Friday, February 20, 2009

Go Swat on Acne

SWAT ACNE

Stress, Worry, Anxiety and Tension are all factors that can
affect the production of hormones in the body and this is
important because almost all acne is hormonal. There are
hundreds of hormones in the body that control and modify all the
organ systems including the skin, nails, heart and brain.
Basically they are a major influence on your appearance making
you look the way you do, feel the way you do, think and
function. Amongst this multitude of hormones in your body is a
group of them called androgens and they are believed to be
responsible for acne. Without getting into too much detail acne
results basically from pore lining cells overacting to normal
androgens (the cells become inflamed or discoloured)

In most cases living with acne is considered part of growing up
and can be accepted as part of a teenager's rite of passage, to
be looked back upon fondly as that stage when it was hard to get
a date. However such a passive view is being accepted less and
less either because of the severity of the flare ups or simply
because society is becoming more savvy and is now demanding acne
treatment knowing that there is one out there or it could be
people are more image conscious and just want to look good and
flawless no matter their age. Whatever the reason, the fact
remains that acne skin (the most common acne skin is acne
vulgaris, a more severe type is acne rosacea) is a problem that
if left untreated can impede social advancement in many areas of
life.

Though the majority of acne flare ups are hormonal there are
other factors that can be held responsible for them too like
diet (whatever goes inside you can create chemical reactions
capable of affecting the skin on the outside), environment
(excessive exposure to the elements -sun, air pollution, dirty
water), skin care products there is a good case for extensive
testing as not everybody's skin is able to adapt to all the
products out there)and the last one is stress.

Stress can act to cause acne by several mechanisms. It can
affect the ovaries, testes and adrenal glands leading to release
of androgens throughout the body; it can cause direct hormonal
changes at the level of the hair follicles; and it can increase
the release of inflammatory chemicals, leading to more inflamed
acne. Stress can interfere with sleep, encourage poor eating
habits, disrupt exercise routines, increase fatigue and decrease
adherence to good skincare regimens. A 2003 study published in
the Archives of Dermatology (Chiu and Kimball) confirmed that
stress can cause changes in the follicles that directly
contributes to the formation of acne lesions.

If stress could be one of the factors responsible for acne in
this day and age it is no wonder that adult acne is also on the
up. Though adult acne occurs for the same basic reason as
adolescent acne there is however no clear explanation for the
increasing occurrence of adult acne cases.

There are different opinions regarding this; some think that it
may be due to subtle hormonal changes that do not appear on
standard blood tests, others blame alterations in the
responsiveness of the hair follicle, some focus on diet and
hormone and antibiotic supplementation of our food sources and
finally many suggest that modern life stresses are the main
cause.

There is a difference between adult acne and adolescent acne.
In the case of adults the lesions tend to be deeper, more cystic
and more localized to the center of the face and jaw line while
in adolescents the concentration is more to the forehead and the
chin. Another bit of bad news is that the older we get the
slower our healing process gets and so this would in a way
explain why acne scars are more severe in adults than in
adolescents.

If you really need to know exactly what you need to do before
calling in the SWAT team for your acne, visit :
http://acneskin-the-abc.blogspot.com/


About The Author: T. Samo is a freelancer who writes about
varied topics from psychology of running to car auctions.
Currently residing in the United Kingdom. For more detailed
information on acne treatments, products, home cures and scar
prevention go to: http://www.atinienterprises.com/acne/

Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=268818

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