Acne

Acne, zits, spots, pimples – they are all names for the spots you get on your face when the puberty hormones start affecting your skin – causing more greasiness and sweat production, which leads to acne. You also get acne on your shoulders, chest and back – it’s exactly the same, just in a different place.

How Do You Get Acne?

Well, absolutely everybody during adolescence gets some acne. About 10% of teenagers get it very badly, and about 10% seem to only ever get one or two spots. Most young people get quite a lot of acne between 11 and 18 years or so when puberty hormones are at their height. After about 18 years, acne usually disappears as your skin gets used to the adult hormone level.

What Causes Acne?

Acne is caused by a combination of hormones, bacteria and bad luck!  The puberty hormones (male hormone in particular) increase the thickness of sweat made from sweat glands on the face, particularly in the ‘T zone’.  The sweat glands in these areas get blocked by this thick sweat – which causes ‘blackheads’ that lots of people like to squeeze.  Once the gland is blocked, bacteria can sometimes get trapped inside.  This bacteria is mostly propionobacteria – which is harmless except when caught inside a blackhead. As the bacteria grow, the blackhead gets inflamed and red – producing a pimple.

How Does Your Body Fight Acne?

Once a pimple starts to form, the body’s natural defence system, the immune system, becomes alert and white blood cells flood in to destroy the bugs. The yellow/white pus in the pimple is caused by the white blood cells killing the bacteria. The pus disappears once all the bugs are killed (this usually takes about three to four days), and the reddish pimple fades away over the next week or two. A reddish patch where the pimple was, means that healing is still taking place.  This reddish patch can stick around for months sometimes.

How Can You Prevent Acne?

Hygiene:

1. Wash your face thoroughly once or twice a day.

2. Scrub your face with a pad like an acne ‘buff puff’.  Now don’t worry that this will irritate the zits – scrubbing helps unblock the pores.

3. Moisturise your skin daily with a water-based moisturiser.  Acne creams and washing and scrubbing will dry your face out which can block your pores.

4. Wash your hair at least every second day.  Grease from your hair can block pores and lead to acne.

Creams & Lotions:

Standard acne creams from the chemist usually have either 5% or 10% of benzol peroxide or a similar chemical.  They work well for treating most acne. Use 10% on bad acne, and use the 5% to prevent new zits appearing. ***If this is not working, see your doctor!***

How Do You Treat It?

– Creams & Lotions

The next step is either:

1. A retinoid cream (RetinA) – a much stronger acne cream made from Vitamin A that usually needs a prescription.  It can dry or irritate the skin but is very effective.

2. A three month course of antibiotics such as doxycycline or minocycline work very well in most severe acne.

For extremely severe acne:

Retinoid pills, such as Roaccutane, are used.  It is a very strong drug, and can cause side effects.  Girls taking retinoid pills should be on the contraceptive pill as Roaccutane will harm unborn babies. *