Acne in children and adolescents

Characteristic symptoms

Acne in the photo is not simple, also called newborn bloom. Signs of the phenomenon are such that the skin becomes covered with small pimples, which are red at the base and white at the top. It is the appearance of pustular pimples that makes parents think about treatment.

What is this

Acne is the appearance of pimples on a baby's scalp that resemble teenage acne (red with a white tip). They can even appear in the ears, and in rare cases, on the back and neck of a newborn. As a rule, rashes do not cause any concern in infants. May occur in 25% of newborns. In medicine, this condition is called neonatal cephalic pustulosis. Most often observed as a consequence of hormone failure in the toddler’s body. This condition will almost always resolve without medical intervention. However, if there is an intense manifestation of the disease, then you cannot do without taking medications.

About infant acne

IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW!
Infant acne is defined as acne that appears in a child older than 3 months. Unlike the phenomenon in newborns in the photo, such acne is no longer so harmless, since it not only may not go away for years, but also often causes a phenomenon called post-acne.

How to treat acne in newborns

Rash on baby's bottom

When a child is only a few days old and small pimples appear on the body, this is not a reason to panic and take any measures. But food allergies, acne and contact dermatitis should not be ignored.

Pharmacy methods

Acne in newborns occurs as a result of the vital activity of staphylococcus, so only an antibacterial drug that needs to be used to treat the lesions can solve the problem. Such a child should be immediately taken to the pediatrician, where they will issue a prescription for the purchase of medicine.

You can fight allergic rashes caused by food with the help of antihistamines. For children, they are produced in the form of drops, which in small quantities (about 5) are mixed into the drink no more than twice a day.

Contact dermatitis is treated with topical medications. For redness under the diaper, you need to use zinc-based creams. They simultaneously soften the child’s skin and protect it from damage when it comes into contact with urine and feces, quickly relieving irritation. You need to apply this cream every time after washing your baby.

Lubricating the buttocks under the diaper

Each bath should be completed by applying baby cream to the entire skin of the child. Tap water is loaded with chemicals that dry out your skin, including chlorine. To maintain the protective function of a baby’s thin skin, you need to lubricate it with baby cream every time, preferably without any aromatic additives.

Treatment of childhood acne with folk remedies

An allergic skin rash in a child can be treated with chamomile infusion prepared at home. Soak a cotton pad in the solution and apply it to the affected skin. The plant has a calming effect, relieves irritation and redness. An effective method for contact dermatitis. In the event of an allergic reaction to food, local exposure to the skin without adjusting the child’s menu will not lead to a positive result.

Chamomile decoction

Prevention

Since the acne shown in the photo has a hormonal etiology, there is no prevention of its occurrence, as well as specialized treatment. All parents can do is to carefully observe the rules of hygiene and follow the recommendations of the supervising specialist.

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Difference from allergies

Allergies have visible differences from acne
You may have a question about rashes on your baby’s face. You will doubt whether your baby has newborn acne or allergies. Therefore, it is so important to be able to distinguish between these states.

Do I need treatment?

Newborn acne is not an infectious or allergic disease (it is a hormonal rash); it does not need to be treated with anything.

Acne is not contagious.

There is no need to smear the rashes that appear with brilliant green, fucorcin, chlorophyllipt, potassium permanganate and any other antiseptics. It is better to carefully wipe the affected areas with a decoction of string or chamomile. Make sure your baby's skin is clean and dry. You can lightly lubricate the pimples with Bepanten ointment every 3-4 days (the ointment will dry out the rashes).

Please note: do not squeeze out purulent pimples. Recovery from this will not go faster, but the inflammation will intensify, and an infection may get into the wound. After healing, unsightly scars may remain in place of squeezed pimples.

Acne goes away on its own after maternal hormones are completely eliminated from the baby’s body and the functioning of its hormonal system returns to normal. The recovery process can take from two weeks to one and a half months. There will be no traces left after pimples (of course, if you didn’t try to squeeze them out).

Consultation with a pediatrician is necessary in any case. He will make the correct diagnosis and give recommendations for care and treatment. It is very easy to confuse acne with manifestations of food allergies or urticaria. But allergies and hives need to be treated!

Preventive measures

Since infant acne is hormonal in origin, it is impossible to talk about prevention. But it is quite possible to reduce the intensity of inflammation and speed up recovery. To help cleanse your skin:

regular air and sun baths;
skin cleansing and hygiene procedures;
vitamin therapy and immune support.

Try to prevent your baby from developing other health problems, then it will be easier for him to deal with acne.

Acne will not cause serious harm to your baby. The main thing is to consult a doctor in time so as not to confuse infantile acne with other, more serious and dangerous diseases. Carefully clean your baby’s face, monitor his general health, then the inflammation will quickly go away. And keep a good mood!

From the following video you can learn even more about newborn acne:

Symptoms

Childhood acne occurs sequentially with the manifestation of a specific clinical picture. There are no cases where a child falls asleep in the evening with completely clear facial skin, and wakes up covered in a red rash. In pediatrics, such cases certainly occur, but in such situations the cause always lies in an infectious disease such as measles or chickenpox.

Symptoms of acne in a newborn are as follows:

Redness of the skin. 1-2 days before the formation of acne, minor red spots appear on the child’s cheeks, chin, nose, temples and forehead. The baby may begin to be capricious and cry the moment the mother touches the inflamed areas of the skin.
Rash formation. In places of redness, the first red pimples appear, which rise slightly above the general level of the skin. When you touch them, you feel their dense internal structure and the potential for further inflammation. This can be seen by the characteristic red tint of acne.
Spread of inflammatory formations. Acne on the face of a newborn rapidly spreads over the entire surface of the cheeks, chin, nose, temples and forehead . In some cases, acne may even begin to form on the scalp of a newborn.
Purulent inflammation. This is one of the clearest signs that the baby’s skin is affected by inflamed acne, and signs of an allergic reaction are completely absent. At this stage, yellow liquid accumulates inside the neoplasms, which in appearance resembles purulent contents. This state of the child’s health can threaten the normal functioning of his still weak immune system, so you should contact a health care facility much earlier, without waiting for the development of a purulent process in the epidermal tissues.

Methods of treating the disease

Most often, this problem does not require treatment and goes away on its own. Medicines are prescribed if acne actively progresses or does not go away for more than 3 months. But any medications should be prescribed by a doctor and only after the diagnosis has been accurately established. Do not give your baby medications that you found on the Internet or were recommended by friends! The baby’s body is still developing and does not tolerate unnecessary drugs well, the consequences can be disastrous.

Your doctor may recommend using:

1% hydrocortisone cream once a day;
2% ketoconazole cream twice daily.

Most often, all you need is proper skin care. Wash your baby with baby soap and lubricate the skin with a suitable moisturizer or lotion. Many mothers wash their babies with cotton pads soaked in water or soap; this allows them to better cleanse the skin. Pimples can also be lubricated with panthenol. You should not use strong drying agents; you should not squeeze out pimples, because a baby’s skin is still very sensitive and can be easily damaged.

Differences between neonatal and allergic rashes

A small hormonal rash in a baby resembles an allergy. However, these conditions have differences from each other. They are as follows:

Allergies cause itching and flaking of the skin.
Neonatal acne is similar to teenage acne.
An allergic reaction occurs abruptly after contact with an allergen, and pustules gradually appear as small rashes in different places.
Acne does not cause discomfort in the child. The rash goes away in one place and appears in another.
Red nodular dots are localized only in the head area, the allergy spreads throughout the body.
If you have an allergy, your baby will try to scratch the area with the rash.

Neonatal pustulosis does not cause any concern in children; they continue to eat, sleep and develop normally. During allergies, babies become capricious, itching prevents them from sleeping and eating. To verify your assumptions, you should consult your pediatrician.

READ ALSO: Small rash on the body in an adult: possible causes and treatment methods

Important! The hormonal rash is not always full inside; sometimes it is visually invisible and appears as roughness on the face.

Causes

The formation of acne on the face of infants is always associated with a number of natural factors. During the examination of the baby, the pediatrician always focuses on the living conditions of the family, the nutrition of the mother and child, as well as the lifestyle of the parents.

In general, the causes of acne in newborns are as follows:

Incorrect care. Often young parents caring for their first child make mistakes in terms of observing the basic rules of baby skin hygiene. A newborn baby should take warm water treatments in the morning and evening. At the same time, his delicate skin is washed with special baby soap for children under 3 years of age. Bathing your baby too rarely, or using allergic soaps or shower gels, can irritate the baby’s skin and cause acne.
Increased work of the sebaceous glands. Young children, especially in the first months of their independent life, are still just adapting to environmental conditions. All organs and systems of the child behave in the same way. At this stage of development of the newborn, the sebaceous glands located in the area of the facial disc and scalp often produce excess sebum, which becomes the cause of acne in infants.
Hormonal imbalance. Strange as it may seem, in the first months of a baby’s life the foundations for his future hormonal levels and stable functioning of the endocrine system are laid. It is possible that during this process of formation of the child's hormonal background, there may be some deviation from the norm and an excess of one or another sexual secretion, which, due to the age of the child, should be at a lower level. Then the baby develops acne on his face of the same nature that can be observed in adolescents of adolescence, when their hormonal system is being rebuilt for adulthood.
Hereditary factor. Medical practice shows that in 80% of cases, if a mother suffered from acne on her face while carrying a child, then the newborn baby is born with similar manifestations of acne. Scientists cannot yet provide a comprehensive justification for such a natural relationship between the health conditions of the mother and the fetus, but practical experience has proven that other pathological health conditions can be transmitted to children. In particular, cases have been recorded in which a pregnant woman suffering from frequent hypertensive crises gave birth to a child with high blood pressure, who subsequently suffered from hypertension throughout his life. There are a huge number of similar cases in medical practice.

Regardless of what foreign neoplasms look like on the face of a newborn child and the severity of their inflammatory process, you should immediately visit a pediatrician so that he can conduct a professional examination of the baby and prescribe adequate medical treatment, or a number of preventive procedures.