Rosacea And Adult Acne

Acne is normally thought as occurring prevalently only during puberty and that adults have the relief of not suffering from the skin disease. That improper diet or too much consumption of oily or fat-enriched foods triggers the onset of adult acne. Or that it is a resultant of poor hygiene and dirt.

This is not the case.

Acne is a skin disease experienced among all ages that it is neither caused by improper diet nor poor hygiene or dirt.

The only root cause of acne is the over production of sebum in the skin. Sebum is produced by the sebaceous glands in the dermis (or the middle layer of the skin) to lubricate the skin tissue against extensive dryness. However, if excess sebum has been produced, this becomes a potential target for "P.acnes" bacteria thus creating an effect wherein the body will be triggered to send white blood cells on the infected area. Once this action occurs, dead cells and bacteria will gather on the pores of the skin consequently inflaming the skin tissue thus, the formation of acne. This action happens prevalently during pubescence due to the significant changes in the body's chemistry. However, this may continue well into adulthood.

Though this seems the probable reason for all acne infections, several factors are responsible behind this.

1. Hormones - Adult acne is said to have its roots on hormones and imbalances in hormonal changes. One factor that may result to acne flare-up on women is the onset of menopause and hormonal irregularity during the menstrual cycle. Women aged between their 20's and 30's are noted to have great benefits from hormonal treatments, however significant intolerance against the systematic and topical medications. They are observable.

Moreover, menstrual irregularities, facial oiliness and consistent acne flare-ups are found among these women. Their bodies react positively to hormonal acne treatments, however for the more severe cases of acne such as the nodular and cystic types, hormonal treatment cannot be employed. Usually, anti-androgens and contraceptives are the modes of treatments for adult acne.

2. Stress - It is pointed out as one of the main causes for the production of adult acne. In fact, around half the number of American adult women suffer from adult acne sometime in their lives. Roughly 17 million American adults are afflicted with adult acne, 50% of which are women. The connection between stress and acne is not yet well defined. However, it is notably obvious that women have greater responsibilities than men, not to mention the running of the household. This is said to create more stress thus the onset of acne.

There are two forms of adult acne.

• Adult acne or immature acne which continues to appear until adulthood, and;

• Adult onset acne or acne beginning only to grow during adult years. This is only triggered by the effects of hormonal changes, stress and poor dietary habits and may involve sensitive and excessively dry skin.

An example for adult acne is rosacea. This is normally characterized by tiny, visible bloods cells on the surface of the face, irritated eyes which may become watery, pimples and bumps on the face, and redness on the forehead, cheeks and the chin.

Adult acne is more widespread than what people normally think. In effect, cases of adult acne have been rising considerably for the past decade. For the present, the median for acne cases is 26.5 years old compared to what was earlier thought as 20.5 years.