Acne

As an esthetician, it is my job/passion to educate the public about their skin. Today, I will answer some of the most frequently asked questions about Acne.

1. What is acne?

     Acne is not just a breakout. A breakout is having a few black heads, white heads or pimples every now and then, and everyone gets a breakout from time to time. However, acne is much more serious and harder to control. Acne is an abundance of black heads, white heads, papules, pustules and sometimes even nodules and cysts. Also, acne does not exclusively affect the face, acne can occur on many parts of the body including the back, chest, shoulders, upper arms and even the buttocks.

2. What causes acne?

     There are a variety of things that can cause acne; stress, food, hormones, heredity, medications, cosmetics and the list could go on. However, to go a bit deeper, i’ll go on a more scientific level. Pores are hair follicles and your hair follicles are where sebum (or oil)  excretes from. The follicles that can produce acne are called sebaceous follicles. Sebaceous glands produce sebum that travels through the hair to the surface of the skin. 
 Acneic skin can produce 4 to 5 times the amount of dead skin cells as well as thicker and stickier sebum as compared to a normal skin. As a result, when the dead skin cells are traveling to the surface of the skin they can become attached to the sebum, causing a blockage. 
Propioni Bacterium Acne (P. acne) is a bacteria that grows in an oxygen free environment and feeds on the sebum present in your skin. This means a clogged follicle is P. bacterias ideal home. P. bacteria will then start the production of lipase, lipase then turns triglycerides to glycerol and fatty acids which leads to inflammation and irritation. The irritation plus the dead skin cells, oil and bacteria cause a pimple.

3. How do I treat acne?

     The very best thing you can do is to see an esthetician, dermatologist, or both. An esthetician will recommend products and treatments for your specific skin type and educate you further on how to take care of your skin.
Anti-inflammatory products/ treatments and having more intense treatments such as; chemical peels and oxygen facials in addition to having regular facials, will help tremendously. 

If you have any questions you can contact me at abbie.barnett123@yahoo.com or go online to https://www.facebook.com/abbiesesthetics1/ and send me a message.