Major Causes of Acne

Friday, December 6th

Major Causes of Acne

Whether you're fifteen or thirty-five, acne is never fun. In fact it's often the exact opposite- bringing embarrassment, shame, and eventually low self-esteem. Boy, girl, young, old, blonde, and brunette - many people suffer from these red, and often painful, bumps. There are reasons people get acne and some identifiable causes. Being aware of these causes can help you prevent and guard against the development of your acne - and leave your T-zone pimple free!

First, it's important to remember that acne doesn't just appear out of nowhere. In truth, the development of acne is a very normal occurrence caused by the unfortunate combination of overactive oil glands and hair follicles in the skin. Every follicle, or pore, on your face sprouts a tiny little hair that is connected - under your outer layer of skin- with multi-lobed oil glands, also named the sebaceous glands. These sebaceous glands produce a substance known as sebum, which lubricates the hair and skin. Sometimes the coupled effect of over-produced sebum and dead skin cells shed by the tiny hair follicle, mix together and end up clogging the pore. Bacteria, which live on the sebum lead to swelling and redness- and voila! It is the ugly start of acne.

There are many reasons the sebaceous glands over produce sebum, and likewise reasons the pore might have problems properly shedding its dead skin cells. One big reason is due to heredity. Some people are just born with small pores that make clogging dead skin cells, easy. Others are born with hyper-active sebaceous glands. Still more people are unfortunately born with both. This type of cause can be difficult when preventing acne, because it's simply in your genes. Luckily, there are products to fight acne when it does appear, should this be your case.

Another main culprit that often causes acne is, well... hormonal. That is why many of acne's sufferers are today's teens. Due to the raging hormones of society's youth, this large and diverse group becomes a chief target for acne. Young women, for instance, may often see flare-ups during or around the time of their menstrual cycle. This is due to the hormonal imbalance in women at that time; and young men experience an increased production of the male sex hormone- androgens- during puberty, which can lead to a hormonal imbalance and unfortunately- acne.

Finally, what often causes hormonal changes (aside from puberty) can just be increased stress, and not receiving enough sleep. Also, clogging pores with make-up or especially oily moisturizers and foundations can contribute to the causes of acne.

So keep your face clean, stay informed, remember acne is totally normal and there are many ways to relieve it for those instances when prevention simply doesn't cut it.