What is acne?
Acne can affect people from ages 10 through 40 and
up. Acne can show up as any of the following:
congested pores, whiteheads, blackheads, pimples,
pustules, or cysts (deep pimples). These blemishes
occur wherever there are many oil (sebaceous)
glands, mainly on the face, chest, and back. Acne is
commonly referred to in slang as zits.
You can do a lot for your
acne if you understand what brings it on and what
really doesn't (despite what people tell you)--and
if you know what you can get at a drugstore or
cosmetic counter without a prescription. For tougher
cases, you should consult your Dermatologist.
What causes acne anyway?
No one factor causes acne. As physicians understand
it, acne happens when oil (sebaceous) glands come to
life around puberty, when these glands are
stimulated by male hormones that are produced in the
adrenal glands of both boys and girls. The oil
glands, which are located just beneath the skin,
continuously produce and secrete oil through
openings in the skin. The oil lubricates and
protects the skin. Under certain circumstances,
cells that are close to the openings of the oil
glands block the openings. This causes a buildup of
oil underneath the skin. Bacteria, which live in
everyone's skin but generally mind their own
business, feast on this oil, multiply, and cause the
surrounding tissues to become inflamed.
If the inflammation is
right near the surface, you get a pustule; if it's
deeper, a (pimple); deeper still and it's a cyst..
If the oil breaks though to the surface, the result
is a "Whitehead" If the oil becomes oxidized (that
is, acted on by oxygen in the air), the oil changes
from white to black, and the result is a "blackhead". |
