Acne shows a mixture of symptoms like greasy skin, pimples, whiteheads, blackheads, inflammation, and scar formation. Mostly, acne affects young people aged 14 – 25, and sometimes older persons too, like women in their menopause.
Many teenagers experience outbursts of acne, some only little, but for others, acne may form into a serious skin ailment with great cosmetic impact.
The Skin Anatomy
Some knowledge about skin anatomy and physiology is essential to understanding the acne process.
The skin has there layers: The outer layer named the epidermis consists of epithelial cells. Under this lies the dermis consisting of connective tissue. At the bottom, there is a layer named the hypodermis consisting mostly of fat cells.
The skin has narrow pores extending from the surface down to the top of the sub-dermis, called hair follicles. A hair extends from a growth zone in the bottom of each hair follicle and out at the skin surface. Around the hair in the dermis, there are small glands called sebaceous glands. These glands produce a fatty substance, sebum, which empties through the follicle entrance and lubricates the hair and the skin.
The Acne Process
Acne forms by the glands in the hair follicles increasing their sebum production. In the beginning, this will only cause greasy skin. Eventually, the sebum in the opening of the follicles combines with dead epithelial cells.
This mix reacts chemically to form hard props and comedones that close the pore entrances. According to the color of the comedones, they are called blackheads or whiteheads.
Then the closed hair follicle gets filled with sebum and swells. The swollen follicle then gets infected by bacteria. The bacteria and the accumulated sebum cause the follicle and the surrounding skin to get inflamed, forming a pimple. At last, the inflamed follicle bursts and empties its content. Finally, the affected area heals.
Sometimes the inflammation reaches deep into the skin surrounding the follicle and destroys skin tissue. This will cause more or less distinct scars that may reside permanently. Typically an affected person will have follicles in all these stages of the process at any given time.
Causes of Acne
The high hormone production in puberty stimulates increased sebum production. The male hormone, testosterone, seems to contribute the most. Also, girls begin to produce more testosterone in puberty. Likewise in other periods, altered hormone production may give acne, for example in women in menopause.
Since not all teens get acne to any degree, the high hormone level cannot be the whole cause of the increased sebum production. The follicles of affected persons must for some reason react stronger upon the higher hormone level.
Dietary factors, like eating too much fat, too much sugar, or the wrong kind of fat may aggravate acne in some people. The deficiency of vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids may also contribute to the development of acne.
Poor digestion, lazy colon, and constipation aggravate acne in some people, likely due to the production of toxins in the intestines. The lazy colon may be caused by dietary faults, like lack of fiber.
Very frequent washing and usage of strong soaps aggravate acne and do not alleviate the condition as many believe. Rubbing, scrubbing, or squeezing the skin may also aggravate acne.
Here are some additional factors that may contribute to causing acne or aggravating the condition.
- Stress
- Some antidepressants.
- Use of some types of greasy cosmetic products.
- Exposing the skin to chlorine or other halogens, or medicines containing halogens.
- Some contraceptive agents
- Environmental or domestic pollution.
- Humid environments.
- Testosterone and anabolic steroids used for treatment or for body-building.
- Some antiperspirant products.
- Women may get aggravated acne 2-7 days before menstruation.
What Can You Do Yourself To Avoid Or To Treat Acne
Sometimes acne is so severe that special medical treatment is needed, and sometimes the causes of acne necessitate medical treatment. But you can do much yourself too. Here are listed things you can do yourself to prevent or treat acne:
Some pieces of advice about diet that may help prevent and cure acne
- Do not ingest a great amount of fat.
- The fat you add to the food should be natural oils. Olive oil is ideal, but use other types of oils too, like sunflower oil, walnut oil, and soy oil. However, do not use only soy oil. Using only soy oil will deliver you too many fatty acids and too few others.
- Eat much fish, seafood and not so much meat.
- Eat food with a high fiber content to regulate digestion, like vegetables, whole cereals, full corn bread, and fruits.
Things you should avoid
- Do not use greasy or heavy cosmetics that clog your skin and are hard to wash away.
- Do not wash with strong soap or cleaners that dry up your skin and take away all the natural oily safeguard in your skin.
- If you perform body-building, do not use anabolic steroids or other hormonal supplements.
- Do not use strong annoying antiperspirants.
- Use clothes that permit air to reach your body surface to avoid the accumulation of humidity and overheating of your skin.
Rinsing with mild products
You can rinse your skin with mild products specially made to dissolve the plugs in your pores. It makes the environment in your skin unfriendly to bacteria causing infection. Some of these products are just products to wash your skin one or more times a day. Others should be on during the night and flushed away in the morning.
Salicylic acid is a mild ingredient often used in these products to dissolve comedones. Further, the products usually contain ingredients that work antibacterial and stimulate the skin’s own cleaning activities, like Tea tree oil or Echinacea extract.
Use gels and creams to treat acne and protect your skin
After the rinsing, you should apply some treatment gel, lotion, or cream onto your skin to achieve these effects:
- Make your skin soft and elastic.
- Protect your skin against the environment.
- Acts further to dissolve the clogging of your pores.
- Soothe and alleviate inflammation.
- Kill the bacteria causing infection or make an environment hostile for the bacteria.
- Stimulate the skin to clean itself.
- Stimulate the skin to heal.
- It is to be used as an isolating layer between the skin itself and cosmetics.
To protect, make the skin soft, and further dissolve the comedones, many products include natural plant oils that are easily absorbed into the epidermis, like Tea tree oil, Rosehip oil, Lavender oil, and Olive oil.
Ingredients used in products to reduce inflammation and stimulate healing: Aloe Vera extract, Viola Tricolour extract, Rosehip oil, Vitamins E and A.
Tea tree oil and Grapefruit seed extract are natural antibacterial agents used in many of these products. In some products, artificial compounds like Benzoyl peroxide are used.
Oral supplements to fight the acne process and nourish the skin
Supplements taken by mouth to nourish your skin may be helpful. The intent of these supplements is more or less the same as that of nourishing creams:
- Make the sebum more fluid so it drains more easily.
- Stimulate the substance exchange and cleaning processes in your skin,
- Stimulate your skin to heal,
- Give your skin-building nutrients necessary to heal.
Ingredients often used in these supplements to stimulate the cleaning and healing processes in the skin are Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, C, D, E, Folic acid, Beta carotene, Bioflavonoids, Magnesium, Copper, Zinc, selenium, anti-oxidants from Green tea, Methylsulfonylmethane.
Nutrients seen in these products used as material to rebuild damaged skin and to give a sebum with better consistency are Evening primrose oil, Olive oil, Flaxseed oil, Borage oil, Soy oil, Wheat germ oil, and Lecithin.
Gum guggul extract used in oral products has an anti-biotic effect. It helps against the spreading of the acne infection and thus helps against scar formation.
Acnezine- Acne Treatment That Works
Acne isn’t a life-threatening issue, but it can definitely hurt your self-esteem and body image, and if it bothers you, you should do something about it.
We recommend trying the Acnezine treatment, it’s natural, effective, and has proven results. Additionally, they offer a risk-free trial so you get to try it out first.
AcneZine is a product of Revitol, an FDA-registered Skin Care company since 2002, and has successfully built a reputation in the market. It consists of two parts, one is the topical cream and the other is a supplement with 30 pills.
The Cream: It contains 5% benzoyl peroxide and other useful ingredients like aloe vera, green tea extract, and tea tree oil that are known and proven to help get rid of acne and clear your skin. It even provides moisture for your skin and won’t clog your pores. If you have oily skin, you can also use it as a daily moisturizer.
The Supplement: It includes vitamins and natural ingredients that help in the natural healing of acne from the inside out.
Who Should Use AcneZine
The AcneZine treatment was made for people who suffer from acne and breakouts often. It was proven to be effective in treating cystic acne and mild to severe breakouts.
You don’t need AcneZine if you have one pimple on your face. Just pop it. I suggest you shouldn’t buy AcneZine if you follow the conditions listed below:
- You have severe acne.
- Your skin is very sensitive.
- Allergic to benzoyl peroxide and other ingredients contained in the product.
- You’re pregnant.
- Taking another medication.
How To Use AcneZine?
AcneZine treatment is rather simple and fast, which is a huge advantage. Rather than spending hours applying different masks that may or may not work, this is a quick, 3 steps acne remedy.
STEP 1: Thoroughly rinse your skin (we suggest an organic cleanser) with warm water, to make sure your pores are clean.
STEP 2: Apply the AcneZine Cream on the preferred area of the skin. The manufacturer recommends using the cream 3 times a day for better results.
STEP 3: Take one AcneZine pill, daily, preferably after a meal.
5 Useful Tips to Keep The Acne Away
Getting rid of acne is only half the combat. After your AcneZine treatment, you need to follow these tips to prevent the acne from coming back. We recommend bookmarking this page, so you will remember to follow them.
#1: Keep your face clean
Whether you suffer from acne or not it is essential to keep your facial skin clean. Make sure you wash your face twice a day, morning and night, and especially after your workout if you’re a gym rat.
The sweat, debris, and contaminants on your facial skin can accumulate and can cause all sorts of skin issues, acne being one of them.
Avoid touching your face and also don’t let other people touch your face.
#2: Avoid Junk foods as much as possible
Junk food is harmful to your body in many ways. It will cause inflammations on your skin (acne, blackheads). It can also clog your veins, increase your blood pressure, and cause many diseases. Eating healthy is the proper way to go.
#3: Avoid heavy creams, makeup
Avoid anything that will clog your pores even further, especially if you have acne-prone skin. You need to choose very light on your makeup as heavy moisturizers and facial serums can worsen your acne.
#4: Use Facial Steamers / Sauna
Sauna has many amazing benefits, they detoxify your entire body and skin and are very relaxing. Unfortunately, unlike in Europe, Saunas are not very popular in the United States.
Try using a sauna every once in a while, it will help you get rid of acne. Also, it has many other great advantages for your body and muscles especially if you maintain an active lifestyle.
We also suggest getting a facial steamer. The facial steamer will also help your skin absorb skincare better as it opens the pores.
#5: Be Mindful of Your Hair Products
Using the wrong hair products can make your skin break out more often. If you use hair gels, fragrances, or any types of oils they tend to go down to your face and end up on your facial skin. That will clog your pores and is harmful to your skin, nevertheless if you suffer from pimples.
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