Thursday, May 20, 2010

Why Do Some People Get Acne and Others Don't


I was thinking the other day about other possible causes of acne to write about, and as I was writing puberty/ hormones on my list of things that I had already wrote about it made me think. “How come everyone that goes through puberty not experience acne?” I know that a lot of people say it’s genetics, but no one in my family really had any acne and if they did it wasn’t bad, so I crossed that out on my checklist. Anyways I found this article that has viable reason for what may cause acne in teens, and I noticed one of the possible causes could be certain medications. I have not looked into this possible cause for acne but I do take asthma medication regularly, so this might be a cause for my acne. I will look into this for the next couple of days and see what I find, but in the meantime read this article:

“The following is a list of possible links to acne:
* Hereditary: Acne tends to run in families where other members also have developed acne. Family history of acne is associated with earlier occurrence of acne.
* Use of anabolic steroids: Steroids affect the process of pubertal growth and sebaceous glands. Sebaceous glands are connected to hair follicles which secrete an oily substance called sebum. When this process is altered (by steroids) these glands and pores get clogged up, resulting in acne.
* Medication: Any medication containing...lithium (treatment for migraine and cluster headaches, bipolar disorder, depression)...barbiturates (sedative/hypnotic drugs)...androgens (steroid drugs) contribute to acne.
* Hormones: Acne may be hastened by androgens, male hormones that are present in both women and men. These androgen hormones have long been faulted for acne. They stimulate the sebaceous glands, producing more oil, which leads to clogged pores and provides a breeding ground for the acne bacteria.
* Bacteria in the pores: Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) is the anaerobic bacterium that causes acne. When the sebaceous glands start to over produce oil, the p.acne invades the hair follicles and starts to multiply by feeding themselves of the oil using enzymes. Acne bacteria then produces fatty acids that inflame the skin. Red and white blood cells start to defend the body of this inflammation often causing an inflammatory response, that results in pimples, whiteheads, zits, swelling and pus.
* Chemicals: Exposure to dioxins not only causes acne-like pimples, but are among the most dangerous poisons known.
* Accumulation of dead skin cells: Acne begins when the oil (sebum) mixes with dead skin cells. This combination plugs up the skin's pores and becomes infected with bacteria that oozes into nearby tissues, resulting in swelling, nodules, pimples or whiteheads.
* Stress: Stress doesn't cause acne, but stress often makes it worse.”

The rest of article can be found here:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Acne,-Why-Do-Some-People-Get-it-and-Some-People-Dont?&id=1187467


-jpc

1 comment:

  1. It isn't clear why a few people are more inclined to skin break out than others. The specific reason for skin break out isn't known. However, hormones called androgens can assume a job.

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