To understand acne, you need to take a close look at your skin’s hair follicles and oil glands (called the sebaceous glands). Hormones and other factors can cause your sebaceous glands to produce more sebum, a natural oil in your body.
However, as your skin exfoliates, the dead cells adhere to the sticky sebum and plug up your skin’s pores. These plugs can’t be washed away with regular soap and
water, and beneath the plug,
P. acnes bacteria thrive causing swelling, redness, and lesions. If the walls of the plugged follicle weaken, they can rupture, spreading
the contents to surrounding tissue10.
While your follicles, sebum, and even P. acnes are all naturally occurring, there are certain triggers that tend to get acne started:11
You can’t change many of the causes of acne, but you can become familiar with acne treatment options as well as steps you can take to control acne.
10Dr. Green animations: http://content.understand.com/Players/Default/Animation.aspx?PresentationID=c3b224b1-bcc4-4360-995d-8faf70e6f424&Index=1&CustomerID=7ed74eb4-57f1-4a83-bf2c-7336351aa25d&LanguageID=6574fa28-0a40-49af-88c8-3ce366c8c580#
Also www.acnecontrol.com
11http://www.skincarephysicians.com/acnenet/acne.html and www.acnecontrol.com