Hormonal Acne

Teenagers who are having serious problems due to acne are normally quite curious about knowing the cause and remedy of acne. As I have stated earlier that hormonal imbalance is the most common problem, if you have acne then it is very likely that your hormones are the culprits. The hormones responsible for causing acne are estrogen and/or androgen. When the levels of these two hormones are in the normal range, they actually help in maintaining a healthy skin. The problems begin when the hormone levels are not normal anymore.

Why?

We already know that abnormal levels of androgen and/or estrogen are the main causes of acne. We will discuss a little bit broadly now. There is a gland named ‘sebaceous gland' inside your skin which becomes larger when stimulated by androgen and cause oily skin-the base of acne. The cause of oily skin is formation of sebum (an oil-like build up on the layer of your skin). This extra sebum does not help your skin any known way.

Gradually a lot of sebum accumulates near the root of a hair follicle. The hair pushes up through the skin and brings the sebum with it. Meanwhile dirt and unwanted bacteria join the sebum. Over time the pool of sebum, bacteria and/or dirt build up and push up through your skin and then you see a pimple on your skin. When many follicles becomes oily and dirty, many pimples appear on your face. If you are unlucky your even your whole face may be covered with follicles clogged with sebum.

During puberty, hormones from your adrenal gland join together with testosterone and cause more sebum secretion. And as puberty comes during teenage years, teenagers face this problem mostly. The rate of adults suffering from this problem is very small compared to that of teenagers.

When?

Hormonal acne normally appear during teenage years if you are affected.Though the spots are mainly prominent on the face, in severe cases they may also appear on your neck, chest or back. The problem may not be solved right after the end of your teenage years. In many cases the problem persists till mid-twenties. The reason behind this is the fluctuation of hormone levels throughout the puberty.

Treatment

The treatment of acne may be started when your dermatologist will be able to establish a relation between acne and hormonal imbalance.Generallyvarious medications are tested against the problem of hormonal imbalance. As men and women have different hormones and they are affected differently by acne, they do not receive similar medications. We will discuss the problems of men and women separately.

For Men

For men and boys, the cause of acne is the unusually high level of the hormone named testosterone. But knowing the cause comes to little help because the level of hormone fluctuates constantly throughout the puberty. Sometimes an initial prescription may help but it is seen that the problem comes back after a few weeks. It is very hard to cope with the constantly changing hormone levels with different medications. This is very frustrating for both the acne affected teenager and the dermatologist. To this day there is no hundred per cent effective medication against acne.

For Women

In case of women, dermatologists sometimes prescribe birth control pills to reduce acne. Birth control pills decrease the level of the hormone named androgen which is the cause of acne for girls and women. Corticosteroids is one of the common medications in this category. Though this medication may sometimes worsen the situation, it is effective in many cases. That's why this medication is recommended by some skin care specialist.