How To Get Rid Of Acne Scars

Acne is an extremely common problem amongst people worldwide, although Western culture seems to have a bigger problem with it than most, perhaps due to our diet and lifestyle. It strikes often in our teenage years - generally our most insecure stage - which means it can cause a large amount of stress. In fact stress is thought to cause acne to worsen so it can often be a vicious cycle. I’m sure many of us remember feeling conscious of our face and bodies when we were teenagers - many of us still do - and for people with acne this only makes the situation harder to deal with.

Acne is caused by the polosebaceous unit which is made up of several different parts - hair follicles, hair and the sebaceous gland. These are found almost everywhere in the body but there is a larger density of them on the face and neck, hence why acne often occurs in these places while not on other parts of the body. When we go through adolescence the Sebaceous gland produce too much of a secretion called sebum due to an increased amount of Male hormones in the body at this time. This in turn causes them to enlarge and hence spots begin to form on the face and neck of the person with acne. Just because these are male hormones that trigger it doesn’t mean the problem is confined just to men, as during adolescence both male and female people have an increased amount of this hormone in their body.

The skin of the body normally has all types of bacteria covering it, but when people have acne there is an increased amount of certain bacteria on the skin which causes the body to try and heal these areas. This is a complicated process but results in inflammation which causes the red bumps that people with acne have on their face.

Whiteheads are caused when the hair follicles are obstructed in the skin. Science hasn’t completely determined why this happens yet, but it does more so with people who are suffering from acne. When this happens the sebum gets trapped and can’t get out, causing a build up and in the end whiteheads and blackheads on the skin.

Usually the production of sebum decreases once we pass the age of 20 so for most people acne will start to go away at this time. However it can leave scars on the skin and in some cases it may progress beyond this age - everyone is different. As always if you are concerned about your acne you should visit a doctor who will be able to advise you on the best course of action for you personally.

Tags: acne, acne scars, hair, hair follicles, sebaceous gland, sebum, western

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 7th, 2009 at 8:48 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.