What causes acne?Updated a year ago
There are four main things that usually occur as part of an acne breakout:
- First of all, the skin overproduces sebum, which is the oil excreted by the sebaceous glands.
- Then, the dead skin cells that line the pore fail to shed correctly, in part because of the excess oil making the inside of the follicle “stickier. This leads to a comedo (i.e., a clogged pore such as a blackhead or whitehead).
- Finally, the Cutibacterium acnes bacteria, which is very commonly present on human skin as part of its microbiome, infects the clogged hair follicle, leading to the formation of a pimple.
- The skin responds to the infection with inflammation, which results in redness, swelling, pain, or pus that is frequently associated with different types of pimples.
These are the underlying factors behind pimples and breakouts, but there are plenty of other physiological factors that can play a role. Hormones have a massive influence over how much oil the human skin produces, while skincare may play a part in how much C. acnes bacteria is present on the surface of the skin.
That’s why the best acne treatments work by targeting all four factors in different ways, often in combination with attempts to address other