Whiteheads

Whiteheads are perhaps the most common type of pimples that acne sufferers experience. In order to explain fully what a whitehead is, it is important to understand how pimples form.

How a Pimple Forms
Acne is the most common skin diseases, affecting millions of people each year, while there is no cure to this skin disease, in most cases it can be treated fairly easily. Pimples are a form of Acne Vulgaris, the most common type of acne. Acne is the result of several factors and one of the factors is hormones. Hormones are chemical messengers that go throughout the body and instruct glands to create certain substances. One gland that hormones instruct is the sebaceous gland. The sebaceous gland can be found in every pore of your skin; however they are most likely to cause acne in the pores of your face, chest and back. Each pore is in essence a hair follicle. A pore includes the hair follicle which is a long, tube like structure. Within the skin at the base of the hair follicle is a sebaceous gland which produces sebum. Sebum is oil that gently moisturizes the hair follicle and the skins surface. Unfortunately, sometimes these pores get clogged.

Clogged pores are the major cause of acne; they get clogged with dirt or cellular material. Sebum (oil) gets trapped inside the clogged pore, bacteria called P. acne which is found all over your face feed off the sebum, causing an infection. When P. acne bacteria feed off the sebum, your body s defenses call in white blood cells to kill the bacteria, this makes the pimple red, inflamed and painful. Ultimately the pimple collapses upon itself or explodes causing sebum, bacteria and white blood cells to ooze out onto the skin.

What is a Whitehead?
A whitehead is a pore that has sebum clogged inside. This type of pimple is not inflamed or infected, the pore merely includes sebum. The sebum stays within the pore, they usually look like small white spots and sometimes they can be invisible to the eye. In certain situations, whiteheads can become infected and become a zit.

How to Pop a Whitehead
If your have a white head that is not inflamed, red or infected, you usually can pop it safely. Usually the best technique to pop a whitehead is to make the skins surface moist and relaxed. You can easily achieve this with warm water or to take a shower or bath. In addition, you should first gently clean your face of all make up and dirt. You will also want to clean your hands. You do not want to spread any bacteria onto your face.

Using your fingers or a zit popper, you can easily and gently squeeze the tip of the whitehead. You should immediately see a discharge. At this point, make sure you remove all material that has come out of the whitehead and clean the surrounding area. In addition, you should clean your hands once again to prevent spreading any sebum or bacteria.