What Causes Acne - Overview
From the moment you are born, your skin begins a lifelong process of regenerating the cells and producing oil. As your body ages, it goes through several different hormonal cycles, all of which can disrupt your skin's delicate balance. Acne develops when excess oil and dead skin cells combine to plug the pore of a hair follicle. Bacteria grows and multiplies; behind the plugged pore, triggering inflammation and swelling. The result is the acne blemish you think of as acne, but acne is actually much more than that.
How Acne Happens
A breakout begins approximately 2-3 weeks before it appears on your face or body. Deep within each pore (or hair follicle), your sebaceous glands are working to produce sebum, the oil that keeps your skin moist and pliable. This oil is necessary and normal, but in some cases, there can be too much of it or it can combine with other factors to produce acne.
In most cases, old skin cells die and slough off as your skin is renewed. Sometimes, the cells are shed unevenly. They may form a clump with natural skin oil that plugs a pore.
This plug, or comedo, traps oil and bacteria inside your pore. As your skin continues to produce oil, the plug prevents the oil from leaving the pore as it normally would, and the pore swells. Acne bacteria flourish in this environment. Your pore becomes infected and possibly inflamed. The inflammation is what you see on your skin as a pimple. By then, it's usually too late to stop it.
Clearing Up Myths About What Causes Acne
Acne is not caused by anything you're "doing". Many associate acne with bad food choices and poor hygiene. Instead, acne is a complex condition triggered by genetics and hormones - sometimes aggravated by stress. Although diet is critical to overall skin health, a slice of pizza won't cause a breakout.
Compare acne myths to acne facts
Acne Is Surprisingly Common
People with acne often feel incredibly alone, but acne is the most common skin disease in the world, with tens of millions of sufferers. More than 85% of Americans suffer from acne at some point in their lives. About 90% of teenagers develop acne, and it can last all their teen years. Many adults have acne, too. Among adult women, about 50% experience acne breakouts at some point. Most are associated with hormonal shifts from the teens to adulthood, pregnancy, or even into menopause. Among men, about 25% - and the chronic nature of the condition means adults may have to endure symptoms for decades if not treated.
Acne is Chronic But Can Be Controlled
Acne is what doctors call a chronic condition. It has no cure and can last for years - even decades in adults. The key to a clear complexion is control and prevention with the kind of medicated daily maintenance therapy that Proactiv pioneered. By continuously treating the skin, you can prevent pores from becoming clogged and stop pimples from every forming. Hundreds of tiny pre-pimples may be forming in any of the thousands of pores on your face. Even when your skin looks clear, they may still be there - percolating invisibly under the skin's surface. To help you get and maintain clear skin, Proactiv helps keep these pre-pimples from forming or emerging - and that's what it means to treat chronic acne "proactively." Tips on healing and preventing acne "
Tips on healing and preventing acne
Choosing an Acne Care System
The vast majority of acne breakouts can be successfully treated with topical over-the-counter medications like Proactiv. However, some more severe cases of inflammatory acne may require a combination of topical and oral medications prescribed by a dermatologist. Prescription treatments are required to be administered under a doctor's care because they have the potential to cause unwanted - and sometimes quite serious - side effects. For mild to moderate acne, regular maintenance therapy with a system that combines topical over-the-counter treatments is the safe and preferred way to go. If your acne does not resolve with Proactiv, or you consider it severe, see a dermatologist for advice.
Proactiv is safe and effective for almost everyone with mild to moderate acne - healing the breakouts you may have today and keeping your complexion clear by helping to prevent future breakouts. In addition, Proactiv also helps prevent acne scars by preventing acne breakouts. Proactiv combines mild concentrations of antimicrobial acne medicine like benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid with botanical skin-care agents to gently remove excess dead skin cells and oil to kill acne causing bacteria inside pores; and to soothe redness and irritation.
Learn how Proactiv helps prevent acne breakouts
