Acne Development
Understand The Cycle Acne Development
First of all, it is important for us to know how acne develops.
Acne starts forming in plugged pores in the surface of the
skin. In the dermis, which are in the middle skin layer, where
pilosebaceous units are located, are composed of sebaceous
glands where acne lesions might appear.
Pilosebaceous are not found in the bottoms of the feet and
the palms of the hands and this is why there is no acne occurrence
in these parts because there are no hair follicles and oil
glands. However these units are present all over the body.
Usually, the densest presence of pilosebaceous units exist
on the face, neck and the shoulders and because of that, they
are more prone to irritation and eventually leads to acne
affliction. Principally, acne is caused by the obstruction
of the passages in the pilosebaceous canals. There are a few
reasons that brought by these reasons:
The main cause of acne development is the excessive production
of the sebum. This might clog the pilosebaceous canals, due
to the male hormone androgen. Generally, any fluctuation or
changes in the balance of this hormone for whatever reason
will always result to acne production.
The hair follicle wall will start to overproduce when overproduction
of sebum stimulates it, this condition is known as ductal
hypercornification. Dead cells combined with excess sebum
will clog the pores of the skin and then start to accumulate.
Once this situation happens, Propionobacterium acnes, which
is a bacteria present in the skin that triggers irritation,
may thrive on the clogged canals then attack them. These may
attack the immune system, which then may kill the white blood
cells. Eventually, the infected area will react to the white
blood cells and the present bacteria which will ultimately
trigger the onset of the acne breakout.
The acne starts to develop within two or three weeks before
it surfaces on the skin. It will develop from simple blemishes
on the sebaceous glands via the hair follicle. Simultaneous
with this continual process, there are another two processes
happen in the hair follicles. The excess sebum will mix with
old or dying skin cells and will be excreted from through
the pores. The rejuvenation process starts whereas the old
cells die, allowing new skin cells to develop.
Usually, the shedding of the old cells keep pace with the
production of new ones but of course this is different for
everyone. Some experience even shedding while some have uneven
shedding, it will then allow the dead cells to accumulate
in the follicles, and gradually clogging the pores with combined
dead cells and bacteria. And also, acne can either be inflammatory
or non-inflammatory.
The most common form of acne is comedo, which is a non-inflammatory
type. When the pore of the comedo is closed while the clog
gets trapped inside, then whitehead starts to form.
On the other hand, an open pore that allows the clog to pull
through the skin, this condition is known as blackheads. Blackheads
are not accumulation of dirt, instead, it is because of the
trapped pigment melanin.
Though these types of acne are non-inflammatory, but when
they get irritated, it is likely that they may develop into
inflammatory types that look reddish and swollen. These include
papules, nodules, pustules, cysts, scars and maculae and they
take quite some time to recover.
Papules are red pimples or lesions. Pustules are basically
pimples but their pus is filled-up at the center while the
nodules are generally deep-seated acne and need two months
to heal. Cyst, which is the the most serious type of acne
can appear up to centimeters in diameter. This severe form
of acne requires immediate and serious medical attention.
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