Acne – There's No True Cure

Oh the woes of acne! So many of us out there are plagued with it, or at least we have been at some point in our lives. And it’s not just an issue of teen angst, as I myself have come to realize! Yes… my personal experiences with problematic pimples began way back when at the onset of that lovely time of metamorphosis known as puberty, and, sad to say, they continue to this day.

Mind you, I am now a grown woman who has come of age at 27 – certainly not a teenager anymore. So why, oh why does this condition persist to plague me, even now as an adult??? I have done much research on the subject, and have found some very useful information that I am willing to share with you – my bedfellows, so to speak, in torment.

The all-too-familiar skin disease known formally as acne vulgaris – that’s plain ol’ pimples to us commonfolk – is something that a whopping 90% of us will experience at some point in our lives. Unfortunately, it’s at the most socially insecure point – the onset of the teenage years – that the dreaded acne monster (as I have come to lovingly refer to it) decides to make an appearance. He tortures us with excessively oily skin, plenty of those clogged-pore blackhead thingies, redness, irritation, and, those inflamed pustules we refer to as “zits.” And what’s worse, for many of us, he doesn’t just get us on our face, but rather all over – on our necks, chests, shoulders, backs, even upper arms! The reasons for all this skin madness are fairly simple.

Contrary to popular belief, those nasty zits aren’t caused by dirt on your face or whether you’ve eaten too much chocolate or some greasy pizza. No, rather, it’s got a lot to do with hormones. You see, our skin is full of microscopic “holes” called pores that contain glands that come to life, so to speak, at the onset of puberty. These glands start to secrete a substance known as sebum, which is meant to lubricate and protect the skin. Now we all know that once those bittersweet teenage years begin, our bodies tend to go nuts, even betraying us sometimes! Well, acne is one of those times. The sebaceous glands start to overproduce and pores get clogged with too much sebum, dead skin cells, and germs called bacteria. The results are blackheads, whiteheads, and (arghhh!) ugly pimples!

Of course, knowing all this certainly doesn’t make it any easier when you wake up on the day of a big, life-changing event, glance in the mirror and see a humongous zit staring right back at you! And we have all nagged our parents (or, ahem, even shelled out our very own hard-earned money!) to buy the latest trend product that claims to cure this all-too-common affliction.

Sadly, there is no true cure. While some products do help, in my case, the acne monster always seems to dodge the bullets I aim and return to his incessant, torturous ways (this has been my experience, anyway). You see, as I myself have sadly come to realize, there is no way to predict when the dreaded fiend will make an appearance, or even take his leave, for that matter.

In many instances, once puberty is over and those raging teen hormones begin to return to normal levels, acne diminishes and simply tends to disappear, no doubt setting out on a quest for the next unsuspecting victim. Unfortunately for me, he just seems to have an attraction that he simply can’t let go of…