Who Gets Acne?

Acne is one of the most common skin diseases and millions of Americans suffer from this disease each year. While most people suffer from either mild or moderate forms of acne, in all situations, acne can be embarrassing and lower one s self esteem.

There is no sure fire way to predict who gets acne, it can strike almost anyone. While acne is not life threatening, it can be uncomfortable, painful and make a person look less attractive. In order to understand who gets acne, it is best to first explain how acne forms.

Acne affects the hair follicles (pores) in the skin, mainly in the face, chest and sometimes on the back. A hair follicle or pore is made up of three distinct parts; they include the sebaceous gland, the follicle or pore itself which is a longer narrow tube and sebum. The sebaceous gland creates sebum. Sebum is commonly referred to as oil. Usually oil is produced when hormones throughout the body send messages to activate the gland. Sometimes an abundance of hormones in the body can cause the over production of sebum by the sebaceous glands.

When the sebaceous gland creates oil in the pore, it can sometimes get clogged and the over production of sebum in the pore increases the chances of clogging. Clogging can occur within the pore or from the surface when people apply make up or get dirt clogged into their pores. Because sebum is an organic material, when it is clogged and trapped within the pore, bacteria will feed off it, specifically P. acne bacteria. P. acne bacteria feed off the clogged pore and infect the skin causing a pimple. A pimple is an infected pore and it is red, inflamed and sometimes painful. Your body s defenses try to protect you from infection and send white blood cells to the infected pore to fight and kill the P. acne bacteria. Ultimately, the pimple will explode causing the sebum, bacteria and cell materials to be scattered onto the surface of the skin possibly causing more infections.

Hormones are instrumental in activating the sebaceous glands causing them to over produce sebum. An individual with unbalanced hormones can be more susceptible to acne. These individuals include, teenagers going through puberty (both male and female), pregnant women and women going through menopause, all of these individuals can have unstable levels of hormones that might cause their sebaceous glands to over produce sebum.

In addition, individuals that use substances that can easily clog their skin can experience acne. For instance, if you use make up and do not clean the make up from your skin, you can cause an acne infection. Make sure you clean your facial pores twice a day to reduce clogged pores and ultimately acne.

Popping pimples and incorrectly cleaning your skin can also cause a person to get acne. Make sure that when pimples are popped, all material that oozes out of the pimple is removed from the face. Pimples include P. acne and sebum and popping pimples can actually spread infection and pimples around the face. If you are cleaning your skin, do not scrub your skin hard, you do not want to spread P. acne or sebum around your face.