What Causes Adult Acne?

No matter how many people suffer from some scale of acne at some point in their lives, from the milder forms to severe acne, the majority of people tend to notice these skin conditions mostly during the awkward teenage years of puberty.

With the increase of skin oils being produced by the sebaceous glands that are located just under the skin, the influx that occur in teenager’s hormones trigger these glands into overtime leaves the skin more oily and prone to acne. But what about adults? What causes adult acne? Adults bodies aren’t going through big changes. Adult hormones aren’t out of control. So why can acne occur later in life?

Get Rid of Acne

This article is not about what causes acne in general, so we aren’t going to get into that. For more general information about acne click: what causes acne. This article is about adults and how they get acne. Yes there are other times in one’s life where acne can rear its ugly head besides during the teen years.

When it comes to the causes of acne in adults, it has been found that up to 80% of acne that adults suffer from occurs in women, with many different reasons. As already mentioned, teenage puberty acne is primarily the result of hormonal imbalances that cause a spike in the production of sebum. This is also the determining factor when it comes to the root causes of acne in adults, and especially in women.

Why Women are More Prone to Acne than Men?

It’s not too hard to figure out, really. If you think about it, what is one of the main things that differentiates men and women? It’s something that happens every month, at least until menopause. Yup, that monthly cycle called the period. Huge hormone imbalances in many women, not all, but a lot of them. A large number of women are said to experience a ‘flare-up’ with more oily skin and pimples, zits and spots at times before their period, continuing well into their period and then subsiding afterwards when the hormone levels tend to normalize again.

Adult Acne

But that’s not all. Many women, while pregnant, will find that they start to get mild skin conditions such as acne, whiteheads and experience an overall increase in oily skin that is hard to get rid of. This persistent flare-up of the milder forms of acne is due to the hormonal changes going on in the body whilst pregnant and may normalize or start to taper off after the first three months of pregnancy. Even though there are still six months left of being pregnant, is seems the body gets used to the changes in hormonal levels and the glands start to work as they normally should.

Other factors in women such as Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), which is a less widely-known and understood disorder. In women with PCOS, the ovary is susceptible to cyst growth which causes many complications, one of which is a strong hormone imbalance. This, of course, can lead to and outbreak of acne and other skin disorders.

So What About Men?

In men, and women count here too, the occurrence of acne in adulthood can appear due to the side-effects of certain prescription drugs that are treating other disorders or general health. Some of these prescription drugs include a steroid medication that is part of the chemical make up of the drug. These medications can have longer lasting effects on the body as the hormonal levels can fluctuate vastly when undertaking certain steroid treatments. Medication that contains lithium, which is used in many prescription drugs such as those which aid with the treatment of depression, bipolar disorder and other mental health issues, also can cause hormonal imbalances.

Other factors that can lead to adult acne include exercise, diet, and rest habits. Just as in teenagers, adults that have poor diets consisting of highly processed foods, high sugar levels, and fried and fatty items, are not giving their bodies what they need to have healthy skin. Combine that with a sedentary lifestyle with little or no exercise regimen and throw in poor sleep habits, not giving the body adequate rest, and you have a recipe for poor skin health. Top it all of with any of the aforementioned causes of adult acne, and you have yourself a walking, or sitting in this case, acne machine.

So you got it? Have a better idea of what causes adult acne. Is it more understandable as to why women are more prone to acne than men? Like teenagers, we can all have hormonal imbalances that lead to acne outbreaks. Luckily, in most cases, there is something that can be done. If you want to find out more about treating acne, take a look at the article on ways to get rid of acne.

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