How Acne Develops in Skin and Why Acne Suffers Must Understand the Workings of the Skin

The skin protects a person’s internal structure from the outside elements.  Given that simplistic explanation of the skin’s role, there are many activities that go on in a person’s skin.  How acne and bacteria develops in skin is dependant on genetics and how a person’s Skin is maintained on a daily basis.   The more a person understands how acne develops and what the contributing factors are, the more likely it is that he or she will be able to create an effective treatment plan. If it is not understood how acne develops, it is not likely that a person will follow a treatment plan consistently. When a person learns, for instance, that any single pimple has taken about ninety days to form, he or she will understand that what is done today will prevent a pimple not now, but two to three months from now. How the Skin Works The skin is the body’s largest organ and one of its most complex. The skin protects the body from the environment’s hostile elements, cooling the body down, warming it up, retaining water, sending messages from the environment back to the brain, and furnishing a person with the sensation needed to enjoy being alive. The skin is a dynamic, living membrane that separates people from the environment. Without it people would die of dehydration because the body is 85 percent water. Epidermis The outermost layer of skin is called the epidermis. The epidermis is very active. It creates a total new cell population every twenty-eight days, and one complete layer of cells falls off into the environment every day.  Skin is fourteen cell layers thick. The Development of the Skin Follicle Follicle is another word for pore. A follicle or pore is the small structure that opens onto the skin’s surface. Developing follicle has two “choices” -- either it will produce hair or it will predominantly produce oil (a sebaceous follicle). Many of the follicles on the face are quite visible, especially on and around the nose where they are large. The site of acne disease is in these follicles, so people need to thoroughly understand what a follicle is and be able to visualize it in cross sections. The specific hormone which stimulates the development of the sebaceous follicles and their attached oil glands is testosterone, the major male sex hormone. Both males and females produce testosterone. The Sebaceous Follicle As mentioned earlier, the skin has basically two types of follicles -- a hair and a sebaceous follicle. Both have sebaceous glands attached to them. If the maturing follicle is a hair follicle, it grows a thick hair which acts like a wick to help bring the oil and other debris to the surface. But it’s the sebaceous follicle that gets into trouble. As acne develops, it usually coils up in the follicle, gets lost in the rest of the debris and never even gets out to the surface. Bacteria Anaerobic bacteria (growing without the presence of oxygen) flourish in the follicles. Bacteria exist in the pores of every human being, and do not dwell in greater numbers in acne-prone people. The bacteria feed off the triglyceride produced by our sebaceous glands. All of the factors that have been detailed operate in all human skin. They are normal processes -- the stratum corneum turning over, the testosterone flowing and triggering the production of sebum, and the bacteria feeding off the sebum. However, while these are not the cause of acne, they do form the staging ground and provide the fuel to feed the flames of acne disease. Contact: Melanie Vasseur Vasseur Day Spa www.vsskin.com Melanie@vsskin.com 619-236-9095

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