So.....what is acne?

Our Skin Expert Caitriona explains 'what is acne' and why you may be suffering from it

​What is Acne?
Acne is an inflammatory lesion of the sebaceous glands, most commonly affecting the face and neck but it can also affect the back, chest and other body areas too.  Approximately 85% of us will experience acne in our lifetime.  It can often have a significant negative effect on our mental wellbeing, affecting our confidence levels and self-esteem.

Acne is most commonly triggered during puberty due to changing hormone levels and for many people it goes away in their late teens. 
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For others though, acne continues to plague us into our adult lives.  It can be a difficult and persistent condition, however, there are many effective ways to treat it, including understanding its triggers and learning how to reduce their effects on you.

Maddie, from dermalogica UK, explains in the video about the different types of acne breakouts you can experience.

Why are you breaking out?
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Stress
Acne is one of the first signs of chronic stress.  When stressed your body triggers the production of a hormone called Cortisol.  Cortisol sends sebaceous glands (oil producing glands) in your skin into overdrive while at the same time slowing down cell turnover.  This creates the perfect conditions for acne to occur. 
The sluggish cell turnover means that skin is slower to heal itself and dead skin is hindered in shedding away.  The oil from your sebaceous glands along with some of that dead skin gets trapped in your hair follicles creating the warm, damp environment that bacteria loves so much.  Often, with stress, it seems to be a never ending cycle in the fight against acne.  You are stressed, you get a breakout and then you are stressed because of the breakout, leading to more acne.

​Hormonal Fluctuations
Hormonal fluctuations cause or add to acne by creating an internal imbalance in the body. 
Research has shown that the endocrine system (which controls hormone production) is directly linked to the sebaceous glands.  Hormonal breakouts mostly affect women and teens due to the ever changing hormone levels in their bodies.
 
​Polluted Environment
A polluted environment can exacerbate acne.  Harmful UV rays and environmental changes both indoors and outdoors can affect cell production, sebum production and blood flow.  A polluted environment can include sun exposure (UV rays), car fumes, pollen levels, smoke, air conditioning and even artificial blue light (another form of UV).

Lifestyle Habits
Lifestyle habits can have an impact on the severity of acne and sometimes all it takes is a little tweak in some of these to have a vast improvement. 

• A lack of daily skincare routine or even the wrong skincare routine can have a dramatic effect on your skin.  Some makeup, hair products and skincare products contain pore clogging ingredients such as lanolin and mineral oils.
• Smoking damages cells, constricts blood vessels and impairs cell turnover which can affect the skins ability to heal itself, creating those conditions that bacteria love so much. 
• Squeezing or picking at breakouts at home can exacerbate acne by spreading the bacteria to other areas. 
• Wearing tight fitting or itchy clothing can make acne on the body worse by causing sweat to cling to the area or create friction that irritates and aggravates inflammation. 
• Certain medications can also affect the severity of a breakout.

 
Sugar Consumption
Sugary, refined and processed foods can contribute to breakouts by triggering more oil production.

How do you treat acne?
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1. Reduce stress levels.  This can seem hard to do but there are plenty of tools out there to help with stress management.  There are a variety of apps, books, podcasts and even programmes on some streaming platforms that teach techniques in breathing exercises and refocusing the mind.  Ensure that you regularly take time for yourself to escape from your stress triggers this will also ensure that you are sleeping better.  Our skin heals best when we are sleeping.
2. Establish a regular and effective skincare routine.  The best way to do this is to speak to your skincare provider (aka us!) who will be able to recommend and explain how to use the products most suited to your individual needs.  
3. Limit your skins exposure to bacteria by washing makeup brushes regularly, changing pillowcases weekly and disinfecting mobile phones daily.
4. Have a cleaner diet.  Reduce sugar consumption, drink more water, limit your caffeine intake and eat fresh as often as possible.  Fresh food contains more nutrients and has less sugar and preservatives than processed foods.  Think of colour variation when it comes to fruits and vegetables.  The more colour you have on your plate, the more nutrients you are consuming.
5. Wear SPF daily.  Wearing SPF protects the skin from harmful UV rays.  It should be worn every day and topped up through the day, even if it is cloudy as the rays can penetrate through clouds.  Blue light is a form of harmful UV ray that we are exposed to through our devices, so it is now increasingly more important to even wear SPF indoors.
6. Book some skin treatments.  Speak to us about our acne clearing treatments and we can prescribe the most effective course of treatment for your individua needs.  We have many treatments aimed at effectively treating acne from our Dermalogica and Repechage facials to our Microdermabrasion and High Frequency machine based facial treatments and we are always happy to help guide you through your journey to better skin.

  
 
Dermalogica articles ‘Why are you breaking out?’, ‘Adult Acne’ and ‘How to treat adult acne’ used for refence during writing.