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The Truth About Acne - How does it Happen?

By: Daniel Kilburn

Read More About Acne

The surface of your skin is always regenerating itself, shedding skin cells that have died and replacing them with newly created ones - we make thousands every hour. Your skin secretes an oil that is required to lubricate itself and stop it from losing moisture, this oil is called sebum.
Sebum is produced and released by glands called sebaceous glands and reaches the surface of your skin via the hair follicle ducts (pores). From time to time, skin cells build up and form a plug at the opening to the hair follicle duct. This is the early stages of a spot.

During your adolescence and into your early twenties, your hormonal balance begins to fluctuate wildly. One hormone in particular - known as DHT - is always present all over the body, but your skin does not normally 'notice' it. As a side note, DHT is the hormone responsible for baldness in men, in later life.

During periods of hormonal imbalance - such as during puberty or the menopause - the skin begins to 'notice' DHT and develops a sensitivity to it. This sensitivity causes the sebum our skin products to be deficient in one particular chemical that is usually present; linoleic acid.
The loss of linoleic acid from sebum causes barrier properties of the skin to become compromised, leading to the loss of water from the skin's surface. In response to this, the sebaceous glands pump out more oil (as it thinks the skin is not lubricated enough) and the rate at which we produce new skin cells increases (if we have a loss of water from the skin, more skin cells die). This also causes the hair-follicle duct to become narrower.

So, you have more oil trying to get out of a narrow tube, but there's dead skin cells stuck together with oil in the way. Is it surprising that you get a blockage? This blockage is essentially a 'pimple', but not an angry red spot that you would often associate with acne: this is explained below.

Sometimes when such blockages occur, oil builds up under the plug, creating a fantastic breeding ground for a type of bacteria that likes to live in environments with low amounts of oxygen. The bacteria in this area begin to replicate as they feed on the plug and dead skin cells. They then release chemicals which cause inflammation. This combination of clogged pores, bacteria growth, trapped oil and inflammation causes an angry, painful, red spot to form and appear on the skin's surface. This entire process can occur anywhere on the body but is almost always confined to the face, shoulders and back.

What you have read is an overview of the science behind acne, spots and the oily skin you associate with it. Now you know what causes acne, you are better informed to make decisions about your acne treatment.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Pharmacy2U sell Panoxyl and Skin Doctors products as part of their acne treatment range. Visit Pharmacy2U.co.uk to find out more!

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