No one likes having acne, but most of us have it or have had it. Some suffer it as teenagers, some as adults, and some feel they’ll never kick it. The problem is we never seem to know exactly what causes it. Some will tell you it’s greasy food, hormones, too much sugar, or it’s stress.

Here’s the truth about the reasons behind acne:

All of us produce sebum – the oil we find on our skin. While you might find sebum pesky at times (such as when it causes a shine in pictures or creates excessively oily skin or hair), it’s extremely important. Without it, your skin would be bone-dry.

A variety of factors can lead your skin to produce too much sebum. One of the most common factors is the increase of androgens – a particular kind of hormone – that comes with puberty or high stress levels.

When sebum mixes with dead skin cells on your skin’s surface, it carries those dead skin cells along the surface of your skin, often lodging in and clogging up your pores. At this point, a dead skin cell becomes a comedo.

A certain kind of bacteria in your pore loves this sebum-comedo mixture and begins to feed on it, growing and multiplying in the process. Your body senses the bacteria multiplying and treats it like an infection, sending white blood cells to do battle with the bacteria. The result? Your pore fills with pus, leading to swelling and inflammation.

That is how we get acne.

Acne can certainly be obnoxious, but there are solutions! TimeLess Master Estheticians and Dr. Williams are experienced in treating acne, from mild to severe.