What is the main Cause of Acne?

Acne is an unpleasant skin condition and for most sufferers, the cause of acne is a change of hormones within the body when a person reaches puberty.

Usually affecting the face, neck, back and chest, acne occurs in about 80% of teenagers at some time in their teen years to either a greater or lesser degree.

The cause of teenage acne is the surge in the production of hormones called androgens, which are the culprits behind the overstimulation of sebum from the sebaceous (oil) producing glands.

Extra oil produced by sebaceous glands is meant to keep the skins surface smooth and supple, can often be one of the root causes of acne and pimples.

When oil on the skins surface combines with dead skin cells and bacteria, pores become blocked. This then becomes a cause of acne and the bacteria inside the blocked pore starts to multiply, resulting in spots and pimples.

There's a wide range of products that are supposed to keep the skin healthy and retard the development of acne and pimples but this is often not the case. Some skin treatments can be a bit harsh especially for sensitive skin thus causing sebaceous glands to over produce oil and this in turn causes acne.

Besides androgens, there are other hormones that have been found to be a cause of acne. Cortisol is produced as a result of stress and studies have proved that acne can be aggravated by it’s rising levels.

Acne can also be a hereditary condition. 

It does tend to run in families leading specialists to believe there may also be a genetic cause of acne.

Steroids and oral contraceptives, both prescribed drugs, have been found to be a cause of acne in some people. Despite this, there are certain hormone regulating oral contraceptives, which are actually prescribed to treat acne and certain other skin problems.

There are, in women, certain medical conditions that can be the reason for acne. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) also causes excessive amounts of androgens to be produced, with lots of other unpleasant side effects.

Lifetime acne scars are often left on the skin leaving the sufferer with some quite unpleasant marks. To minimise the chances of this happening, it is important for the acne sufferer to try and resist picking and squeezing at spots as this causes the infection to travel deeper into the skin, hence initiating further damage.

Large, very painful cysts are the result of acute inflammatory acne. Sadly, even if the sufferer resists the urge to pick at these cysts, they usually result in scars due to their tendency to spread and rupture spontaneously.

The primary cause of acne is neither a poor diet or poor hygiene, although it goes without saying that if a person does not wash their face or ensure their make-up is removed, bacteria is sure to breed on the skins surface and spots will occur.

See our Acne Care articles for more good tips on how to cure your acne problems.