What Are The Causes Of Acne?

Acne is an extremely common condition.It seems to be an inevitable part of adolescence, almost a rite of passage.Acne is widely considered as one of the most troublesome parts of the entire growing up process.Knowing the initial causes of acne will help you in your efforts to defeat it.

What causes acne?

In order to better understand what causes acne it is important to understand the structure of your facial skin.  Your skin has millions of pores, tiny openings in the surface of your skin; many of these pores also have tiny hairs growing up through them as well.The pores lead down to small oil producing glands called sebaceous glands. It is these that produce the oil known as sebum.

In normal, non-acne skin, the sebum produced helps to keep your skin smooth, moisturized, and healthy.After being produced by the glands it reaches the skin surface via the individual pores.Sebum is a multi-tasking oil, it helps in keeping your skin moist and also clean, by aiding in the removal of bacteria and dead skin cells.You can’t stop your skin getting dirty, but it is comforting to know that nature has provided a ready made solution.

Unfortunately, disruption to this natural process inevitably leads to acne.This happens when the body has to learn to deal with an increase in hormone production, adolescence for example.  During this learning process, though, fluctuations in hormone and other levels can cause imbalances that lead to all sorts of situations including the development of acne.

How acne actually forms

When your body produces extra hormones, it causes the sebaceous glands under the skin to produce much more sebum than before.Also, these hormones can make it so much more difficult for the pores of your skin to adequately remove the naturally occurring dead skin cells.This will leave you with a clogged pore which will inevitability lead to swelling, inflammation, infection, and skin tenderness once the bacteria combines with the dead skin cells and excess sebum.

After this a variety of different acne lesions start to form on your skin, whiteheads, blackheads and pimples being particularly common.Together all these lesions are affectionately known as acne, something only the lucky few will avoid.

Living and dealing with acne

While there is no way to 100% get rid of acne problems, there are a number of things you can do to make living with it and dealing with it easier.  These include:

• Cleanse your skin – Use a gentle facial cleanser twice per day to help get rid of excess oils, dead skin cells, and bacteria.Scrubbing your skin can lead to more acne because of the irritation. Gentle cleansing is always best.
• Apply anti-acne medication – A number of excellent medications are available both over the counter and by prescription.These medications perform a variety of tasks on your skin, by helping to reduce the amount of sebum produced and limiting the quantity of bacteria on your skin, the process of removing dead skin cells will be improved.
• Moisturize your skin – Avoid letting your skin get too dry and you will find your acne problems diminishing.As too much natural oil is a contributory factor in getting acne in the first place, it makes sense to choose an oil-free moisturizer.

Now that you know the causes of acne you are in a position to make informed choices.You have taken an important first step in minimizing your acne problems. Now you have the right information, put it to use!