Know how to prevent unwanted acne Everyone, from eighth-graders to engineers, can suffer from embarrassing imperfections. While acne does not pose a substantial health risk, it is a significant emotional and social impact.
Acne often causes a loss of self-confidence, affecting your social life and even your productivity at work. The key to controlling acne is to learn how to prevent breakouts before they occur.
What is acne? Acne is a common skin disorder caused by blocked hair follicles beneath the skin. Sebum and dead skin cells clog pores, resulting in outbreaks of lesions known as pimples or zits. The outbreaks are most common on the face, although they can also arise on the back, chest, and shoulders.
Acne is an inflammatory skin ailment characterized by sebaceous glands that link to hair follicles containing fine hair. In healthy skin, sebaceous glands produce sebum, which drains onto the skin's surface via the pore, an opening in the follicle. Keratinocytes are skin cells that line the hair.
Keratinocytes typically rise to the skin's surface as the body sheds skin cells. When a person gets acne, the hair, sebum, and keratinocytes become entangled inside the pore. This inhibits keratinocytes from shedding and prevents sebum from reaching the skin's surface.
The oil-cell mixture causes bacteria that typically exist on the skin to thrive in the clogged follicles, causing inflammation, swelling, redness, heat, and pain.