What Causes Adult Acne?

For many people the question of “what causes adult acne” has been a tireless quest in search of an answer to a problem that plagues many individuals worldwide. For instance 90 percent of all adolescents and almost 25 percent of all adults are acne sufferers. In terms of gender approximately 50% of all adult men and 50% of all adult women suffer or have suffered from some form of acne. One difference in gender is where the acne outbreak takes place and the severity of zits and blackheads that form. Males more often have the severe form of acne rather than females, due to their hormones. Generally the infected areas that tend to break out most frequently (the chest and back) are unfortunately more difficult to treat.

The real cause of acne can actually be a blend of several factors. Typically there are several steps that lead to zits, pimples, blackheads and minor skin blemishes. The main cause of acne is due to the blocking or clogging of hair follicles, more commonly know as pores. Unfortunately the reasons and combination of events that cause pores to become clogged isn’t fully known. There are many contributing elements for teenagers and adults alike, which can include hereditary factors such as whether or not there is a history of acne problems and if so, to what extent, hormones, dietary and vitamin supplemental intake and stress related factors. Other forces or events that can strongly influence the development of acne and pimples include your body’s normal function of eradicating itself of its dead skin cells. If this cycle gets out of whack or becomes irregular due to climate and other environmental forces or overall body health at the time it can cause your hormones and their effect on your own body’s sebum production to increase which is bad for your complexion but outstanding for breeding acne.

When the body’s function of shedding dead skin cells becomes irregular the normal dead skin cells that combine with your body’s natural sebum oil as it drains through the skin’s surface become clogged and cause blocked pores. This substance becomes somewhat sticky, further clogging the passageway. This allows the cultivating and incubating of bacteria, which begins to grow around these clogged areas. As a normal reaction your body’s white blood cells attack the bacteria, fighting it and pushing it out of the body. The outcome of this battle between the white blood cells and bacteria leads to a growth usually within 14-day to 21-days. These growths are referred to as microcomedones. Microcomedones turn into comedones, which are more commonly referred to as blemishes, pimples or acne.

As you can see the formation of acne is based on a series of events, which starts with the blocking of pores. The outcome is usually an increase in production of microcomedones which results in the very noticeable skin blemish known throughout the world as zits, blackheads, acne or pimples.