Our skin contains tiny microscopic holes called pores, the largest of which are on our face, back, chest and shoulders. These pores are our skin’s opening to the outside world and allow our body to “breathe” if you will, releasing impurities and toxins.
One of the structures located deep within each pore is an oil-producing gland known as the sebaceous gland, which lubricates the skin keeping it soft and moist. Under normal circumstances, sebum, the oily substance made by this skin gland, travels up and out to the skin’s surface. This oil production and subsequent release is part of a normal cycle occurring regularly throughout the day.
The problem arises when certain genetic factors, such as increased hormone production for example (as occurs during puberty), causes this oil-producing process to go into overdrive, leading to an over-production of oil. Since the body can’t keep up with this excessive oil production, it tends to accumulate and combine with dead skin cells located on the skin’s surface to clog the pores.
Since the bacteria that are normally located on the surface of our skin feed on skin oil, the clogged pore with its trapped oil now becomes a feasting ground for them. As they eat the oils, they multiply and move deeper into the pores, becoming lodged underneath the skin’s surface. This summons your immune system to attack and fight back.
If a pore that is clogged with oil, dead skin and bacteria is closed off by the body’s immune response, and then proceeds to bulge out, you have what is known as a whitehead.
If a clogged pore stays open, the top portion may darken when it is exposed to the air, leaving you with a blackhead.
In some cases, the sebaceous or oil-producing gland itself can become infected, forming what is known as a cyst deep beneath the skin’s surface. These acne cysts can rupture, spreading the infection into nearby skin tissue and often lead to those disfiguring acne scars.
Source: laserclinics.com.au
