Acne : What Is It Exactly

Acne.You hear about it all the time and see advertisements on tv about the latest and greatest acne cure and how some celeb overcame their acne by using that product or that product. But what is it really?

It has many faces in that practically everyone gets it at one time or another in their lives. It afflicts people especially in the teenager years but also affects women in menopause. It shows up on the face mostly but it can attack the back, shoulders, chest and back. You can even occasionally get it on arms and legs and in the form of ingrown hairs.

Men and women both get acne and all types of people get it, black and white equally. It's medical term is acne vulgaris.

It shows up in many forms: blackheads,whiteheads and cysts. The cysts come from the skin pores becoming completely blocked. If they get too bad they can turn into boils which are super pimples with cores.

Pimples are their worst during the teenager years because the skin is still maturing and forms too much sebum which is the oily stuff that keeps your hair and skin soft. This can help cause the pores. Also the follicle cells are increased at this time so the combination of dead follicle cells and the excess sebum in the skin can pile up and cause the white heads. Bacteria thrive in this environment and cause swelling and redness that comes with acne.

BY the time a person is in their twenty's most will have outgrown it but there is a few that will continue to have it as adults. Some people will get it as adults but never have any trouble as teenagers. This happens more in men than than in women.

Women get acne from changes in their hormones every month. During puberty, girls have an increase in male sex hormones called androgens. This increase causes the glands to get larger and make more sebum. The menstrual cycle is one of the most common acne triggers. Acne lesions tend to form a few days before the cycle begins and go away after the cycle is completed. Other hormone changes, such as pregnancy and menopause, improve acne in some women. But some women have worse acne during these times. Stopping use of birth control pills can play a role as well.

People can have severe self esteem issues when confronted with acne because it affects their appearance. Teens can especially suffer with self-confidence and they may withdraw and have depression and anger from it. But there are lots of treatments available to counteract the effects of acne on people.

The first best thing that can be done is to keep your skin clean. Wash the skin twice a day with mild soap and water. Remove makeup without scrubbing hard. Too much washing and scrubbing can make it worse. You just wash away surface oils which doesn't prevent zits because acne forms under skin. Wash especially after any activity that makes you sweat such as working out or playing sports. Using acne medication after washing can go a long way to healing acne lesions. If it gets too bad you can contact a dermatologist and they can give you special medicine and offer advise that can help with your condition.