Do You Have Acne Prone Skin?

Anyone who has had a pimple or blemish on their face knows how horrifying and embarrassing it can be. Unfortunately, some people suffer from more severe forms of acne than just a single pimple, and others may have clear skin at times, but regular flare ups still occur. These flare ups may occur on your face or body, and you may not even know what has caused them. When this happens it’s not uncommon for thoughts about whether you have acne prone skin or not to surface.

Acne Prone Skin Considerations

In determining whether you have acne prone skin or not, there are a number of different factors you should consider.

Acne does have a genetic side to it, so looking at the skin of your parents and siblings will help you recognize a pattern. Basically, skin types can be grouped into normal, dry or oily skin. Oily skin tends to break out more often than the other skin types due to a greater chance of pores becoming blocked by excess oil produced by the skin cells. If you have oily or combination skin, it is more likely to be acne prone.

Sensitive skin is the other skin type that is the most likely to be acne prone. Those with lighter skin tend to have a greater chance of having sensitive skin than those with darker skin. Sensitive skin is more likely to become irritated day to day and this irritation can lead to inflammation within the skin and thus a greater chance of having acne prone skin.

What Causes Acne Prone Skin?

A basic understanding of the skin’s composition and what it does will help make understanding acne prone skin clearer.

The skin all over your body is made up of two layers, the epidermis and the dermis. The epidermis is the outer most layer of your skin and it is composed of two layers also. The layer of skin cells that is on the outside of your body is actually dead and it provides a protective and waterproof barrier for your body. The layer directly underneath is where new epidermal skin cells are formed. The layer of dead skin cells is one of the factors that cause acne as the dead skin can block the pores.

The dermis is the inner layer of the skin and it is where nerve endings, glands, blood vessels and collagen and elastin fibers are found. Sebum, or face oil, is produced by sebaceous glands in the dermis. The oil keeps the skin more supple, so it actually slows the signs of aging. On the downside, the glands can produce too much oil, which results in oily skin. Also, the dead skin cells of the epidermis can block the pores, so the oil becomes trapped within the skin.

Propionibacteria acne is a type of bacteria that lives on everyone’s skin. Most of the time, this bacteria is harmless, but inflamed (moderate to severe) acne is formed when the bacteria becomes trapped within pores in the skin. The bacteria feed on the sebum produced by the glands within the dermis. When a pore is blocked and bacteria are trapped within it, it feeds and multiplies, which in turn causes an immune response by the body. This immune response is what causes inflamed pimples, pustules and cysts to form.