If you’ve ever had a breakout, then you know how dreadful they can be. Flat out embarrassing. Whether it is stress, poor diet, hormones, or anything else, breakouts happen to everyone. Before you start throwing money at expensive skin care products or buying every acne treatment under the sun, there are a few simple tricks and resources you should try to get rid of breakouts; here are three examples.
What Is Acne?
Acne is a skin disease that affects most people at some point in their lives. Acne is the result of clogged hair follicles that produce excess oil and dead skin cells, which clog pores. This causes pimples to develop. Acne usually appears on the face but can also affect other parts of the body, such as the neck, back, and chest.
Acne is common in teenagers, but it can occur at any age. It’s more common in males than females and tends to run in families. Acne may be caused by an underlying hormonal condition or an infection such as bacteria or yeast. Types of acne include:
Whiteheads (closed comedones). These are pimples that appear when a blocked pore fills with oil and dead skin cells but doesn’t allow them to escape through the opening of the follicle. Whiteheads are usually painless and have no signs or symptoms other than a small bump on your skin’s surface.
Blackheads (open comedones). These look like dark spots on your skin’s surface — often on oily areas — because they’ve already ruptured from inside your pores and released their contents onto your skin’s surface through tiny openings (pores).
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What Causes Acne?
Acne is the result of several factors coming together, which cause your pores that hair follicles your skin to get clogged. Here is a list of the main factors:
Bacteria
Bacteria are a key factor in acne. They live on the skin, but they also cause problems when they get into hair follicles. When this happens, the bacteria multiply and form a plug that blocks the follicle. This causes an infection and inflammation. Bacteria that cause acne include:
P. acnes – Propionibacterium acnes is the main bacterium associated with acne vulgaris. It produces fatty acids that irritate the lining of pores, causing them to swell up and become inflamed. The bacteria then accumulate within these clogged pores, triggering inflammation and redness.
S. epidermidis – Staphylococcus epidermidis is another common bacterium found on human skin. It’s responsible for about 10 percent of all cases of acne vulgaris.
Excess Oil
Sebum is an oily substance produced by your sebaceous glands that helps keep your skin healthy by moisturizing it with nutrients and preventing dryness. But sometimes, there’s too much sebum produced by these glands, which leads to breakouts or oily skin.
Hormones
The hormones responsible for acne are called androgens. Androgens are male sex hormones that help to develop male characteristics, such as facial hair and muscle mass. Androgens also play an important role in the development of the reproductive system. Some women produce too much androgen, which can cause their ovaries to make more testosterone than normal. This increase in testosterone production leads to more oil production by the skin’s sebaceous glands (which helps keep your skin soft and smooth). When this extra oil mixes with dead skin cells, it causes clogged pores — leading to pimples or whiteheads on your face.
Three Ways To Deal With Acne
For plenty of people, acne is an occasional annoyance. For others, it’s a continuous and distressing problem. If you’re one of the many who are plagued by the occasional pimple or recurrent blemish, there are things you can do about it.
Apply salicylic acid
Salicylic acid is an ingredient found in many over-the-counter acne products, including cleansers and pimple dots spot treatments. It helps remove dead skin cells from the surface of your skin that can clog pores and lead to blemishes. The chemical also exfoliates your skin by dissolving the bonds between cells, which makes room for new cell growth.
Moisturize your skin
Moisturizing your skin helps to reduce the dryness that can lead to clogged pores. It also helps to keep your skin smooth and soft, which will make it less likely for dirt and oil to get trapped in them.
There are many different types of moisturizers on the market today, including cream, gel, and lotion. The type you use depends on your skin type and how much hydration you need. You should also take into account whether or not you have oily or dry skin before deciding which type of product you should use when treating acne.
Change Your Diet
The foods you eat play an important role in your overall health and well-being. They affect everything from the way your body looks to how it functions and heals. The same is true when it comes to acne.
Some foods contain a lot of natural oils, which can clog your pores and cause acne breakouts. Other foods have chemicals that irritate your skin or cause inflammation, which also leads to breakouts.
By changing what you eat, you can reduce both oil production and inflammation in your body — two factors that lead directly to acne flare-ups.
The most important thing you can do if you’re looking to combat acne is to change your diet. The next is to apply salicylic acid to the affected areas. This can be done alone or in combination with the other treatments, and results should be visible in a matter of days as opposed to weeks or months. Finally, moisturize your skin regularly. Try not to overdo it, but if your skin feels tight or dry, you should use a moisturizer at least once a day.
