Acne
Extract from My eBook "No More Warts, Moles or Acne".
Acne is a hormonal disease that typically develops during puberty as a reaction to hormonal changes in the body. Hormones cause the oil glands in our skin to mature which is the main underlying cause of acne and also the reason why children do not experience this problem.
To fully comprehend how acne develops, you need to understand the nature and purpose of your oil glands. So, let me explain what makes up an oil gland. These glands, known as sebaceous glands, are located deep in the skin.
- Oil glands connect to tiny canals, each containing a strand of hair. The combination of the canal and the strand of hair is called a hair follicle.
- The canal opening with the attached strand of hair is the skin pore. (You may have heard that sauna is a healthy pursuit because the heat opens the skin pores and cleans them).
- Oil glands produce oil (sebum). The oil flows through the canal of the follicle to the surface of the skin. Its purpose is to lubricate the hair follicle and its surrounding skin surface. This is an essential bodily function as the oil lubricates and protects your skin.
Acne appears when, during puberty, your body undergoes hormonal changes. The oil glands become overactive because hormones called androgens stimulate the glands to produce oil (sebum). These hormones are produced by the testes in men and by the ovaries in women (who have significantly less of these hormones). The androgens are also produced by the adrenal glands. It is also known that youngsters who experience stress produce an increased level of stimulation to the glands.
This increase in oil production affects the manner in which the skin cells mature. The skin pores (hair follicle openings) become clogged and gradually increase in size to the extent that they form a bump. The enlargement may cause the wall of the follicle to rupture which in turn causes foreign substances and normal skin bacteria to enter deeper levels of the skin. This ultimately produces skin inflammation.
Bacteria that enter the follicle start multiplying. The body’s immune system enters the battlefield to attack the bacteria and this produces the typical acne symptoms of swelling, redness and pimples.
The deteriorating process that leads to acne may develop as follows:
- Inflammation near the skin's surface produces a pustule.
- Inflammation that reaches deeper skin levels produces a pimple (papule).
- Inflammation that reaches deeper still produces a cyst.
- Oil that breaks through your skin surface produces a whitehead.
- If the oil becomes oxidized, it changes color from white to black and produces a blackhead. The oxidization occurs if the oil accumulates melanin pigment. For this reason, blackheads are not caused by poor hygiene.
We should also mention stress as a contributor to acne. When we suffer stress, our andrenal gland asserts itself and produces more of the androgen hormone. We have already mentioned that this gland, in addition to the testes in men and the ovaries in women, also produces this hormone. As we already know, higher androgen levels can cause acne. The stress factor as a contributor to acne is more prevalent for women because a larger percentage of their androgens are produced by the andrenal gland.
