Friday, February 3, 2012

Causes of acne

By Jacque Kallis


Acne is an infection that attacks the skin leaving it with pimples and rushes around the pilosebaceous units comprising of the follicles, glands and hair around the face, neck and chest. The infection attacks both the adults and teenagers therefore giving rise to the causes of acne at the different stages.

Acne in teens

Teenagers majorly suffer from acne infection as a result of hormonal deviations that occur during this period of development into adulthood. During this stage there is more production of androgens which stimulate the sebaceous glands to produce more sebum. The oily sebum acts as a habitat for bacteria that causes inflammation of the follicles causing pimples. The bacteria usually use the oily substance as a source of nutrients for growth.

Evolutionary biology is also another example of the causes of acne in teens. This means that the infection can be inherited from parents who suffered an acute acne infection during their adolescence stages. This is majorly through gene transfer from parents to offspring.

The acne cases are worsened at this stage due to anxiety that leads to squeezing the pimples in order to maintain their smooth skin surfaces and the stress caused due to the instant changes that are happening to their bodies. At this time also the teens are at the peak of making themselves look more beautiful by application of greasy cosmetics that eventually make the skin more oily and prone to acne infection.

Adult acne

This is as a result of persistent acne from the teenage stage when the bacteria become resistant. It may result into formation of inflammations on the skin surface leading to pustules, papules, nodules and cysts which after breaking form pimples.

The major causes of adult acne are as discussed herein.

1.Hormonal production- these are the persistent androgens produced by the body at puberty. They cause the sebaceous glands to enlarge causing more production of sebum which is the source of nutrients for the bacteria causing acne. Adult women suffer more from acne since the androgens are produced with their menstrual cycles which are repeated after every month.

2.Excessive sebum production- the stimulation of the sebaceous glands by the androgens leads to extra production of the sebum that will cause clogging that later result to acne infection.

3.Bacteria-there is an acne causing bacteria called p.acnes that is always there on the skin surface. The bacteria are known to increase in number any moment there is more sebum causing inflammation of the follicle around the skin.

4.Follicle fallout- this results the moment the skin wants to shade off the dead cells from the body. The dead cells mix together with sebum from the sebaceous glands forming a clog that will plug the follicle preventing the skin from reshaping and renewal. The mixture of the two substances, sebum and dead cells, encourage the growth of acne bacteria.

5.Inflammation- this comes around during chemotaxis as a result of inflammatory response any time the skin realizes a foreign unwanted bacteria. This reaction causes swelling of the follicles resulting to acne.




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