What the heck causes acne? Warning: Research-y stuff

What the heck causes acne? Warning: Research-y stuff

Thanks to modern medical science, we know that for some reason, acne follicles tend to overproduce cells, which in turn stick together and cause a clogged pore and ensuing zit. But why does this happen? Scientists have performed very few studies in an attempt to figure this out.

I just got through reading what was only the second study to ever attempt to scientifically understand what happens inside acne follicles vs. control follicles. Researchers from the University of Leeds in England performed the study back in 1994. Unfortunately, I think this control follicles were poorly selected. The researchers took biopsies of acne follicles from the upper back of patients who were an average age of 22. The control follicles were taken from the chest of people who were an average age of 41 during open heart surgery. In my opinion, the vast difference in age and location of biopsy between the acne follicles and control follicles largely discounts this study. Regardless, the researchers did make a couple of interesting points when discussing what might cause acne-prone skin to overproduce cells.

1) When sebum production increases, as it often does in acne-prone individuals, the sebum, as it leaves the follicle, takes with it too many of the cells lining the follicle wall. The follicle then reacts by overproducing cells to counteract this loss.

2) Linoleate (a.k.a. linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid) deficiency in sebum: Researchers have discovered that sebum in acne-prone skin contains less linoleate than normal. One hypothesis is that when sebum increases, linoleate content is diluted, and this decrease in linoleate signals overproduction of cells.

But in reality if you asked these researchers to tell you what cases acne, I think if they'd honestly reply, "well heck, who knows"

The more you read about the potential cause of skin cell overproduction and clogged pore formation, the more complex it becomes. We have the hormone system to look at, sebum overproduction, the skin's inflammatory response, systemic vitamin and mineral deficiency, bacteria over-proliferation, or a combination thereofthe possibilites are endless and the list goes on and on.

So, if and when science does finally figure it out, will we uncover a silver bullet? Or is the cause of acne a combination of factors? I'll keep reading and let you know what I find. Please do the same if you can and let me know what you find out.

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