What is Acne?

To understand acne, you have to understand how the body works. Our skin is filled with miniscule hair follicles, all of which have a gland called the "sebaceous gland" responsible for producing an oil called "subum." Sometimes a reaction to the chemical testosterone can occur within this gland which begins an over-production of the sebum oil.

When this situation is combined with the presence of any dead skin cells, this build-up can block hair follicles and stop grease and bacteria from escaping, resulting in inflammation. If the blockage is open you get blackheads and if it is closed you get whiteheads.

Why Does it Happen?

One factor often overlooked is the fact that it can be hereditary and you may just be destined to suffer a little, a lot, or not at all!

Young adults are most usually affected because of body chemistry changes between the ages of 12 and 14 as androgen production increases. Androgens are a "male-type" sex hormone present in girls and boys, and it results in approximately 9 out of 10 teenagers suffering acne.

Because of the male chemicals involved, such as testosterone, boys suffer more than girls. Girls who do suffer are generally effected at a slightly younger age.

As well as the usual increased chemistry taking place in the teenage body, another common cause of acne is stress because of increased output from the adrenal glands. Stress is often more than abundant in young life and outbreaks can be triggered by things such as exams and new relationships.

In women, acne can often start due to other hormonal activity such as just before a period, or during pregnancy.

External factors which can trigger acne include particular types of cosmetics and medicines, such as those containing lithium, androgens, barbiturates, or halogens such as bromides, chlorides and iodides. Other chemical compounds which can be problematic are chlorinated dioxins which is linked to a particular type of acne-eruption called Chloracne.

Will Diet Make a Difference?

Contrary to popular belief, there is not a lot of evidence to suggest that a person's diet can make acne worse, but there are a series of foods which do commonly crop up in discussions about probable causes.

In a 2005 study of nearly fifty thousand high school girls analysing their dietary intake, it was found that there was a suggested link between acne and certain foodstuffs such as skimmed milk, cottage cheese and cream cheese. The proposed relationship between them may be due to hormones found in milk but any actual cause is unclear.

Some foods might exacerbate an existing problem but not actually cause an outbreak. For instance, iodine is a known source of aggravation to this skin problem, so things such as seafood which contain relatively high levels might make a difference to those who are prone, but it would have to be a large amount of sea-food to really show up.

Another element thought to have a link to acne is food high in carbohydrates or high-glycemic foods, being the types of things which contain refined sugars and are are processed, such as white bread, soft drinks and sweets. The suggested link is due to fat buildup in the aforementioned sebaceous glands and theory suggests that the high dependence of 'Western' cultures on processed food could explain their high regularity of acne as opposed to 'non Western' people. Conversely this could be explained genetically and no full study has been done, however it does no harm to make a general effort to reduce intake of these types of processed foods, along with junk food.

Another popular idea is that chocolate consumption will result in acne, however research on the subject has provided mixed results. In one study, a University of Pennsylvania experiment suggests that this may be another myth, as their experiments showed no increase in the frequency of acne when subjects were fed chocolate bars. However some research published in November 2007 in the Journal of Clinical suggests that a high-sugar diet may stop the production of a chemical which would reduce the amount of testosterone in the blood. As mentioned above, the testoserone chemical triggers acne so if was allowed to increase due to excess sugar then this could be a link.

Generally speaking, reviews of human habits shows very little evidence that changes to diet, washing, and sunlight actually have an effect, despite these being the three most common theories on causes of outbreaks, as confirmed in Australian research from 2005.

The theory that washing more regularly can prevent acne comes from the fact that blackheads look like dirty pores, but the dark colour is dead trapped skin. If the skin is treated and bacteria and excess skin are prevented from building up, then in this sense 'cleansing' the skin will help, but the removal of normal dirt has no bearing on spots.

The next section is about prevention of acne.