Acne 101

Acne is a skin disease consisting of blemishes that can occur on your face, neck, chest, shoulders and back. Acne is very common during the teen years but it can affect you during adulthood as well. To keep your hair and skin well lubricated your body depends on sebaceous glands which sit just under your skin. These glands secrete an oily substance called sebum, which coats your skin and hair to prevent them from drying out. seabone travels up hair follicles and out through your pores onto the surface of your skin. Your hair follicles routinely shed dead skin cells which sebum carries out of your body. When your body produces extra sebum and dead skin cells, they can stick together and clog your pores, resulting in skin blemishes then bacteria that normally exist in small amounts on your skin can flourish in the sebum in the cloud poor leading to inflammation depending on where the clog is located, and if you have inflammation, acne may appear as whiteheads which are clogged follicles closed off from the air. Blackheads which are clogged follicles that turn a darker color when the clog is exposed to air pustules commonly called pimples which are inflamed follicles clogged with pus or cysts, which are larger, painful, pus-filled lumps going deep under the skin.