Hormonal Acne

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Though there are quite a few types of acne, but is there something known as ‘hormonal acne’? Because the one of the largest causes of acne is hormonal imbalances in the body. So there is always the influence of hormones for acne or pimples. In fact, acne happens when the hormones in the body begin to overproduce than they ought to and thus end up affecting changes in the body such as an increased secretion from the oil glands.

The hormones that are responsible are the androgens that affect the sebaceous glands that are responsible for keeping the skin moisturized. The inner skin linings are also affected due to the influence of hormones. Hormonal acne influences the sebaceous glands and causes them to expand and this happens usually to people when they are going through a lot of physical changes like what happens during puberty. And this is why hormonal acne affects teens mostly. But hormonal changes and as a result acne is seen in adults as well. In ladies, factors such as an illness related to the ovary, stress, pregnancy, menstruation, or even an endocrine imbalance have been known to lead to hormonal acne. All this is related to hormonal changes in the body.

When there is a change in the hormones (read: an increased level of androgen), it changes the inner linings of the skin in the sebaceous gland and the hair follicles. The sebaceous gland produces sebum and this enhances the skin regeneration rate (as well as the death rate of existing skin cells). The increased number of dead skin cells gets deposited in the hair follicles of the skin (the skin also produces more oil and becomes sticky, thus aiding the depositing process). This also attracts bacteria, which make it their home. This leads to the skin openings getting clogged and as a result, pimples are formed. And this entire exercise gets started due to an increase in the production of hormones. Thus it is referred to as hormonal acne.