What You Don't Know About Acne

At some stage in life, usually during the teenage years, pores begin to get clogged and bacteria form inside them, which results in acne. The red bumps associated with it are painful, and the white pimples are unsightly.

On the top layer we have our skin, of course. There are pores along with tiny openings called a hair follicle. Deeper into the pore are located sebaceous glands that produce sebum, a natural type of oil. This oil helps keep our skin protected and flexible.

While oil or sebum oozes out the side and is distributed around the area, our hair continues to grow through the surface. Our skin cells will grow and die and are rubbed off through washing. But when this process is interrupted when the pores close trapping the bacteria inside, the result is acne.

Acne can sometimes appear as a white pimple which contains dead skin cells, white blood cells, and bacteria. A postule can develop when the follicle wall in the cell breaks, and the white blood cells rush in as a healing process. A pimple also contains, 'pus', and forms a postule.

Acne can also form as black heads, they are named for their color. Surprisingly, the black color that you notice isn't from dirt. Instead, it's where the sebum and dead skin cells have oxidized. Also, they become black when oxygen in the air causes a chemical reaction down in the pores of the skin.

The various forms that we have mentioned are referred to by the medical term called 'comedones.' The only difference that determines what type of comedone is whether the formation is open or closed.

If your acne progresses, then it will take on one of these three forms. Here are the characteristics of each form. If the hair follicle breaks close to the surface, then you have a papule. They're small, and don't contain any pus. With a nodule, the break is at the base of the hair follicle, and there is a hard lump under the skin. A cyst is larger than a nodule, is soft, but painful.

You're probably not looking for a biology lesson, but are looking around on the net for 'What is Acne.'The time that you spent here will be worth it, because now you know a little more about acne. That gives you an advantage, if your knowledgeable, then you won't spend your money on things products or procedures that don't work.