What Causes Acne?

September 21, 2009 · Filed Under Acne 

What Are The Causes Of Acne?

Most people will experience the reality of acne at some time in their life.It seems to be an inevitable part of adolescence, almost a rite of passage.For the worst of reasons, suffering from acne is a memorable part of the experience of growing up for a lot of people.The first step to take in your quest to become free from it, is to understand what causes acne in the first place.

What causes acne?

Your facial skin structure plays an important role in understanding the initial causes of acne.The surface of your skin can have millions of tiny hairs growing up through millions of tiny openings called pores.The pores lead down to small oil producing glands called sebaceous glands. It is these that produce the oil known as sebum.

Sebum helps to keep normal, non-acne skin healthy by keeping it smooth and moisturized.  It is produced by the glands and works its way up through the pore onto the surface of the skin.By helping to remove dead skin cells and bacteria, sebum helps keep the skin clean and moist at the same time.  It is sort of like nature’s way of getting rid of the “garbage” that inevitably gathers on your skin.

Whenever this natural process is disturbed, acne develops.This happens when the body has to learn to deal with an increase in hormone production, adolescence for example.Developing acne during this learning process is very common, hormone imbalances are rarely good news for your skin.

How acne actually forms

When your body produces extra hormones, it causes the sebaceous glands under the skin to produce much more sebum than before.The action of these hormones can also make it much more difficult for the skin’s pores to get rid of the dead skin cells.A clogged pore is the end result, an ideal environment for bacteria to flourish, leaving you with swelling, inflammation, infection, and skin tenderness.

What happens next is you begin to form various types of acne lesions on your skin; these can include whiteheads, blackheads, and pimples.This unfortunate mixture is collectively known as acne.

Living and dealing with acne

While there is no way to 100% get rid of acne problems, there are a number of things you can do to make living with it and dealing with it easier.  These include:

• Cleanse your skin – Use a gentle facial cleanser twice per day to help get rid of excess oils, dead skin cells, and bacteria.  Never rub or scrub your skin because this can cause more irritation and more acne.
• Apply anti-acne medication – A number of excellent medications are available both over the counter and by prescription.These medications perform a variety of tasks on your skin, by helping to reduce the amount of sebum produced and limiting the quantity of bacteria on your skin, the process of removing dead skin cells will be improved.
• Moisturize your skin – Dry skin is not healthy and healthy skin is more resistant to acne, so moisturize your skin.The last thing you want to do is to add more oil to your skin, so a light in texture, oil-free moisturizer is ideal.

Knowledge is power and knowing what causes acne gives you the opportunity to do something about it.You now have the correct information to deal with your acne problems, make sure you apply it!

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