Acne is an extremely common skin condition affecting over 85 percent of all Americans during adolescence, although occasionally it doesn't appear until patients are in their 20s or 30s. It affects about the same number of males and females, but males tend to have more severe cases. Acne produces different types of lesions or pimples on the skin of the face, neck, upper chest, and back. Noninflammatory acne includes blackheads and whiteheads. Blackheads have an open center containing a dark material and may be raised above the level of the surrounding skin.
Whiteheads are small bumps with closed centers and are the same color as the surrounding skin.
These pimples can have white, pus-filled centers. Cysts and nodules are two types of large, firm pimple that are greater than half a centimeter in diameter. They are usually tender to the touch and can cause considerable scarring, which results from inflammation deep within the skin. Acne lesions result from oil glands in the skin becoming plugged with oil and an overgrowth of skin cells. These plugged glands become blackheads and whiteheads.