Adult Acne

What causes adult acne?

Acne is often thought to be an affliction that affects only teenagers, but unfortunately that is not true. Adult acne is extremely common and can occur at any age.

No matter how old you are, acne can be difficult to cope with and may cause depression and/or social anxiety. By finding out what is causing your adult acne, you can treat and eliminate the source, and greatly improve your life in the process.

Much like the acne that occurs during teen years, adult acne is thought to be caused by changes in hormone levels. Hormones stimulate sebaceous glands and cause them to produce excess oil. This extra oil tends to clog pores/hair follicles and produces bacteria and inflammation. Blackheads, whiteheads, and pimples then form on the skin as a result.

There are many different treatments that exist to combat adult acne. Topical creams containing retin-A, benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, cleocin-T, and sulfur may help to clean your pores and reduce the appearance of acne. Products that contain these ingredients can attack acne in a very aggressive way.

Adult Acne Topical Treatments

These topical treatments can also help clear your pores and prevent adult acne from returning. Unfortunately, many of these ingredients are also remove hydration from your skin, causing peeling, flaking, and cracking to occur. You can try to balance these effects with a good, non-oily moisturizer. No matter what skin clearing regimen you choose, it should be based on your individual needs and your skin’s condition. If you find that a particular regimen is not working, try something else.

Though traditional topical treatments, such as the ones described above can help reduce adult acne, a trip to the doctor may be in order. Your doctor can evaluate your hormone levels and if necessary, prescribe treatments that will keep hormones and your acne in check. Your doctor may also be able to prescribe antibiotics, which will help in clearing up the bacteria that is causing the acne to flourish.

No matter which option you choose, remember that adult acne is extremely common and you are not alone. More than 50% of people will experience acne at some time during their adult lives. If you have an acne problem, don’t hesitate to visit your doctor or a skin care professional. You can also try experimenting with different topical acne treatments to find out what works best for you.

It is thought that adult acne in women is more common because of the reproduction cycles a woman goes through such as menstruation, pregnancy, child birth and menopause. And in some cases hormonal products such as the pill can be used by doctors as a very effective adult acne treatment to produce some hormonal changes which can have positive results on the woman's adult acne. In fact this can be the best treatment for adult acne of this nature.

Normally though, adult acne does not result in a total face breakout as teenage acne can do, so can be more easily controlled by some form of masking such as makeup which negates the need for adult acne treatments. There may be spots, but not so likely to be thousands of them.

The only real reason for an adult acne treatment, or any acne treatment at any age, is cosmetic. And so where a cosmetic effect can be achieved by other means the need for a treatment is removed.

There are thought to be external factors which also contribute to adult acne, amongst them are stress, cosmetics and diet. Unfortunately none of these is sufficiently understood either so it is hard to get some hard and fast rules about what not to do and what to do.

One thing that is known though, acne is not caused by eating too much chocolate as was sometimes said to be the case. Cheese is ruled out too.

The remedies for adult acne are the same for other acne. First see your doctor to check it’s normal acne and not something more serious. Next try out some of the very good adult acne treatments on the market which may control your adult acne. These adult acne treatments are, in fact, the same treatments used for our teenagers. Not every product will work for everyone so find the one which works for you and then stick to it.