Prestige Medispa / Acne
Acne: the six types, and why the type decides everything
Acne is not a sign of dirty skin. It happens inside the pore, and what you can see on the surface is the last step of four.
Why acne forms
The oil gland produces more oil than usual. Dead skin cells fail to shed properly and get caught. The two mix and block the pore. Bacteria that live on everyone's skin then multiply inside that blocked pore, and the body answers with inflammation. That inflammation is the redness, the swelling and the soreness.
What sets it off differs from person to person. The ones we see most often are hormonal shifts, stress and poor sleep, products that are too heavy for that skin, and repeated friction on the same area.
The six types
Acne is not one thing. There are six types and each behaves differently, which is why the same approach does not give two people the same result. The first four sit near the surface. The last two sit deep, and those are the ones that most often leave pitted scarring.
Blackhead
A blocked pore that is still open at the surface. The trapped oil and dead skin darken on contact with air, so the black is not dirt and scrubbing harder does not remove it.
Whitehead
The same blockage with the pore closed over. It shows as a small pale bump, often clustered on the forehead and chin.
Papule
Now inflamed. A firm red bump that hurts to touch, with no white head. It began as one of the two above.
Pustule
A papule that has come to a head, with pus gathered at the tip, so the head looks white or yellowish on a red base.
Nodule
A hard lump well below the surface. Large, painful, and usually with no head at all, so there is nothing to come out even if it is squeezed.
Cyst
The deepest and largest, filled with pus and soft under pressure. This is the type that most often leaves a scar, because the damage happens in the tissue underneath.
Most people have a mix of several types on the same face. That mix is what a skin analysis is looking for, because it decides the order of treatment.
Worth saying early
Do not squeeze, especially nodules and cysts. Squeezing pushes the inflammation deeper, and deeper inflammation is what becomes a pitted scar later. One pimple squeezed today can become months of work next year.
Skin also does not improve in a straight line. Some weeks look better, some look like a step back, and that is normal. What matters is the direction over months, not one particular morning.
How long it takes
Skin renews itself on a cycle of roughly four weeks, so a pimple appearing today actually started as a blockage weeks ago. That is why no treatment clears skin in a single session, and anyone promising that is promising something skin does not do.
What is realistic is that inflammation settles first, then fewer new breakouts appear, then the red marks left behind fade after that. Those red marks are not scars, and they go on their own even if slowly. If there is already pitted scarring, that is separate work that starts once active acne is calm, and it is covered on the acne scars page.
Frequently asked
What are the six types of acne?
Blackheads and whiteheads are blocked pores, open and closed. Papules are inflamed red bumps with no head, and pustules are papules that have come to a head. Nodules are hard lumps deep under the skin, and cysts are the deepest and are filled with pus. Nodules and cysts most often leave scars.
Why should acne not be squeezed?
Squeezing pushes the inflammation deeper into the skin, and deeper inflammation is what becomes a pitted scar later.
How long before acne visibly improves?
Skin renews on a cycle of about four weeks, so change is measured in months rather than days. Inflammation settles first, then fewer new breakouts appear, then the marks left behind fade.
How much does it cost to start?
The Prestige Feluxe Transformation is RM188 and includes a detailed skin analysis, a consultation, your beauty diary, your first treatment and a follow up.
Read more: acne, acne scars, pigmentation, hair removal, and the celebrities treated with us.
Start with a skin analysis
Send us one message and tell us what is bothering your skin. We will find a time that suits you.
WhatsApp 018-956 0506