Acne In Teenagers

Acne is teenagers' greatest difficulty - it affects more than 17 million teenagers in the United States alone. However, as a medical condition, acne can be managed - it is not serious, although it breaks the hearts of millions of teenagers around the globe each day.

This makes it more of an emotional difficulty than a physical one. After all, it is highly improbable that anyone has ever died from acne, yet nearly every teenager has been through it for the whole of time.

Technically, acne is the result of congestion of the sebaceous glands and follicles with oil, which leads to eruptions resembling pimples and cysts. It should be stressed though that pimples are not acne although they might result from the same cause.

Acne tends to coincide with the commencement of puberty but can go on longer or even start after puberty has ended.

The oil that clogs the sebaceous glands is known as sebum, which rises up through the skin and would normally come out onto the skin like perspiration, but if it cannot get out due to blockages, Propionibacterium Acnes bacteria grow, pressure builds up and little volcanoes appear on the skin until they burst owing to that pressure.

One thing is sure, you should never squeeze an acne 'pimple' or you might make acne scars and they are both unsightly and difficult to remove. In fact, acne scar treatment frequently involves either surgery or a number of visits to a dermatologist to remove the scarring.

You may be asking yourself why this sebum oil cannot rise to the surface of your skin and flow freely without causing problems. Well, it is usually the result of dead skin cells, but this does not mean that the sufferer does not wash properly. In fact, washing too much may be a cause of severe acne.

Anyway, near absolute blockage of sebum results in acne and incomplete blockage results in blackheads, which are more common in adults. Whiteheads are also a result of severe blockages in adults.

There is another degree of complication: the blockage of sebum may occur close to the surface of the skin, which will result in smaller, narrow 'pimples', or it can occur lower down which will cause larger bumps, which are usually more painful because it takes a lot more pressure to burst the 'volcano'..

Acne in teenage years or adulthood can break out on any part of the body, but it is most prevalent on the face, the chest and the back, which is where the most sebaceous glands are.

Boys and girls appear to suffer equally from this ubiquitous problem of achieving sexual maturity. However, girls may appear to get more worries, but this is almost certainly to do with their longer hair.

The absolute management of acne is impossible, because it comes from hormonal alterations within, but if you are suffering from acne, oil is your enemy. Your own oil.

Therefore, whilst treating acne, keep your hair off your face even if it appears to be clean. Change your pillow case frequently. Really frequently, like every day if you can. Do not wash your face more than three or four times a day and try an alcohol or similar based cleaner once a day. Do not use make-up and keep your hands off your face because they are by nature very oily.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with acne in adolescents. If you have an interest in such software, please go over to our website now at Treating Acne Scars