Friday, December 16, 2011

Treating Acne In Teenagers

By Owen Jones


Acne is teenagers' biggest difficulty - it has an effect on over 17 million teenagers in the United States alone. However, as a medical condition, acne can be managed - it is not dangerous, although it breaks the hearts of millions of teenagers around the world each day.

This makes it more of an emotional difficulty than a physical one. After all, it is highly unlikely that anyone has ever passed away from acne, yet nearly each teenager has been through it for the whole of time.

To be precise, acne is the result of clogging of the sebaceous glands and follicles with oil, which leads to eruptions similar to pimples and cysts. It must be stressed though that pimples are not acne although they may result from the same cause.

Acne tends to coincide with the onset of puberty but can go on longer or even start after puberty has finished.

The oil that clogs the sebaceous glands is known as sebum, which rises up through the skin and would usually come out onto the skin like perspiration, but if it cannot get out due to blockages, Propionibacterium Acnes bacteria grow, pressure builds up and little volcanoes appear on the skin until they burst owing to that pressure.

One thing is certain, you ought to never squeeze an acne 'pimple' or you may make acne scars and they are both unattractive and difficult to remove. In fact, acne scar treatment frequently involves either surgery or a number of visits to a dermatologist to remove the scarring.

You may be wondering why this sebum oil cannot rise to the surface of your skin and flow freely without causing problems. Well, it is normally the result of dead skin cells, but this does not mean that the sufferer does not wash in the right manner. In fact, cleaning too often can be a cause of severe acne.

Anyway, near absolute blockage of sebum results in acne and partial blockage causes blackheads, which are more prevalent in adults. Whiteheads are also a result of acute blockages in adults.

There is another level of complication: the blockage of sebum can be near the surface of the skin, which will result in smaller, narrow 'pimples', or it can happen lower down which will cause larger bumps, which are normally more painful because it takes far more pressure to burst the 'volcano'..

Acne in teenage years or adulthood can break out on any part of the body, but it is most prevalent on the face, the chest and the back, which is where the most sebaceous glands are.

Boys and girls appear to suffer equally from this ubiquitous problem of attaining sexual maturity. However, girls may seem to get more problems, but this is probably to do with their longer hair.

The total management of acne is impossible, because it comes from hormonal changes within, but if you are suffering from acne, oil is your enemy. Your own oil.

Therefore, whilst treating acne, keep your hair off your face even if it seems to be clean. Change your pillow case often. Very frequently, like every day if you can. Do not wash your face more than three or four times a day and try an alcohol or similar based cleaner once a day. Do not use make-up and keep your hands off your face because they are by nature very oily.




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