition.

Ag3derm is not suitable for the treatment of dermal melasma.

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Seborrheic Keratosis Cures

Seborrheic Keratosis is a skin condition which presents wart-like growths on the skin surface. These growths are benign meaning that they cannot develop into cancer. People above the age of 40 are the most affected and in most cases it is hereditary. The skin growths appear on different parts of the body such as the chest, face, back, shoulder and other areas of the body.

These growths can be brown, yellow or black in color and they have a flat surface that is slightly raised. The texture of these growths is rough, wart-like and some times they can become itch and irritated. These growths have a round to oval shape with a waxy surface. A doctor carries out a biopsy of the skin lesion to diagnose this skin condition.

In most cases treatment for this skin condition is not necessary except in cases where the growth becomes very irritated, causes pain and discomfort. People with this condition are more likely to develop more growths in future even after removing. Scarring may not occur after removing the growth and the process for removing is not complicated. Some complications may be experienced such as bleeding, irritation, discomfort and psychological suffering by the person affected.

Seborrheic Keratosis can be removed through the process of Cryotherapy. This method of treatment is suitable for treating growths that are thin, flat and slightly raised on the skin. The abnormal tissues are destroyed by the use of extreme cold. Liquid nitrogen is used in this process as the cooling solution. This method is less painful and does not cause scarring.

Another method for removing Seborrheic Keratosis is through the process of curettage. Here a spoon shaped instrument called curette is used by the doctor to remove the growths. This method does not guarantee complete healing because the growth might reappear.

Electrocautery is also another method for treating Seborrheic Keratosis. It uses low voltage electrical charges to burn Seborrheic growths on the skin. This method is mostly combined with curettage to treat growths.

Laser treatment can also be used for treating this skin condition. It involves the use of intense beam of light to burn and destroy Seborrheic growths.

Seborrheic growths that are superficial in nature should be removed by applying pure trichloroacetic acid regulary until the growth is removed.

Hydrogen peroxide is fast becoming the preferred method of seborrheic keratosis removal because of the low cost and the convenience of applying the treatment yourself at home.

Before settling on the type of treatment to use, it is important that you seek advice from the doctor too direct you on the best treatment.

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Types of Skin Pigmentation

The color of the skin of humans is mainly caused by a pigment known as melanin. The color of the skin, ranging from white to almost black, is based on the level of melanin pigment. Evolution is not officially linked to skin pigmentation but it is generally accepted that genetics and sunlight exposure are factors that affect the color.

Increased amount of produced melanin means darker color of the skin. Conversely, the color of the skin become lighter whenever there is a decrease in the production of melanin pigment. Low and high levels of melanin may bring about the manifestation of brown patches on the skin. The worst case scenario is when the whole body becomes affected by the condition. Hyper-pigmentation and hypo-pigmentation are the two types of pigmentation of the skin.

Hyperpigmentation is basically the increased production of melanin in the skin. Hormonal changes may attribute to the manifestation of this skin condition especially for people who have Addison’s disease and women who are pregnant. Brown patches on the face of pregnant women normally appear which is known as the mask of pregnancy. They may suffer from having chloasma or melasma for a year after giving birth.

Sunburn can be considered as the most common cause of hyper-pigmentation. It is a great thing that sunburn can be treated easily these days. Since sunburn takes place whenever you are too much exposed to the sun, having sunscreen on the skin is the best thing to do. There are cosmetics that can be used to treat sunburn.

Hypopigmentation, on the other hand, is the condition of the skin in which the skin lightens up because of lower production of melanin. Children and adults can have the skin condition called vitiligo. Marks on the faces of toddlers may appear during winter because of this condition. The face alone or various body parts may be affected by white patches in adults. Vitiligo cannot be remedied but there are ways to hide it through cosmetic products.

Albinism is another type of hypo-pigmentation. This is the condition typified by the absence of cells that generate melanin. The colors of the skin, hair, and irises of the eyes are associated to the absence of melanin.

Even though pigmentation of the skin is not harmful to one’s health, many people search for pigmentation treatments.

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Aging Spot

Age spots are spots that are formed on the skin as a result of overexposure to the sun. They also come about as a result of old age as they are commonly found in old people. But the term age spot is mostly meant to refer to the duration and the amount of exposure to sunlight an individual has had. An aging spot is basically an age spot that is being formed but has not yet fully developed. Once people notice that they are forming age spots, they quickly try to find the best solution possible that will help in preventing the formation.

Age spots are basically an extra deposition of the pigment melanin, which is responsible for giving the skin its color. The darker the skin, the more melanin it has and vice versa.

Most people often want to find out if these brown spots are cancerous. The best thing to do is to get it checked out. As soon as you notice the spot forming and are now sure if it is an age spot or not, see a dermatologist and have them make the diagnosis. He/she will perform a series of tests to check out if the spot is benign or malignant. If it is the former, then it can simply be removed with laser treatment.

Tanning skin is a common and very popular procedure amongst many. However, the constant exposure to sunlight is very unhealthy. After a person has been exposed to extreme sunlight, the skin darkens. This is the body’s way of telling a person that the skin has experienced a lot of damage and is now trying to repair itself. The constant tanning is what would inevitably lead to age spots.

The best way to deal with age spots is to prevent them altogether. The main way of doing this would be through staying out of the sun as much as possible. It is advised that one does not expose themselves to sunlight anywhere from 10am to 3pm. This is because it is during this time that the sun is at its hottest. Any exposure during this time can raise the risk of getting age spots.

If you must go into the sun, it is recommended that you apply sunscreen to your exposed skin. Aside from just that, it is also recommended that you wear sunglasses to shield your eyes from the sun and a large hat to shield your face.

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