Structure of Skin - Understanding How Acne Develops in Skin

The skin protects our internal structure from the outside elements. Given that simplistic explanation of the skin’s role, there are many activities that go on in your skin. How acne and bacteria develops in your skin is dependant on your genetics and how you maintain your skin on a daily basis.
It is also important for you to understand your acne. The more you understand how acne develops and what the contributing factors are, the more likely it is that you will be able to create an effective treatment plan. If you don’t understand how acne develops, you are not likely to follow a treatment plan consistently. You’ll get discouraged. When you learn, for instance, that any single pimple has taken about ninety days to form, you’ll understand that what you do today will prevent a pimple not now, but two to three months from now.

How the Skin Works

The skin is your body’s largest organ and one of its most complex. The skin protects our body from the environment’s hostile elements, cooling us down, warming us up, retaining water, sending messages from the environment back to the brain, and furnishing us with the sensation we need to enjoy being alive. The skin is a dynamic, living membrane that separates us from the environment. Without it we would die of dehydration because the body is 85 percent water.

Epidermis

The outermost layer of skin is called the epidermis. The epidermis is very active. It creates a total new cell population every twenty-eight days, and one complete layer of cells falls off into the environment every day. Skin is fourteen cell layers thick.

The Development of the Skin Follicle

Follicle is another word for pore. A follicle or pore is the small structure that opens onto the skin’s surface. Developing follicle has two “choices” -- either it will produce hair or it will predominantly produce oil (a sebaceous follicle).

Many of the follicles on your face are quite visible, especially on and around the nose where they are large.

The site of your acne disease is in these follicles, so you need to thoroughly understand what a follicle is and be able to visualize it in cross sections.

The specific hormone which stimulates the development of our sebaceous follicles and their attached oil glands is testosterone, the major male sex hormone. Both males and females produce testosterone.

The Sebaceous Follicle

As mentioned earlier, the skin has basically two types of follicles -- a hair and a sebaceous follicle. Both have sebaceous glands attached to them. If the maturing follicle is a hair follicle, it grows a thick hair which acts like a wick to help bring the oil and other debris to the surface.

But it’s the sebaceous follicle that gets into trouble. As acne develops, it usually coils up in the follicle, gets lost in the rest of the debris and never even gets out to the surface.

Bacteria

The description of the follicle is not complete without telling you about the little creatures who reside there. Anaerobic bacteria (growing without the presence of oxygen) flourish in the follicles. Bacteria exist in the pores of every human being, and do not dwell in greater numbers in acne-prone people.

The bacteria feed off the triglyceride produced by our sebaceous glands.

All of the factors that have been detailed operate in all human skin. They are normal processes -- the stratum corneum turning over, the testosterone flowing and triggering the production of sebum, and the bacteria feeding off the sebum. However, while these are not the cause of your acne, they do form the staging ground and provide the fuel to feed the flames of your disease.

Melanie Vasseur is a renowned chemist, esthetician and the founder of Vasseur Skin Care. For more skin care tips and information on Vasseur Day Spa’s highly effective acne treatment options please visit www.vsskin.com or call 619-236-9095.