Main Acne Causes
Acne is a problem that plagues many people, both male and female. Acne is primarily a problem during the teenage years, but it is common in many adults as well. Individuals who never had an acne problem in their teens can have acne flare ups in their thirties or even later. There are many different treatments for acne, but before treating it, it is important to learn what some of the main causes of acne are. Otherwise, treating it will only be a temporary fix.
Oil glands are found all over the epidermis, which is the top layer of the skin and is also the body’s largest organ. Deep in the skin, these oil glands conatin a single hair follicle. The oils in these glands travel up the hair follicle and lubricates the hair and the skin around it.
At the end of the follicle, there will be a pore in the skin. when the oils are being aggressive, the pore is likely to become clogged, which wil cause a pimple to form over the top of the pore. Certain different changes in hormone levels, like menstruation and puberty, are likely causes to increase the oil production and there will be many more acne flareups during these times.
Acne is basically the result of clogged skin pores. Skin pores can become blocked by dirt, oil and makeup. When skin cells die, they are usually shed off of the body, but can sometimes become lodged in a pore, causing a pimple to form. When this happens, and these dead skin cells combine with the other pore clogging substances, there is a great chance of bacteria growing. This may cause the skin to form a cyst that is filled with pus.
The biggest problem with bacteria is that it can take something small and unproblematic and create a more serious problem. When the body is trying to get rid of the bacteria, there will be inflamation. This can cause swelling and pain and some definite irritations.
The best thing a person can do is to keep their skin clean, so as to not allow bacteria to form. For someone with an acne problem, it is important to cleanse the affected area twice a day with a mild detergent that is formulated for oily skin. It is also important to moisturize after cleaning with an oil-free moisturizer, so as to not dry out the skin and cause it to flake.
Home Acne Treatments
Bad acne is a battle that many people have to fight. it is not prejudiced, as it affects nearly all teenagers in this country, ranging from mild cases to more severe ones. It is not unheard of to be hearing of several different cures for it on a regular basis. There are literally thousands of different creams and cleansers available in the drugstore and they all contain nearly the same ingredients. They all also claim to be the one that is going to clear up your acne problems for good.
They are very smart at their marketing and many people, who are losing the battle to acne, will fall into a pit of buying endless amounts of different treatments to no avail. They hope, with each new product, that it is going to finally be the one that cures them of their problem. The problem is, though, that they could go on trying things for years and year to absolutely no avail. In the end, many people turn to home remedies. After all, it can’t hurt and it could end up saving you a fortune.
One thing that a lot of people swear by, is applying oatmeal all over the face. They say that cooked oatmeal on the face for fifteen minutes will take away the pain caused by severe acne. I am certain that it does not hurt to try, for even if it does not cure it, if it makes it feel better for awhile, it is probably worth it. It is important, however, that it is all carefully washed off. If any is left on the face, it could lead to more clogged pores, which could lead to even bigger problems.
Other home remedies include taking a warm bath in nettle and rosemary, rubbing garlic over the acne, and washing the face with guacamole. Some people rub a cotton ball soaked in lemon juice over their face after they are through with washing it. One of the best home remedies is dabbing toothpaste on the pimples and letting it sit overnight. It is important to use regular toothpaste and not the get kind.
All in all, what works for some people will not work for others. This is true when it comes to the drugstore treatments and for the home remedies.Your skin is different than anyone else’s, so what worked for one person may not necessarily work for you.
Removing Acne Scars
In today’s society, the way you look means a whole lot more than it should. People base their self worth on what other people think of them and image plays a great deal into that. There are many, many people who have severe acne scarring and they carry it with them well into adulthood. So many adults have a low self esteem because of the torment they went through as teenagers suffering from severe acne problems. When they carry the scars with them, the reflection they see in the mirror is a constant reminder of what it was like.
Acne scar removal makes it possible for these people, who have a low self confidence, to begin to regain their self esteem and to like the person they see looking back at them in the mirror. Though the scar removal can be performed on any area of the body and is fast and safe, most procedures are done on the face. It is a permanent procedure, so once the scars are removed, they will never return again.
Over the past few decades, people have tried many things to try and get rid of acne scars, as well as to try to treat the acne itself. For some people, some of these remedies may work, but for some, acne scar removal is a last resort that is pretty much guaranteed to work. If one had a mild case of acne as a teenager and does not have very many scars, there is no reason why some mild scar removal products, carried in the drugstore, will not work.
For others, who have battled severe acne and have severe scars, these mild treatments are likely to do little to help, if anything at all. Most people who have gone through with the procedure have no regrets. Nearly all who undergo the procedure have a renewed sense of self worth and think that they are truly beautiful afterwards. That alone makes the treatment worth it.
Laser treatments for things, such as scars, has come a long way over the years and it is now a procedure that has very little, if any risks and side effects. Several decades ago, this procedure would not have been available, but through technology, we are lucky to be able to fix the problems that we could not prevent as teenagers.
Genital Acne
How Embarrassing
Genital acne does not mean, in any way, that you have a sexually transmitted disease. Most people who have this skin condition feel embarrasses about it and they become ashamed because of where on the body that it occurs. Many people feel so embarrassed about it that they will not even tell their doctor they have it. This is a bad idea because you should be able to go to your doctor for medical advice on anything and he or she may need to treat it so that it does not spread.
Male and Female
Genital acne is something that can affect you whether you are male or female. It is not more common in one sex than the other.
How Did I Get It?
Genital acne can be caused by one or several different things. If you wear dirty underwear, you are much more likely to suffer from this condition. If the symptoms do show up, it is all that much more important to wear clean underwear. Clean underwear not only aids in preventing this from happening, but it will also help to reduce the symptoms when it does occur.
Your genitalia needs to be properly cared for through regular cleaning. If you do not wear a lot of clothing and the area is exposed, it is more prone to getting the acne. For those who spend a lot of time at the beach or out in the sun, both the sun and the sand can cause irritation which can bring on the pimples or worsen the already existing condition.
Sweating a lot can worsen the effects of genital acne. If you have signs of this and you participate in activities which cause you to sweat a lot than frequent showers are a must.
What Can I Do To Make It Go Away?
There are several things that can be done to both prevent and treat genital acne. The most important is to have good hygiene. Frequent showers with an antibacterial soap and clean underwear are the best preventative measures against this. If this does not work than your doctor can prescribe you some acne-removal treatments that are specially formulated for that area of the body.
Help! My Newborn Has Pimples!
What Happened To My Perfect Angel?
When we become parents, the first thing we do is to make sure that all of the fingers and toes are present and accounted for. After that, we bask in the beauty of their perfect little pink faces, knowing that, undoubtedly, it is the most beautiful baby to have ever been born. Sadly, though, many babies have infant acne, the symptoms usually showing up around three weeks after birth. Some babies even have infant acne right at birth.
Should I Be Alarmed?
The rash that develops on the face of your baby will likely be very upsetting for new time parents. It is very common and in most cases, it will disappear within a few days or weeks. In some cases, though, there can be scarring and this does not go away so easily. The infant acne is something that can be recurring until they are around six months of age.
Though it is probably not a big deal or cause for concern, it is still a good idea to talk with the baby’s doctor about the acne problem. Since it is caused from the transfer of hormones form the mother to baby through the placenta at birth, it is best to keep it monitored to ensure there are no other effects of the mother’s hormones in the baby’s body.
It is not a good idea to clean the baby’s skin too frequently to try and rid the acne problem. As it is caused from hormones and not from dirt and oils, all the over cleaning will do is to dry out the skin. In fact, the acne is likely baby’s way of ridding the skin from unwanted hormones, which is probably a really good thing.
Okay, So What Can I Do?
One thing that can help is to clean up any spills of milk or spit-up from the baby’s skin as soon as they occur. These can both worsen the infant acne. The clean up should be done with a mild baby-formulated detergent. The baby’s clothing and bedding can irritate the acne rash if they are cleaned in too strong a detergent. Therefore, it is a good idea to wash the baby’s things in a mild detergent that is made for infants.
The best thing to do about the situation is to relax and be calm. The acne may look unsightly, causing heartaches in new parents, but if treated properly, rest assured, baby’s face will return to it’s normal angelic state in no time at all. Relax and know that even the sight of an acne all over your precious child’s face will not dampen the mood when you see her smile for the first time.
Back Acne
The Ugly Truth
Acne that is found on the back is quite like facial acne. It is formed by cysts and pimples. Back acne can be potentially much worse than face acne for the simple reason that there are thousands upon thousands of more pores on the back than there are on the face. These pores all have the potential of becoming clogged with oil, dirt and bacteria.
Back acne is severely more painful than face acne and usually comes with a lot more scarring. It usually occurs at the same time as face acne, during puberty. It is usually gone by the time you hit adulthood, but will often leave behind severe scarring, which can be embarrassing, causing many adults to never wear a swimsuit or backless dress.
Why Me?
No one knows exactly what causes back acne. The back is full of oil glands and these tend to become clogged and inflamed with bacteria, dirt and oil. This causes acne, but it is often a lot harder to treat than that of the face. Back acne is not caused by a poor diet, by exercising or by wearing tight clothing. It is also proven that it is not caused by friction, such as wearing a backpack all of the time. It is also said that genetics do not play a role in back acne, nor does stress. This in itself is stressful, as these are all contributing factors to face acne.
One of the reasons for such severe scarring on the back is that the friction of sleeping, wearing clothes and using a backpack is something that will pop the pimples prematurely, resulting in scarring. This cannot be avoided and therefore, there is nothing you can say that you did wrong to cause the scarring.
What Can I Do?
What most people choose to do is to scrub their backs with a soap that will dry out the skin, trying to rid the back of grease and sweat. This is not a good idea at all. Scrubbing will cause irritations in the skin and can open it up to infections and breakouts.
The best way to treat back acne is with antibacterial soap. It is best to do it in a warm shower, as that is when the pores will be open. Using a soft back brush and soft strokes, lather the soap over the back, carefully making sure not to cause irritation. After stepping out of the shower, it is best to let the back air dry, rather than rubbing it with a towel. Spread a cream that contains peroxide over the affected area. This can be purchased over the counter and if a stronger dose of peroxide is needed, your doctor can prescribe it for you.
Lastly, once a week, in the shower, it is good to exfoliate with a slat or sugar scrub. This will aid in the removal of dead skin cells, which is likely the cause of back acne. A proper exfoliation ensures that all of the cells are removed from the body, rather than getting stuck inside and clogging the pores.
Acne Scarring
So many young people face everyday problems with acne. this affects their self esteem, but there is one thing that can be even worse than this. this horror is acne scarring. The reason it is so horrific is that many people do not realize what it is until it is too late. Everywhere you go, you will notice people who have pits and scars on their faces. This is the direct result of acne scarring. They probably suffered from severe acne as adolescents and the scars are what they have left of those days. This does not have to be what happens to everyone who suffers from acne, as there are steps to be taken to eliminate this problem form plaguing your future.
The best piece of advice is to just leave your face alone. People who have scars generally are the ones that picked at their acne and would not leave their faces alone. People who were had bad acne as teenagers and did not touch their faces, other than to wash, are likely to have no lasting scars into adulthood. These are the people who followed the rules, even if it was hard for them, and they get to live with the positive results.
There is little one can do to prevent acne. You can change your eating habits and keep your skin clean and moisturized, but acne is usually a fact of life for most teenagers going through puberty. Scarring, however, is something that can be prevented. Whether or not you end up with scars into adulthood is completely up to you. The scarring is caused mostly by people who try to pop their pimples before they are ready. Messing with nature usually has drastic outcomes and it is no different when it comes to acne. It is best to just let it run it’s course. The pimples will pop on their own when they are ready.
If you let it run it’s course and use medication prescribed by a doctor, you will likely end up with very little or no scarring at all. This is absolutely the best advice that anyone suffering form acne could ever get. Leave it alone or it may haunt you for the rest of your life.
Acne Free Through Food
Can I Change My Eating Habits to Overcome My Acne Problem?
Most medical doctors and researchers on the subject will tell you that what you eat and what you avoid eating, has absolutely no effect on your acne. However, there are even more people than that, who have tried everything, including prescription drugs to treat their recurring acne problems and have found satisfactory results only when making a drastic change to their diet. There is such thing as an acne diet and the first step that you must take is to jot down for a week or so what you eat and then to revamp what you eat to try and rid yourself of the acne breakouts.
What You Should Not Eat:
The acne diet will be different for each individual. however, there are some basic things that will be the same for everyone, regardless of age or how bad their acne flare-ups are. Anyone who is on the acne diet will want to avoid eating trans-fats and saturated fats as much as they can. These fats will cause the skin to create more oil, which in turn will cause a breakout. To steer clear of these, it is as simple as learning to read food labels and choosing foods that do not contain these fats or contain small amounts of them.
Another thing that is usually a good one to avoid is processed foods. These foods contain chemicals, and though it is not proven that these chemicals cause acne, they certainly are a likely suspect. Another one, refined carbohydrates, should be ingested as little as possible. These foods tend to cause high glucose levels and this can cause breakouts of acne.
What You Should Eat:
While an acne diet is not a carbohydrate-free diet, it is important that most of the carbohydrate intake be of complex carbohydrates. These are much healthier for you than the refined carbohydrates and can be found in many healthy foods, like whole wheat and low fat dairy. these carbohydrates are much less likely to cause acne breakouts because they will not cause your glucose levels to rise as the others will.
It is important to consume a large amount of proteins. Fresh vegetables and fruits are a big part of any healthy diet and it is no different with the acne diet. It is also alright to eat some fatty foods, like nuts and fish. These will lower the risk of acne breakouts, as they aid in lowering cholesterol.
Conclusion:
If these tips of what to eat and what not to eat are followed, it certainly cannot hurt in healing the breakouts. It is imperative that you drink a lot of water, as this will help to keep the skin hydrated. This also helps the body to get rid of toxins, which can aid in oil production. This, along with avoiding sugars and junk food, is the key to making this acne diet work.
Common Causes of Acne
One of the best ways to cure a condition is to be aware of the causes of the condition and ensure that you are minimizing the potential causes to reduce the chances of it occurring. In the case of acne, in some cases, by avoiding the causes, you can avoid an acne outbreak. Here are some of the most common causes of acne:
Oil Glands
Deep below your skin there are oil glands (otherwise known as sebaceous glands) that produce oil to lubricate the hair follicle that they are connected to as well as the surrounding tissue. Providing there is no problem with the skin pore that the hair is connected to, there is no problems, but that can change if the pore becomes clogged.
If the pore is clogged and your body starts to produce more oil than normal (which can happen during puberty and menstrual cycles) then the clogged pore can result in an acne outbreak.
Blocked Pores
There are many ways that skin pores can get blocked such as by dirt, oil and makeup. These blocked pores combined with dead skin cells can turn into acne fairly easily. Though in this case the result is whiteheads and blackheads, if bacteria gets into these blocked pores, you can certainly end up with a bigger problem.
Bacteria Infections
A clogged pore can become a larger problem when bacteria comes into play. When the bacteria that lives on your skin gets trapped in a blocked pore, it can result in a more serious outbreak of acne including swelling and irritation.
Though acne can be caused by various means, it can also be reduced provided good skin care hygiene practices are in place. By taking care of your skin properly, keeping it clean, and watching out for some of the common causes, you can reduce your chance of having an acne outbreak.