7.5.12

Adult Acne: Myth Or Reality? (Part I)


Summer is approaching stress levels are flying high, weather is getting hot & humid. With this background more and more ladies are visiting my clinic complaining about break outs, open pores, black heads and white heads. When we start our discussion on acne; mostly I get a response, "I am not a teenager why am I getting acne at this age?" To clear up the concept of adult acne and put it out there that it's not a myth its a very real problem I am dedicating today's blog and the next two blogs to Adult/Teen acne going into details of causes, prevention/treatment and scar management.

Let's begin....... Mission unclog your pores once and for all and let your beautiful skin glow.



Grown-up women are not only fending off wrinkles: Studies show they're battling acne too. But you don't have to feel as if you're 30 going on 13! A savvy skin-care regimen—and a few simple lifestyle tricks—will smooth the way.

Research has shown that low-grade, persistent acne is common among women in their twenties, thirties, and forties (yep, that magical time when wrinkles start to appear). While acne may be nonexistent or dormant for years, certain factors—like stress, hormones, and diet—can eventually cause it to surface, with frustrating emotional side effects. I've seen patients shy away from certain situations—they've canceled dates and rescheduled meetings at work—because they're ashamed of their breakouts. Because no woman should have to endure extra bumps in the road (or on her face), here's a simple zit-erasing plan.



BREAKOUT BASICS

When dirt, excess oil, and dead skin cells mingle, they plug the openings of your pores. This allows an army of Propionibacteria living in your sebaceous glands to set up camp, multiply, and create trouble for your skin. Although this pore clogging process is the same whether you're 13 or 35, adult acne pops up in different places than the teen kind. It typically appears on the jawline, chin, and neck, as opposed to the forehead, cheeks, and nose.



Studies have traced the cause of acne to one thing: hormonal fluctuations. Whether brought on by lifestyle (stress, diet), PMS, pregnancy, or polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the result is the same—an increase in cortisol (also known as the stress hormone), which gets broken down into testosterone, a male hormone that pumps excess oil through your pores. When your hormones are out of whack, your skin's oil production may go into overdrive, causing an acne flare-up.



It doesn't take a midlife crisis for it to happen. Even a moderate amount of daily stress—like balancing a career and a social life, or coming home from work and having to cook dinner for your family—is enough to trigger a breakout. Smoking can also spark a breakout: A study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology showed an association between lighting up and adult acne (specifically, whiteheads and blackheads) in women.




Given that the origin of acne goes deeper than your dermis, experts say that to nix blemishes, keeping your hormones in check is just as important as following the right skin-care regimen. Read on for ways to do it.



We will talk more on the subject next week.............

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