What Is Acne And What Causes acne

The use of the term “acne” for the condition we know by that name has had s curious and complicated history. Acne is, in fact, the world’s most common skin disease. The most common form of acne is known as “acne vulgaris”. Acne vulgaris is an inflammatory disease of the skin, that starts when oil and dead skin cells clog up the pores; the excessive secretion of oils form the sebaceous glands accompanies the plugging of the pores with naturally accruing dead skin cells blocking hair follicles.

The oil secretions are said to build up beneath the blocked pores, creating a perfect environment for the skin bacteria to multiply uncontrollably.

Acne is composed of a variety of skin lesions: somewhere on the skin, there are some blackheads, whiteheads, pimples, red spots, zits which usually occur on the face, neck, shoulders, back or chest, but some parts of the body will never get acne because they have no oil-producing glands.

Anyone can get acne at any age – from birth to old age. It’s a skin condition that occurs in every gender, race and ethnicity. Almost every teenager between the age of twelve to seventeen have at least an occasional whiteheads, blackheads or pimples. Usually the acne starts between the age of ten to thirteen and last for three to five years. Unfortunately, recent studies suggest that adult acne is becoming increasingly common and dermatologists are seeing an epidemic of acne beginning in or persisting into adulthood. Some people get acne for the first time as adults, usually at the age of 30/35. For some, however, acne is more serious, in fact, more than 35 % of adolescents have acne severe enough to require some treatment by a physician. The studies also found out that young men are more likely to have more severe and longer lasting form of acne than young women. Acne also runs in families; if one of the parents had severe acne you will be more prone to get it too.

Acne can be divided into 3 basic categories from mild to severe, depending on the number of pimples and the amount of scarring.

• mild form of acne – non-scarring, fewer than 10 lesions; usually needs a treatment you apply to the skin
• moderate form of acne – may leave scars, more than 10 lesions, red spots, pimples; needs a topical treatment
• severe form of acne – leave scarring, cystic, nodulocystic, red spots, hundreds of pimples; needs the same as for moderate, but with much closer supervision and more frequent visits to the doctor

Unfortunately, we do not know what exactly causes acne, but several factors are known to be linked to acne:
- propionibacterium acnes – people with acne have more Propionibacterium acnes in their follicles than people without acne
- hormonal changes
- stress

- skin irritation
- diet
- hyperactive sebaceous glands
- accumulation of dead skin cells
- bacteria in the pores
- deficient personal hygiene
- vitamin deficiency
- greasy makeup
- high humidity