How To Deal With Acne

As a health blog, we eventually had to come across and discuss this particular issue that plagues many people. Since we are not self-professed experts on the topic, we did a bit of research and finally came across an article which we were happy with, and which the authors were happy for us to share. Hope this helps you greatly! Here goes:

“Acne gives the combination of symptoms like greasy skin, white heads, black heads, pimples, inflammation and scar formation. Acne mostly affects young people in the age 14 – 25, but also sometimes older persons, like women in their menopause. Most teenagers experience outburst of acne, some only little, but for others acne may develop into a serious skin ailment with great cosmetic impact.

To understand the acne process, some knowledge about skin anatomy and physiology is essential. The skin has three layers: The outer layer called epidermis, consists of epithelial cells. Under this lies the dermis, consisting of connective tissue. At the bottom there is a layer called the hypodermis consisting mostly of fat cells.

The skin has narrow pores extending from the surface down to the top of the sub-dermis, called hair follicles. A hair extend from a growth zone in the bottom of each hair follicle and out at the skin surface. Around the hair in the dermis, there are small glands called sebaceous glands. These glands produce a fatty substance, sebum, which empty through the follicle opening and lubricates the hair and the skin.

Acne starts by the glands in the hair follicles increasing their sebum production. This will in the beginning only cause greasy skin. Eventually the sebum in the entrance of the follicles mixes with dead epithelial cells. This mix reacts chemically to forms hard props called comedones that close the pore entrances. According to the colour of the comedones, they are then called either black heads or white heads.

The closed hair follicle then gets filled with sebum and they swell. The swollen follicle then gets infected by bacteria. The bacteria and the accumulated sebum cause the follicle and the surrounding skin to get inflamed, forming a pimple.  At last the inflamed follicle burst and empties its content.  Eventually the affected area heals. Sometimes the inflammation reaches deep into the skin surrounding the follicle and destroys skin tissue. This will cause more or less distinct scars that may reside permanently. Typically an affected person will have follicles in all these stages of the process at any given time.

The increased hormone production in puberty stimulates increased sebum production. The male hormone, testosterone, seem to contribute most. In addition, girls begin to produce more testosterone in the puberty. Also in other periods, altered hormone production may give acne, for example by women during menopause.

Since not all teens get acne in any degree, the increased hormone level cannot be the whole cause of the increased sebum production. Dietary factors, like eating too much fat, too much sugar, or the wrong kind of fat may aggravate acne by some individuals. Lack of vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids may also contribute to development of acne.

Poor digestion, lazy colon and constipation aggravate acne in some individuals, probably due to productions of toxins in the intestines. Lazy colon may be caused by dietary faults, like lack of fibre. Very frequent washing and use of strong soaps aggravate acne, and does not alleviate the condition as many think. Rubbing, scrubbing or squeezing the skin may also aggravate acne.

Here are some other factors that may contribute in causing acne or aggravating the condition:

  • Stress
  • Some contraceptive agents
  • Environmental or domestic pollution.
  • Humid environments.
  • Some antidepressants.
  • Testosterone and anabolic steroids used for treatment or by body-building.
  • Use of some types of greasy cosmetic products.
  • Some antiperspirant products.
  • Exposing the skin for chlorine or other halogens, or medicines containing halogens.
  • Women may get aggravated acne 2-7 days before menstruation.
  • Kjerstin_Michaela / Pixabay

Sometimes Acne is so severe that special medical treatment is required, and sometimes the causes of acne necessitate medical treatment.

  • Limit the amount of fat in your diet.
  • The fat you add to the food should be natural oils. Olive oil is ideal, but use other types of oils too, like walnut oil, sunflower oil and soy oil.
  • Eat fish and seafood and less meat.
  • Eat food with a high fibre content to regulate the digestion, like vegetables, whole cereals, full corn bread and fruit.
  • Do not use greasy or heavy cosmetics that clog your skin and are difficult to wash away.
  • Do not use strong irritating antiperspirants.
  • Do not wash with strong soap or cleaners that dry up your skin and take away all the natural oily protection in your skin.
  • If you perform body-building, do not use anabolic steroids or other hormonal supplements.
  • Wear clothes that allow air to reach your body surface to avoid collection of humidity and overheating of your skin.
  • Rinse your skin with mild products especially made to dissolve the plugs in your pores, and to make the environment in your skin unfriendly to bacteria causing infection. Some of these products are just products to wash your skin with one or more times a day; others should be on during night and flushed away in the morning.
  • After rinsing, you should apply some treatment gel, cream or lotion onto your skin.
alehidalgo / Pixabay

Expanding on the last point, the reasons why you should do this are as follows:

  • To make your skin soft and elastic.
  • To protect your skin against the environment.
  • To act further to dissolve the clogging of your pores.
  • To soothe and alleviate inflammation.
  • To kill the bacteria causing infection or make an environment hostile for the bacteria.
  • To stimulate the skin to clean itself.
  • To stimulate the skin to heal.
  • To be used as a isolating layer between the skin itself and cosmetics

In order to protect, make the skin soft and further dissolve the comedones, many products contain natural plant oils that are easily absorbed into the epidermis, like Tea tree oil, Rose hip oil, Lavender oil and Olive oil.

Ingredients used in products to reduce inflammation and to stimulate healing include Aloe Vera extract, Viola Tricolour extract, Rose hip oil, Vitamin E and Vitamin A. Tea tree oil and Grapefruit seed extract are natural antibacterial agents used in many of these products. In other products, artificial compounds like Benzoyl peroxide are used.

Supplements taken by mouth to nourish your skin may be useful. The purpose of these supplements is more or less the same as that of nourishing creams.

  • To make the sebum more fluid so it drains more easily.
  • To stimulate the substance exchange and cleaning processes in your skin,
  • To stimulate your skin to heal,
  • To give your skin building nutrients necessary to heal.

Ingredients often used in these supplements to stimulate the cleaning and healing processes in the skin are: Vitamins A, C, B1, B2, B3, B6, C, D, E, Folic acid,  Beta carotene, Bioflavonoids, Magnesium, Copper, Zinc, selenium, anti-oxidants from Green tea, Metylsulfonyl methane.

Nutrients found in these products used as material to rebuild damaged skin and to give a sebum with better consistency are: Evening primrose oil, Olive oil, Flax seed oil, Borage oil, Soy oil, Wheat germ oil and Lecithin. Gum guggul extract used in oral products has an anti-biotic effect, and helps against spreading of the acne infection and thus helps against scar formation.”

So here we go. Hopefully this is not too much and does not give you information overload. If it does, then oh well, that’s why they are the experts and we are not. That being said, please check out the following resources that may help you solve these issues more quickly:

Skin care for AussiesTravel Fitness 4 Me Australia

Digital Products:

EBooks4.Me

 


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