WHY ZITS? WHY ME?
If you have acne, you’re not alone. Acne affects 80% of teenagers and more than 35% of adult women. For adolescents, severe acne can be a devastating condition causing confidence and self-esteem to plummet. Many teens withdraw from social situations and find it painful to interact with others, adding isolation to an already challenging phase of life. Options for treatment can be harsh to the skin, expensive, minimally effective, and in some cases, leave users with severe side effects, thus adding insult to injury.
Studies point to hormones as the culprit behind acne's development in teens and adults. In women, acne outbreaks are linked to monthly menstrual cycles when hormone imbalance is high. Teenagers traveling through puberty experience spikes in the male hormone, androgen, which is present in varying amounts in both males and females. Androgen stimulates the enlargement of sebaceous glands housed in hair follicles.
This hormonal stimulus causes an increased production and thickening of oily sebum. Excess sebum becomes infected with bacteria causing clogged pores to become inflamed and swollen, resulting in a pimple. Infected sebum backs up and creates pressure, causing the pimples to burst. The ensuing mixture of bacteria, oil and dead skin cells spreads to surrounding skin and clogs up more hair follicles, and the acne cycle is reignited.
Heredity plays a role in acne. Parents who suffered with acne as teenagers are likely to have children that will struggle with bad skin. The more severe the condition in parents, the higher the probability that the child's acne will also be severe.
Stress is still being debated for its role in the development or exacerbation of acne. The relationship remains unclear. Some doctors point to antidepressant medications as being responsible for acne, rather than undue stress that may lead to depression.
Myths regarding poor hygiene and consumption of greasy or sugary foods as causes of acne have persevered yet have not been proven to be true. Acne is a stubborn condition brought on by a complex combination of hormonal variations and hereditary factors and it demands a consistent, effective skin care routine to break its tenacious hold.
