what is a comedone, and what does it have to do with acne?
Well, a comedone is an acne blemish basically. A comedone is described dermatologically as a plugged pore of sebaceous (oil) and dead skin particles which are stuck in the opening of a hair follicle. Further, there are blackhead and whitehead comedone, or acne blemishes. There are whiteheads, where the plugged hair follicle is closed or almost closed, and there are blackheads, where the hair follicle is open (this is why they look like a tiny “black hole”). Oh, then there are also microcomedones, which are comedones, or acne pustules, that are so small, you cannot even see them with the naked eye. Well, I know the blackheads that sometimes infest my nose are not invisible, so I’ll assume THOSE aren’t microcomedones! Yet another type of comedone is not one that typically affects the younger folks. It’s called a solar comedone, and they look a tad different than your garden variety acne of the teens and early adulthood. These solar comedones really only occur in the older and the elderly
