Acne

If you’re a teenager, you can’t wait to get rid of it. If you’re an adult, you can’t believe it’s back. Fortunately, improvements in acne treatments over the last decade mean you don’t have to put up with it anymore.
The major determining factor in who gets acne is genes. In other words, you may have inherited a skin characteristic that makes you more likely to develop acne.

You have thousands of oil glands in the skin on your face, chest, and back that lubricate the skin by producing sebum, or oil. You have as many as 2,000 oil glands per square inch in the central part of your face. The oil from the glands flows through tiny ducts to the skin surface.

Sometimes, these oil ducts become plugged with sebum, bacteria, and dead skin cells that are shed from the lining of the duct. That’s acne. The condition often appears during adolescence because of changing hormone levels, which enlarge the oil glands and encourage them to produce more oil. Although the process is not well understood, the increase in oil appears to fuel acne, perhaps by stimulating the production of “sticky” skin cells that, when shed, tend to plug the duct. The situation usually settles down by the end of the teen years or during the early 20s.
Why do adults develop acne?

There are a variety of reasons, among them:

• Hormones. Premenstrual acne is real. Pregnancy, changes during the menstrual cycle, and birth control pills can cause fluctuations in hormone levels and subsequent fluctuations in acne in women. In some women, low-dose oral contraceptives improve acne; in others, they make acne worse. If you have acne along with menstrual irregularities, you may want to see a physician to see if abnormal hormone levels are to blame.

• Stress. Dermatologists agree that high levels of stress can affect hormone levels.
• Cosmetics. Wearing heavy, oily makeup may clog pores and cause acne.
• Occupational exposure. If you’re a mechanic or you’re standing over the deep-fat fryer at the local fast-food joint, your face may be getting assaulted by oils, some of which may cause acne. Numerous chemicals in the workplace can also cause acne.
• Certain medications. Some drugs, such as Dilantin (which is used in the treatment of epilepsy), can cause acne, says Alan N. Moshell, M.D., director of the Skin Disease Program at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

No matter what’s causing your acne, there are steps you can take to help clear up your skin.