Statistics indicate that as high as 80% of the entire American population has ever had acne. Acne afflicts all genders, sexes and ages making it a universal skin disorder. As a form of skin disease, the good news is that acne is not transmittable.

Although acne is not contagious from person-to-person, it can spread to the whole face and can severely affect all the skin tissues that have pilosebaceous units. It is not true that acne just affects those going through puberty. Even infants or individuals who may be well over their forties, can develop this skin disorder. Acne infantilis is the term used for acne that grows on newborn babies, on the other hand acne rosacea is related to middle-aged people.

Acne has different classifications, according to the severity of the infection.

Comedo is the form where all severe acne cases originate. This is characterized by red swelling or small lesions on your skin. Whiteheads and blackheads are two forms of comedo. Conversely, blackhead is an open comedo. The coloration is due to the accumulation of dark skin pigments called melanin, plus hardened sebum and other skin debris and particles. This is the basic structure of whiteheads, however, the only difference is the coloration and these are deeply situated into the skin layers.

If you have sandpaper-like skin around the tissue of your mouth and on the surface of your forehead, chin and cheeks, you probably have papules. Pus-filled lesions are also termed as pustules.

Nodules on the other hand are similar with pustules. However, nodules are firmer and are larger acne growing deep in the skin. Inflammation may develop your pustules into containing semi-liquid or liquid materials composed of white blood cells (which are dead because of the acne-infecting bacteria named as Propionibacterium acnes), dead skin cells and active or inactive bacteria. This can result into more serious acne called cysts. In such situations, you may need the assistance of a skin dermatologist or physician.

What is the cause of acne? It is quite difficult to exactly determine what may have caused your acne infection as reasons differ case to case. Studies indicate that the skin disorder may be brought about by many factors, including poor diet, stress, weather elements, and hormone changes or may be genetically influenced.

Medically speaking, acne starts from the formation of hardened sebum, or the oily substance secreted to the skin through the sebaceous glands. This then will be permeated with acne-infecting bacteria, which in return will trigger the immune system to release white blood cells to obstruct the attack of the bacteria. As this happens, dead white blood cells and bacteria will accumulate in the hair follicles mixed with skin debris and dead skin particles, which then will inflame the lesions.

Most mild case acne may be treated with over the counter acne medications. They are generally topical drugs, which you apply on your skin for acne treatment. They may come in the form of soaps, lotions, gels and creams. Conversely, systematic acne medications are taken orally. The most common of which are the antibiotics.

Knowing that you are not the only one inflicted with acne at some point in life or another helps in that there will always be new research and new products coming on stream. Continue to read up on acne research and help your fight against it.

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About the Author: Hugh Hayes –
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Acne remains a bit of a mystery. It seems to be partly hereditary, but why some people are affected by it and others are untouched isn’t exactly known. We do, however, understand some of the biology behind it.

The main culprit is the excess production of sebum, an oily substance whose function is to keep skin and hair lubricated and supple. The production of the oily sebum blocks the skin’s surface, which provides an ideal environment for bacterial growth. The bacteria multiply, the skin area becomes red and inflamed, and then a pimple pops up.

The Role Of Testosterone

The excess production of sebum is caused by testosterone, the male hormone. However, testosterone is present in both males and females. During puberty, the body changes in its reaction to testosterone, thereby producing extra sebum. This irregular reaction, occurring mainly during adolescence, causes the skin — particularly the face and upper torso — to become oily.

The sebum then combines with naturally occurring dead skin cells to block hair follicles.

The body usually regulates its reaction to testosterone by the early 20s, and then the annoying acne clears up.

Hair Follicle Theory

Narrowing hair follicles could be involved with the production of acne — so says a recent scientific theory. Evidence suggests that hair follicles may become restricted for several reasons, including excessive shedding of cells within the follicle, abnormal cell binding, or water retention which causes the skin to swell.

The narrowed hair follicles prevent dead cells from being expelled from the body, creating a buildup beneath the skin. Combined with sebum, it produces ideal conditions for acne.

Making Matters Worse

Many people can’t resist squeezing their pimples. This may make the condition worse, by spreading the bacteria to the surrounding skin area. It also can lead to scarring, sometimes permanently.

Even touching the face can worsen acne. Without realizing it, most of us touch our faces many times throughout the day. The problem is that our hands contain oils and bacteria that will increase the acne symptoms. In fact, all objects, including eyeglasses and telephone handsets, that make contact with the face must be clean.

Hair, particularly long hair, also touches your face, so it is important to keep your hair clean and oil free. Fabric accessories such as hats and headbands should be avoided or used as little as possible.

Other Factors

Other things that seem to aggravate acne conditions include diet, skin irritation, stress, hormonal activities such as menstrual cycles, and certain medications.

Dietary links show skim milk products to be related to acne. There is no statistical evidence, however, that foods such as chocolate and fast food have any association with pimples or aggravates acne.

Medications associated with acne include anabolic steroids (used for bodybuilding), lithium, barbiturates, halogens, and androgens.

You’ve been anticipating – and possibly dreading – the “big day” for weeks. The nature of the event isn’t important; it may be a first date, an important job interview, or your own birthday party. You try to hide behind hair or heavy make-up. But you can’t ignore the face in the mirror.

Sound familiar? For acne sufferers all over the world, these scenarios are all too common. Even routine social interactions – a day at the office, a trip to the market – can be a nightmare of stress and self-loathing. Yet, due to the “merely cosmetic” nature of acne vulgaris, these very real emotions are widely dismissed as oversensitivity. Clear-faced friends and co-workers say, “Really, it looks worse to you.”

And they’re probably right. But they’re missing an important point: Acne is as much about how you feel as how you look. Over the years, the research methods and medical treatments may have changed, but the answers to the question “how does your acne make you feel?” have remained alarmingly constant: Ugly. Angry. Dirty. Depressed. These answers are consistent across gender lines, age barriers and national borders.

What is being done?

Every year, millions of dollars are devoted to the medical study and treatment of acne; millions more are spent on the development and marketing of over-the-counter remedies. Comparatively little energy, however, has been spent determining the psychological and social effects of the condition. Consider the following statement:

There is no single condition which causes more psychic trauma, more maladjustment between parent and children, more general insecurity and feelings of inferiority and greater sums of psychic suffering than does acne vulgaris.1

Made by Sulzberger and Zaidems in a 1948 article, this statement rings true today. Despite acne’s limited impact on overall patient health, several studies have concluded that it produces a similar degree of emotional stress to skin conditions causing significant physical disability. The implications are fairly obvious: Acne hurts more on the inside. So why is it so easy for people to dismiss these feelings as vanity?

The problem of measuring emotion.

The difficulty lies not in validating acne’s negative affects, but in quantifying them. For years, researchers have been struggling to find an accurate means of measurement for this particular kind of study. Scientists use psychometrics to measure conditions of the mind, but have yet to develop a scale for evaluating the psychological effects of physical conditions such as acne. And the use of psychometric scales for evaluating acne patients has been largely inconclusive.

Why? Emotional symptoms – depression, anger, low self-esteem – are influenced by an incredible number of variables. So it’s difficult to know for sure whether one’s depression is caused by acne alone or a combination of factors, ranging from trouble in school to on-the-job stress. At the moment, the best way to understand the psychosocial effects of acne seems surprisingly simple: Listen.

The power of patient testimony.

Until science develops an accurate scale, the best way for us to learn about acne’s emotional effects is from the patients themselves. The following passages are excerpted from verbatim quotes taken during a 1995 study in San Francisco.2 In dramatic contrast with the psychometric questionnaires used in the past, patients were asked open-ended questions and encouraged to answer at length.

It has been many years since I have looked in a mirror. I comb my hair using a silhouette on the wall to show the outline of my head. I have not looked myself in the eyes in years, and that is painful to not be able to do that, and that is a direct result of acne.

When my acne got more severe, I began to really examine more things, become more aware of social norms, what is acceptable, what is attractive. That is when I began to have lower self-esteem; it made me become more of an introvert. It made me want to avoid certain occasions. ‘Ask her out? Well, maybe not. She won’t be interested because of how I look.

It’s associated with being dirty, and I hate that, because it’s not at all like that. I inherited it from my mother, and she is always telling me that she had the exact same thing, and that it will go away. I am mad that I inherited it from her. My dad makes me feel bad because he never had bad skin when he was younger, so he doesn’t understand.

My mother doesn’t know what she has done to hurt me. If I ate fatty foods, she would criticize. If I ate spicy food – which Thai food is, they are all spicy – she would say that because I ate spicy food, that was why I had pimples. She kept telling me how ugly my face was, and no one was going to marry me if I had bad-looking skin. And that really hurts me.

I know I am so insecure in this way – but if I go into a store, I won’t buy candy, even if I really want it. I think in my mind that people are looking at what I am buying, and thinking, ‘Oh, she eats junk. No wonder she has so many zits on her face.

From just this small sample, it’s easy to see the wide-ranging emotional impact of acne on those who suffer from it. These accounts of family conflict, social withdrawal and deep private suffering are, according to the patients, the direct result of their acne.

While it’s hard to measure the impact of this condition, the message within these testimonies is clear: Acne can cause profound emotional suffering. Of course, if you live with acne, this isn’t news – but it may be helpful to know you’re not alone.

One of the most frustrating and irritating skin conditions that can afflict a person is body acne. Indeed, when a person is afflicted with body acne, that men or woman — or young person — aches for relief from the condition that cause an itchy sensation in the best case scenario and pain in the worst of all situations.

Left without proper and effective treatment, body acne can actually end up festering and causing infection and ultimately permanent damage to the skin in the form of irreversible scarring. Therefore, if you are a person who is experiencing the early stages of body acne or if you are in the midst of a full blown body acne outbreak, it is imperative that you undertake a proper course of treatment.

Primary Causes of Body Acne

In many instances, there is not a solitary or primary cause for a body acne condition or outbreak. Rather, in many cases, a body acne outbreak is the result of a combination of factors — an acne perfect storm, if you will.

One significant contributing factor to an outbreak of body acne is a lack of effective cleansing. By this it is not meant that a person fails to bathe. Rather, what is meant that in such a circumstance a person fails to utilize the right types of cleansing and body washing products that can work effectively to keep the skin clean as well as free from dead cell and oil buildup.

Choice of fabrics can also be a contributing factor to body acne in some instances. Many people who are experiencing what is in fact a body acne outbreak assume that they are having some sort of more routine allergic reaction to a certain type of material. While on some level this is true, an outbreak of body acne due to a reaction to a certain type of fabric requires a different type of treatment regimen than what would normally be associated with caring for a rash that is the result of an allergic reaction.

In some instances a person’s diet can contribute to an outbreak of body acne. There is a significant amount of dispute as to which types of food items might be a contributing cause to body acne. In the final analysis, the best way to avoid having your diet contribute to an outbreak of body acne is to make the best possible effort to eat a well balanced diet each and every day.

A final common contributing cause to body acne in some cases is the bed linen a person uses at night. In this regard, some people are a bit lax when it comes to caring and laundering their bed linens. As a result, bodily oils and dead skin cells can accumulate on bed linens leading to an outbreak of body acne across a person’s skin in some instances.

Once again, you need to keep in mind that in most instances there likely is to be more than one contributing factor in the outbreak of body acne.

Treating Your Body Acne Condition

The best course of action to take in the care and treatment of body acne is to develop and adopt a comprehensive treatment regimen. When it comes to body acne, an appropriate, complete care and treatment regimen should include:

– the elimination or adjustment of the root causes of the body acne condition (for example, diet changes, clothing fabric alterations and a change in body cleansing products)

– the adoption of whole body cleansing practices with soaps and washes designed to combat and prevent body acne

– the adoption of a whole body exfoliation routine

– the use of body acne treatment and cleansing products such as ZENMED™ Body Acne Combo

Because body acne can have a number of different sources, launching a full frontal attack on the problem as described in this article will be the best source to resolving the condition in the near future. In addition, by adopting a comprehensive regimen that includes the use of such proven products as ZENMED™ Body Acne Combo, you will be in a far better position to prevent future body acne outbreaks. (If you don’t completely eliminate future outbreaks, you will at least be able to effectively reduce the severity of such future body acne outbreaks.)

Conclusion

The care and treatment of body acne is something that you must take seriously. If you fail to adopt a comprehensive care and treatment regimen, you will fail in your attempts to treat and eliminate body acne. On the other hand, if you do adopt a truly comprehensive body acne care and treatment regimen, you not only will be able to deal with a present flare-up but you will be well on your way to preventing future outbreaks of body acne in both the near and long term future.

Author: Jim Christian – I have studied the major aspects of acne treatment for many years now and have only found one solution that works with a natural product. You can find all the information and products offered here: http://www.Rapid-Acne-Treatment.com I hope you find the site to be informative and helpful.

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