Acne Cause

Adult Acne: Causes and Cures

If you noticed the acne you had when you were 15 has returned in your 30s, rest assured, you’re in good company. One in five women between the ages of 25 and 40 suffer from adult acne. Here are a few facts about adult acne and how to rid your skin of it:

Fact #1: Acne usually begins with blackheads Blackheads are not dirt, they’re actually the result of oil and dead cells getting trapped in a pore where they block the duct and mix with bacteria. They then turn black when exposed to air. Red pimples develop when blackheads become inflamed and they spread when touched with dirty hands. When the pimple becomes infected, it develops a whitehead or pustule. These can break and cause scars.

So how to banish blackheads? Gently, according to San Francisco dermatologist Seth Matarasso in InStyle Magazine. People tend to scrub too hard which causes inflammation, he says. Instead of a grainy scrub, Matarasso suggests trying an exfoliant with alpha-hydroxy acids. A good one is Lancome Pure Focus Deep Pore Refining Scrub. You can also use a salicylic acid cleanser like Bliss Clog Dissolving Cleansing Milk. These chemical products clean out pores better than scrubs. For a great quick fix, Biore Pore Perfect Strips will get rid of your blackheads.

Fact #2: There are several causes of adult acne These are: Stress, bad cosmetics, hormones and birth control pills. Stress causes your oil glands to overcompensate. Bad cosmetics lead to bacteria-laden pores. Hormones cause the sebacuous glands to overact and birth control pills with androgen in them can cause breakouts.

To keep breakouts at bay, look for oil-free, non-acnegenic products like Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel and Neutrogena Oil-free Cleanser.

Fact #3: Cheese and chocolate have nothing to do with your acne Your skin, however, WILL benefit from a good facial. Why? Because acne is not a disease, rather it is a condition of the skin and a good facialist knows exactly what your skin needs: Sulfur, zinc and camphor masks, exfoliation, blackhead extractions and at-home follow-up.

Fact #4: Don’t treat adult acne like the teen kind The products you used as a teenager won’t work on adult skin. Here’s a 2-step program for cleansing and treating your blemished skin:

Step 1: Pick the right cleanser. Look for medicated cleansers with benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid. A good choice is Biore Shine Control Cream Cleanser

Step 2: Exfoliate with a salicylic acid treatment, which will clean out pores. Just don’t exfoliate too much or scrub too hard (see the blackhead section above). Two to 3 times a week is perfect.

Fact #5: Treatment systems have completely cleared up skin on many people Proactiv Solution 3-step System is a classic kit that has worked wonders on many. Mario Badescu Drying Lotion is another program that is highly recommended and my friends with acne personally recommend MD Skincare All-Over Blemish Solution.

Fact #6: The dermatologist will clear your skin up fast Too many women wait to see a doctor for their skin problems. If you have basic acne, over-the-counter treatments with salicylic acid (there’s that magic word again) to unclog pores and benzoyl peroxide to reduce bacteria on skin should do you, but for serious acne, a dermatologist has an arsenal of products to clear up your skin.

Retinoids, antibiotics, azelaic acid and birth control pills are all options usually covered by insurance. You might consider laser treatments, but these are more costly (about $500-$2,400). Severe cases are best cleared up by Accutane, which is a 5-month course that is considered the most effective treatment available. It can, however, cause serious birth defects if taken during pregnancy.

Fact #7: Yes, those new machines that target acne do work We were surprised to hear this as well, but the reports are out on machines like Zeno Acne Clearing Device and they are good. They won’t help blackheads or deep cystic acne, but they do work for your general run-of-the-mill pimples, according to Glamour Magazine.

So how do they work? The Zeno, which is a handheld machine that looks like an iPod, works by driving heat through a pimple. The heat kills the bacteria and supposedly improves blood circulation to the affected area so it heals faster. Clinical trials show 90% of pimples treated with Zeno disappeared or were significantly reduced within 24 hours.

Cause

There are different types of acne. The most common acne is the type that develops during the teen years. Puberty causes hormone levels to rise, especially testosterone. High hormones cause signal skin glands to start making more oil (sebum). Oil releases from the pores to protect the skin and keep it moist. Acne begins when oil mixes with dead cells and clogs the skin’s pores. Bacteria can grow in this mixture. And if this mixture leaks into nearby tissues, it causes swelling, redness, and pus. A common name for these raised bumps is pimples.

See a picture of how pimples form Click here to see an illustration..

Certain medicines can cause acne to develop. This type of acne usually clears up when you stop taking the medicine.

It isn’t just teens who are affected by acne. Sometimes newborns have acne because their mothers pass hormones to them just before delivery. Acne can also appear when the stress of birth causes the baby’s body to release hormones on its own. Young children and older adults also may get acne.

A few conditions of the endocrine system, such as polycystic ovary syndrome and Cushing’s syndrome, can lead to outbreaks of acne.

Acne Cause

Acne Causes

Several factors contribute to the development of acne. The primary problem is that the abnormal flaking of cells inside the hair follicle leads to the formation of a plug. The plug can enlarge and even rupture the hair follicle. A ruptured hair follicle spills its contents of oil and debris into the skin where it leads to swelling and causes redness (inflammation).

* Bacteria that normally live on the skin also play a role in acne development. The bacteria known as Propionibacterium acnes are responsible for causing acne. These bacteria produce substances that cause redness and irritation (inflammation). They also make enzymes, which dissolve the sebum (oil from oil glands in the skin) into irritating substances. These substances also make the inflammation worse.

* Certain hormones called androgens are an additional factor in causing acne. Androgens are male hormones that are present in both men and women, but are higher in men. Androgens do two things: First, they enlarge the sebaceous glands in the skin. Second, they cause these glands to increase sebum (oil) production. The increased sebum leads to plug formation and serves as more “food” for the bacteria. Androgens surge at puberty, which is why teens develop armpit and pubic hair, and why boys develop facial hair and deeper voices. This hormonal surge also contributes to the development of acne in teens.

* Estrogens, which are the female hormones, actually can help to improve acne in girls. A woman’s monthly menstrual cycle is due to changes in the estrogen levels in her body. This is why acne in a female may get better and then get worse as she goes through her monthly cycle. A doctor may recommend acne treatment with birth control pills, which contain the helpful estrogens.

* We also now believe that acne can run in some families. This may be due to some genetic factor that has not yet been discovered.

* Anatomy of the hair follicle: Hair follicles exist on virtually all skin except for the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Inside the follicle, the hair extends up from the deep layers of the skin and comes out of a pore. Near the surface, the oil gland (sebaceous gland) enters the hair follicle where it empties oil (sebum) at a relatively constant rate. The sebum lubricates the skin and provides a protective barrier to prevent drying. Skin on the face, chest, and back has an especially large number of sebaceous glands. These are the areas where acne occurs.

* Acne lesions: There are 2 major types of acne lesions: noninflammatory and inflammatory. Noninflammatory acne lesions include blackheads (open comedones) and whiteheads (closed comedones). Open and closed comedones along with papules and pustules are referred to as papulopustular acne-a form of inflammatory acne. Nodular acne is the most severe form of inflammatory acne.

o Noninflammatory acne: Open comedones result from the enlargement and dilation of a plug that forms from oil and flakes of skin inside the hair follicle.

+ The hair follicle pore remains open exposing a black plug (known as a blackhead). The dark color is not dirt inside the pore. Instead it is the oil inside the pore, which has become exposed from the outside air.

+ A closed comedo forms if the hair follicle pore remains closed. The plug in a closed comedo or whitehead is therefore not exposed to the outside air, and no black color develops. The closed comedo simply appears as a tiny, sometimes pink bump in the skin.

o Inflammatory acne: Inflammatory acne lesions consist of red blemishes, pimples also called zits (papules, pustules), and larger, deeper swollen tender lesions (nodules).

+ Papules are closed comedos, which have become red, swollen, and inflamed.

+ Pustules are closed comedos, which become inflamed and begin to rupture into the skin forming pustular heads of various sizes.

+ Nodules represent large, tender, swollen acne lesions, which have become intensely inflamed and rupture under the skin. If untreated, these can produce deep scarring.

Causes of acne

Acne is caused by overactivity of the sebaceous glands that secrete oily substances on to your skin.

The surface of your skin has lots of small sebaceous glands just below the surface. These glands make sebum (a natural oil) that keeps the skin smooth and supple.

Tiny pores (holes in the skin) allow the sebum to come to the surface of your skin. Hairs also grow through these pores.

The sebaceous glands of people with acne are especially sensitive to normal blood levels of a hormone called testosterone, found naturally in both men and women.

If you are prone to acne, testosterone triggers the sebaceous glands to produce excess sebum. At the same time, the dead skin cells lining the openings of the hair follicles (the tubes that hold the hair) aren’t shed properly and clog up the follicles.

The combination of these two effects causes a build-up of oil in your hair follicles. This causes blackheads and whiteheads to form.

For some people, their acne doesn’t progress beyond this stage.

However, in other people the build-up of oil in the hair follicles creates an ideal environment for a bacterium called Propionibacterium acnes to grow.

These bacteria usually live harmlessly on your skin but when the conditions are right, they grow. They feed off the sebum and produce substances that cause an immune response. This inflames the skin and creates the redness associated with spots.

In more severe inflammatory acne, cysts develop beneath the skin’s surface. If these cysts rupture, the infection can spread. This can result in scars.

Contrary to popular belief, acne isn’t caused by diet or hygiene. However, acne can be hereditary.

Acne isn’t infectious, so you can’t catch it.