What Causes Acne?

I’ll try to keep the medical jargon down to a minimum but I think if you understand what causes acne and how some of the systems are linked it will help you decide how you want to treat it.

Sebum

Your skin is covered in what are called sebaceous glands that produce an oil called sebum. Sebum keeps your skin from dying out and makes it waterproof. It is constantly being manufactured by the body and broken down by bacteria on the skin, (which contributes to body odor). Apart from the BO this is good and necessary but if you have too much sebum things start to go wrong.

I have no idea why but the production of sebum is controlled by the sex hormones, testosterone and androstene. So as you might expect the system starts to get unbalanced around puberty. In fact some adult males can experience up to a fivefold increase in sebum production.

What happens is the sebaceous glands, which usually empty out into hair follicles, get blocked and the sebum backs up. The bacteria that is always present starts to multiply and everything turns ugly with lots of puss and stuff.

We are extra sexy

That’s pretty much what causes acne, its not complicated, it doesn’t look very nice but almost everyone gets it to some degree. Some of us just produce too much of the sex hormones and are just too sexy for our own good. Try to think of it that way because your self esteem is probably pretty low and could use a boost.

If you would like an explanation with all the medical jargon intact take a look at this site from the New Zealand Dermatological Society Incorporated.