Acne only occurs when your pores block and oil builds up.
There are several situations in which your pores can clog but by far the most common are;
A. Dead skin cells sinking into the pore
B. A narrowing of the pore
C. Skin cells shedding that line the walls of the pore
Each of these situations is fine so long as the skin is operating normally. However when combined with certain conditions, these situations can turn nasty and create acne.
Situation A is when dead skin cells sink into the pore. Normally the sebum oil that flows out of your pore would sweep these away. However when there is too many dead skin cells or they won't move easily, the sebum oil combines with the dead skin cells to make a delicious sticky paste. This paste then sinks down into the pore and creates a plug like effect so nothing can get in or out.
Your sebum glands will go about their business regardless of whether your pores have a lovely big plug in them or not. Oil then builds up, gets stuck and you have a pimple.
As the oil balloons up inside your pore your pore will expand to accommodate it. The surrounding skin does not like this and it swells and becomes irritated.
The more irritated and swollen your skin becomes, the less room there is for all the other pores in the vicinity of the irritated skin. These pores then narrow which is situation B.
If your oil flow is relatively slow, there is no problem. However if it is fast or the pores become so narrow the oil cannot escape at the rate it is being produced, it will build up in the pore. Our friend P.acnes is then attracted to it and starts living and mulpliplying in the oil. Before you know it, that oil and bacteria mix has turned to pus and this in itself becomes a plug blocking the pore.
Situation C occurs all the time in healthy skin with no issues at all. The skin cells lining the wall of the pore naturally shed and die. As they do the sebum oil swepts them out and cleanses the pore.
If however for some reason (normally hormonal) the skin cells stick to the inside of the pore they will create that lovely sebum oil and skin cell paste inside the pore. This leaves you with a partial blockage.
The oil is then prohibited from flowing outwards and protecting your skin from things entering it. The next step is that sweat from your sweat pores then manages to sink into your pore and mix with the oil, bacteria and dead skin cells. This makes an even lovelier mix of gunk which looks very cheesey and wax-like.
So all of these situations are fine so long as the skin is functioning normally. But pop into the mix a fast oil flow, hormonal issues or a slow skin cycle and bingo, we have acne.
Author Resource:-
Rebecca Kepple specializes in helping acne sufferers get great, blemish-free, clear skin in eight weeks or less. To get instant access to her free insider secrets report 'The Top Ten Secrets on How To Get Blemish-Free Skin' visit: http://www.theacneprogramme.com/secrets.html
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