Acne

What is Acne?

Acne is a part of an irritating ailment that affects many people especially teenagers. Pimples, zits, blackheads and whiteheads are all a part of acne. Acne tends to come along at a time in a teenagers life when they are self-conscious and going through several physical changes.

Acne is officially called acne vulgaris. It is a blemish caused by multiple factors. Hormonal imbalances in teenagers are a major factor in causing acne. Most of the problems come from bacteria that are always on the skin that starts to grow in abundance. Most of these bacteria start to grow in clogged pores that are full of dead skin cells.

Sources of Acne

Hormones are only one source of acne. Several other factors can cause acne or make it worse. If you are exposed to too much chlorine, you can develop a long lasting and irritating type of acne. In addition, the use of anabolic steroids will cause acne. There are also numerous health problems that can cause acne.

For a while, many people thought acne was caused by poor hygiene. However, scrubbing your face in an effort to open up pores and get rid of pimples, blackheads, zits and whiteheads will often make the problem worse by damaging the skin.

It was also thought for several years that certain foods would make people prone to acne. Fried foods and chocolate were listed as causes of acne and became a natural assumption. However, there is no medical or scientific proof that oily skin is linked with greasy foods. The truth is simply that acne is a natural part of growing into adulthood.

The majority of people will outgrow acne as their bodies enter adulthood and their puberty ends. The fact is that by the time people are in their twenties most of their acne problems will be gone. There is a small group of people that may have acne for longer. However, for the majority of the population acne is a temporary and passing event in life.

Types of Acne Blemishes

There are two different categories for acne, inflamed and non-inflamed. Non-inflamed blemishes are usually seen as blackheads and whiteheads. A whitehead is caused by a clogged follicle that plugs the skin pore. The whitehead is made up of dead skin cells. A blackhead is basically the same thing as a whitehead except for the fact that is has opened up and become oxidized which causes the darker color of the blemish. For many years’ people thought blackheads came from dirt, but this is not the truth.

Inflamed blemishes are seen as pimples or zits. These blemishes are typically reddish in color and look inflamed. Pimples will develop when a whitehead doesn’t succeed in turning into a blackhead. The pore wall breaks down and serves as a dumping ground for oil, dead skin cells, bacteria and other debris from the body. White blood cells then congregate in the blemish to fight the infection, which causes the puss substance and pain associated with the familiar pimples. A larger cyst is even more painful and can flair up over and over again to the point that medical attention is required.

Common Misconceptions

While there are, many misconceptions about acne one of the main thoughts is that exposure to the sun will cure acne. However, there is no scientific or medical proof that the sun has a positive effect on acne. It merely makes it harder to see the pimples and exposure to the sun can in fact cause wrinkles and skin cancer later on in life.

We hope the above information may help you to learn about acne.