Pimples

The hormonal balance changes when children reach their teens. A new phase of development is ushered in: puberty. Many of the body’s changes in this period of a young person’s life are highly desired such as breast growth in girls and the first bit of chin stubble on boys. What no one wants is acne – yet about 80%. Through changes in hormones, the sebaceous glands increase their production of sebum. The skin appears oily often even shiny. This happens on the face, around necklines, shoulders and the upper back. Plugs consisting of sebum from the sebaceous glands and keratin of the stratum corneum (horny layer) can clog the pores. This creates the so-called blackheads (comedones) which are initially white (whiteheads) but changes their color to brownish black as they accumulate melanin and oxidize as they come into contact with the atmosphere. Acne also occurs when your skin secretes too much oil, that is not being cleansed effectively and when your skin loses the protection of its own natural protective skin barrier (acid mantle). Our human skin is naturally healthy at a mildly-acidic state pH 5.5. However, unfortunately there are many products in the market which contain alkaline or soap-based cleansing ingredients. When the products are not able to cleanse off the oil secretion from your skin effectively, plus the alkaline or soap-based ingredients that causes your skin to become more alkaline (contrary to your skin’s need to be maintained at a mildly-acidic state), your skin’s natural protective skin barrier will break down and your skin will become very vulnerable to many common skin problems, including acne. So when your skin is oily, and without its own natural protective skin barrier, this environment will encourage the acne-causing bacteria (known as p. acnes) to breed quickly. When the colonization of p. acnes bacteria on your skin increases, these bacteria will also digest your skin’s oil secretion, dead skin cell, dirt and sweat at a very fast rate. This will lead to you experiencing an ‘acne breakout’ where a lot of pimples, some even bigger ones with pus, that grows.

Recommendations:

• Stop the usage of soap & alkaline-based products as long term usage of these products, without enough skin care such as oil-free hydration and acne treatment, the acne problem will worsen and keeps coming and going. It seems that it cannot be resolved.