Acne - How Sebum and Skin Oil Is Key To Acne

Skin has sebaceous glands all over it except on lips. These glands produce sebum or skin oil. This oil protects the skin from harmful bacteria. Acne forms near the opening of these sebaceous glands. In normal circumstances, the cells forming the wall of the glands exfoliate from the pore opening. In certain circumstances, these cells become dysfunctional and instead of exfoliating normally, block the pore opening. This blocks sebum going out and it accumulates inside forming acne.

If hormonal disturbance is present, the glands produce sebum at a higher rate. This sebum keeps filling the gland sac and the bacteria called Proprionobacterium acnes (P. acnes) thrive in the atmosphere that is full of sebum and no air. As the bacteria flourishes, the gland gets infected. This causes infected acne.

Therefore we find that acne is caused because of sebum. If sebum were absent, acne would not be there. This sebum cannot be blocked. The only remedy is to remove excess sebum and keep the pore open to treat acne.

Why body produces sebum?

Sebum is acidic oil. It forms an acidic layer over the skin. This layer is called acid mantle. This acid mantle stops all the bacteria that want to invade the skin. It kills them. This acid mantle also protects the top layer of the skin made of dead cells and keeps the moisture inside the skin. Otherwise the moisture will evaporate fast. Sebum is the oil rich in lipids. Sebum is produced by sebaceous glands that are attached to hair follicles. Except for places such as lips etc, we have hair all over our body. And so we have the glands that produce sebum all over our body.

Oily skin-

When we produce more sebum, we get oily skin. Similarly when our glands produce more sebum and because of block on the glands the sebum gets blocked in the glands, we get acne.

This article is only for informative purposes. This article is not intended to be a medical advise and it is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult your doctor for your medical concerns. Please follow any tip given in this article only after consulting your doctor. The author is not liable for any outcome or damage resulting from information obtained from this article.

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