Acne

What causes acne?
Acne is caused by the overactivity of the sebaceous glands that secrete oily substances onto the skin.The sebaceous glands of people with acne are especially sensitive to normal blood levels of a hormone called testosterone, found naturally in both men and women.

Testosterone in people prone to acne triggers the sebaceous glands to produce an excess of sebum. At the same time, the dead skin cells lining the openings of the hair follicles (the tubes that hold the hair) are not shed properly and clog up the follicles. These two effects combined cause a build-up of oil in the hair follicles. This causes blackheads and whiteheads to form. For some people, their acne does not progress beyond this stage. However in other people, the build-up of oil in the hair follicles creates an ideal environment for a bacterium called Propionibacterium acnes to grow. These bacteria normally live harmlessly on your skin but when this ideal environment is created, they grow. They feed off the sebum and produce substances that cause a response from your body's immune system. This inflames the skin and creates the redness associated with spots. In more severe 'inflammatory acne', cysts develop beneath the skin's surface. These acne cysts can rupture, spreading the infection into nearby skin tissue. This can result in scarring.

Acne myths
Contrary to popular belief acne is not caused by eating fatty food or chocolate1 dirt - blackheads get their dark colour through excess skin pigment - not dirt so washing more does not help, although if you do not wash your skin at all, bacteria will be able to multiply
Acne is not contagious, so you cannot catch it.

What makes acne worse?

There are a number of things that can make your acne worse. These include the following: picking and squeezing the spots may cause further inflammation and scarring stress can make acne worse in some people, although it is not clear why in women, outbreaks may be affected by the hormonal changes that occur during the menstrual cycle.