Your Acne And What You Can Do About It

Zits, spots and pimples (the medical term is acne vulgaris) are a fact of life for 85% of the population and are something many of you reading this will have to deal with. Or maybe you're currently dealing with an acne problem? Acne is most common during those troublesome teenage years but can also occur in adults; although this is somewhat rarer. So what causes this embarrassing skin problem? More importantly what can you do to treat it?

Acne is normally seen as a very common thing with easily identifiable causes and cures. This isn't really the case and acne is a more complicated matter than many of you reading this may think. The problem starts with skin pores becoming blocked with dead skin cells and your skin secreting more oil (called sebum) than it actually needs. The blocked skin pores are the perfect growing environment for certain types of bacteria. This type of bacterial infection then causes your skin to become inflammed and sore. Other skins pores become infected and within a few days you can have a total acne outbreak.

One of the most popular misconceptions is that spots, zits and pimples are caused by oily skin. This excessive oil then causes your skin pores to become blocked and all of a sudden you've got acne. There's only one problem with this theory - the oil produced in the skin pores actually moves through the blockages and onto your skin. It's part of the process but not actually the cause at all. This of course means you now have oily skin and an acne outbreak so it's easy to see why people might make this connection between the oil (sebum) and the development of the acne itself.

So what causes acne? There are numerous different causes for this annoying and embarrassing skin problem. Amongst these are genetics, stress, hormonal activity (puberty and the menstrual cycle), excessive dead skin cells and the use of steroids to list just a few. You'll have noticed that poor diet wasn't listed. Why? Because there's no definitive link between poor diet and acne. Eating lots of junk food will make you fat but it might not cause zits.

The appearance of spots and blackheads isn't the only thing to be concerned about if you suffer from acne. If you leave acne untreated and to spread all over your face or body it can have longterm consequences in the form of scarring. Just ignoring it and pretending it will go away on its own isn't an answer. Those scars can be there for life so why not take steps to prevent them right now?

So how can you go about treating your acne? Well that's where there's good news - there are plenty of treatments for your acne both natural and otherwise. Proper exfoliation should be the first treatment to look at - this simply means keeping your skin clean. Next comes the medicinal treatments like anti-biotics (both oral and topical) and treatments like Retin-A (Retinoic Acid) and Azelaic acid. You can also look at the light/photo therapy treatments and even go as far as laser treatment (lasers can also be used to remove acne scars). Nature can play its part here too with Vitamin-A and Teatree oil being popular alternative treatments. Living a healthy lifestyle is also one often overlooked "treatment". Cut out the junk food, get exercise and drink plenty of fresh water. Give your body the "fuel" it needs to repair your skin and prevent those bacterial infections in the first place.

Acne is something which can be dealt with so take action today - your skin will thank you.

Article Source: http://www.rightbiz.com

Do you want to know how to get rid of zits? Click on over to www.AcneOrPimples.com for more information today.
Click here to get your own unique version of this article.

Please Rate this Article

Not yet Rated