Acne is basically described as a skin condition that is characterized by pimples, blackheads and whiteheads; typically affecting the face, the neck and other upper body parts.
In many people’s estimation, Acne is a teenager’s condition, as it is people in this age group who are mostly afflicted by the condition. Of course, while teenagers form the majority of people who happen to suffer from Acne, they are certainly not the only people who do so. People in other age groups have also been known to be afflicted of acne too.
One of the commonest questions asked with regard to acne is as to what causes it. And as it turns out, acne is a rather complex condition, in that you can’t just point out to one specific factor as the only cause of the condition. Granted, a specific bacterium called propionibacterium acnes is the one thing that whose effects have to be manifest in most cases (though not all, as we will discover later), for acne to occur. Yet while these bacteria are present on most people’s skins, they don’t always cause acne in most people – clearly meaning that propionibacterium acnes of itself may not be conclusively culpable for causing acne afflictions.
Talking of propionibacterium acnes as one of the causative factors for Acne afflictions, it is important to note that the mechanism by which the bacteria causes the condition is very different from the way other bacteria blamed on other illnesses in human beings cause the respective illnesses. In the case of propionibacterium acnes, it is typically not their direct attack on the skin that causes acne, but rather the body’s reaction to the bacteria (in some people); where the body tends to produce an enzyme in response to the bacteria, with the enzyme so produced, rather than the acne bacterium itself, being what ultimately causes the inflammation that manifests as the acne infection.
Another major cause of acne afflictions is the obstruction of follicles – follicles being the hair strands on the skin. The nature of the follicles (that is hair) as we all know, is that they tend to produce oil, also called sebum. So when they get obstructed, and therefore trapped inside the skin, they tend to form another type of acne infection, quite different from the acne caused by the propionibacterium acnes: in that the acne formed in this way tends to be the type characterized by more of the blackheads and whiteheads, rather than the pimples.
Further research into the basic mechanisms behind acne described above (the one where acne is caused by bacteria and the one where acne is caused by obstructions of hair follicles) has tended to show that a number of other factors could be behind these main acne-causing mechanisms. These other factors in question include things like hormonal imbalances (which tend to cause the proliferation of the acne-causing bacteria), as well as having skin that is too oily (which tends to lead to the obstruction of follicles, causing the second type of acne). Consequently, hormonal imbalances – like the ones most noted during puberty and pregnancy, as well as skin oiliness can also be described as the ‘other’ causes of acne, besides the acne bacteria and obstruction of follicles which are the basic causes of the condition.
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