I am almost certain that I found the Cause, and thus the Cure to Acne. At least for me I know I have, but I am confident that I have found the answers that everyone else is looking for. Through researching all the scientific studies, in the search to find the cause of acne, I have found the answers to why acne actually develops. It all makes perfect sense, as you will see if you continue reading.
I have suffered acne in the past and have never been told the truth by any of my doctors or dermatologists, which is a shame, because I wouldn’t have had to suffer acne for so many years if I had known about the true causes of acne. This information needs to be out there, so people have control over their acne. I have put together this article in an attempt to educate the world on how to really deal with this horrible skin disease. Yes it is a skin disease, but it can be prevented.
Misinformation About What Causes Acne
What most people don’t realize about what causes acne, is that it’s not because of bacteria or too much oil in the skin. Yes these are definitely factors, but they are not the underlying cause of acne. Bacteria is merely an effect of the underlying cause of acne, and too much sebum (oil) production (or low quality sebum) can make acne worse, but these are not the “root” causes of acne. To cure acne for good you must address the root cause.
To find a real cause to a disease or anything else like acne, you must look at acne as a series of cause and effects; a chain of events. Something happens, so it leads to another thing, which then leads to another, and so on. For example bacteria is not a cause, but an effect. Many medications treat the bacteria, which always turns into a game of cat and mouse – you will never win.
Why is There Misinformation About The Cause of Acne?
The sad fact is that western medicine is fueled by business. It does not have the end goal of treating people per se, it has the end goal of profit. That’s the whole reason why there is a public healthcare system, and why they can patent drugs – to encourage and increase profits.
If there was a natural cure for acne that costs almost nothing for a patient, which actually treated acne, most doctors would not tell you about it. Instead, they would give you medication that was produced in a lab. We are pushed medications that often only treat the symptoms and not the cause of an illness or disease, partly due to a twisted worldview of wester medical practitioners and partly due to profit. These characteristics of modern medicine are two main flaws in our healthcare system that can only be eradicated by educating the public.
Understanding The Cause of Acne
Exactly how and why acne develops is a complicated story. To begin to understand the truth behind what causes acne, you must understand some background information on how your skin works and why acne develops. It helps you understand why we begin to get acne at certain times in our life, or for some, why it becomes a lifelong battle. We need to understand how acne develops in order to find the true cause of acne.
What Causes Acne Starts in the Pores
For every hair we have on our body we have a corresponding pore. Essentially pores are just another name for our microscopic hair follicles. Below each pore, or hair follicles are sebaceous glands that produce Sebum, which is an oil our body produces. This Sebum is composed of cholesterol, fats, proteins, and salts, and is pushed from below the hair through the top of the pore, which then expels to the top of your skin.
Inside our pores are also skin cells that continually die and reproduce. The way the dead skin cells are exfoliated and released from inside the pore is through the sebum leaving the pore. The dead skin cells will catch a ride with the sebum being released to the surface of your skin. This is the way nature ingeniously intended our body to naturally cycle through the new and dead skin cells within our bodies.
Retention Hyperkeratosis Causes Acne
A normal pore will expel all the dead skin cells and sebum without any issues. People who have acne prone skin will have a situation where there is an overgrowth of skin cells, and the skin cells shed too fast for their body’s ability to properly exfoliate them. The technical term for this is called retention hyperkeratosis, and what happens is the skin cells start to accumulate in the pore.
What happens next is, after the body has a buildup of too many dead skin cells, it mixes with the sebum (oil) like it normally does. Since there are way too many dead skin cells, it produces a sticky substance that cannot escape the pore. This sticky substance becomes almost like a plug, blocking the pore opening. The medical term for this is called a microcomedone, and this is the precursor to all forms of acne.
Bacteria is A Main Culprit
Since the pore becomes blocked with a sticky substance of dead skin cells and sebum, it becomes the perfect environment for bacteria to thrive in, so bacteria begins to grow and flourish inside the pore. You then get acne because your white blood cells are trying to fight off the bacterial infection in your pores.
If you can kill the bacteria, you can help lower your chances of getting acne and stop the spread of it. There are many over the counter and prescription based medicine (benzoyl peroxide) that can help to kill the bacteria that causes acne. Some of these medicines may actually help your acne quite a bit at first, but these technique on fighting acne are only a temporary “band-aid” solution because it’s basically a cat and mouse game. As long as you have an environment that bacteria can thrive in, you will have to continually battle bacteria, and guess what? Bacteria adapts to the medications. Its like battling ants in your household. If you continually leave out crumbs of food on the counter, the ants always seem to come back. You need to make your skin an environment where bacteria does not thrive in, and you can’t do this with any topical ointments.
White Blood Cells is What Causes Pimples
What comes after the growth of bacteria are either whiteheads, blackheads, or pimples. These are just ways that your body fights off the bacteria. Whiteheads and blackheads are non-inflamed lesions, while pimples are inflammatory bumps called inflammatory papules. When there are too many dead skin cells and oil in the pore, it can produce pressure on the cells around the pore. If there becomes too much pressure, the pore can rupture and the bacteria will spread to the surrounding skin, creating pimples.
Your bodies main natural defense against the bacteria are inflammation and white blood cells. Some people get more inflammation than others (another genetic predisposition) and different people’s body can react differently to the dead skin cells/ oil. These differences are why some people mainly getting blackheads vs the inflamed pimple types. The white blood cells will enter the pore and create pus in an effort to fight off the rampant bacteria.
Is Acne Genetic?
Going back to the initial event that preceded the growth of bacteria was the overproduction of skin cells. People who are prone to acne, have this “retention hyperkeratosis,” or the overabundance of skin cells, causing over shedding, which prevents their body from being able to properly exfoliate the dead skin.
This might lead you to think that the retention hyperkeratosis is the cause. But what causes retention hyperkeratosis? Why do some people have this issue and some people don’t? Most dermatologists and doctors will tell you that it is due to genetic reasons, that you unfortunately got this gene passed down to you. So they say, ultimately its all about genetics.
But why stop there? They leave the question of acne to an unsatisfactory answer and don’t seem to question it any further. That’s like if a little kid asks you “Why is the sky blue?” and you say “because, it just is.” It’s really a cope out to something they don’t fully understand. They end this incredibly important discussion up to that apathetic “genetic” answer. But is that the whole story? Are genetics the real reason why some people have retention hyperkeratosis and some people don’t? Further, are we imprisoned to acne because it’s genetic?
Is Acne a Genetic Predisposition or Fate?
Is acne a genetic certainty and are we imprisoned to live with this horrible skin disease because some gene was passed down to us – one that causes our skin to overproduce cells? Or is it more an issue of genetic predisposition? Predisposition? Lets ponder that possibility.
A genetic predisposition would necessitate an environmental circumstance, wouldn’t it? And hasn’t the scientific community come to the conclusion that many of our genes depend on the environment? Genes that essentially have switches that turn on or off due to the environmental circumstances, with some more prone to genetic predispositions than others?
I have come to the conclusion that acne is a genetic predisposition due to environmental circumstances that we can control, due to scientific studies and anecdotal evidence on success stories of people who have successfully cured their acne. This should be a relief to many, because it means we are in control of this horrific skin disease.
Examples of Why You are in Control of Acne:
Obesity – If someone is genetically predisposed to being very obese, they may be obese because they eat the wrong foods. If they always ate the right foods and never the wrong, would they still be obese? Probably not because obesity is usually always caused by environment circumstances (namely eating lots of the wrong food with little exercise).
If a naturally skinny person ate the same amount of food as the obese person, they may gain some weight, but they would be nowhere near the weight as the obese person. This is because the obese person has a genetic predisposition to their body reacting that way (getting fat), to a specific environment (eating too many high glycemic foods, etc). Obesity usually only comes into existence with environmental circumstances. Acne is the same way.
Muscular – Another examples would be if Arnold Schwarzenegger had a genetic predisposition to a great bodybuilders physique, wouldn’t that physique only come into existence if he lifted weights a LOT? Arnold was actually an average size guy before working out.
Again if we take the example of a naturally skinny person working out as much as Arnold did, would that person get as big as Arnold? Probably not Arnold had a genetic predisposition to a great bodybuilding physique that many don’t have. The genetic predisposition required that a specific environment existed (lifting a lot of weights), to show expression in those genes.
DIET is The Root Cause Acne
We know that there is a genetic factor in some people’s bodies that cause the overproduction/ over shedding of skin cells. The golden question then becomes, is that something that gets switched on due to the environment (our choice of diet), or is it something that is just always on, regardless of what we eat?
There is some really good scientific evidence that gives precedence to the idea that acne is really a genetic predisposition. There are also some societies who eat an ancient diet and do not get acne at all! Even more, when some of theses societies had “western” food introduced into their culture, they began to develop acne.
How Diet Causes Acne – A Chain of Cause and Effects
So what causes the genetic predisposition to turn on? The one that causes your body to overproduce cells which intern cause all this pore clogging? It’s actually pretty simple and it intuitively makes sense. The answer is Diet. There is a lot of scientific evidence and anecdotal evidence to support the idea that diet is causing overgrowth of tissue cells, which leads to acne.
- Diet: The true cause of acne is Diet. Plain and simple. The very first action in a long series of events that lead up to acne begins with what you eat, so therefore diet is the true cause of acne.
- Insulin Resistance: The wrong Diet causes hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance. The typical western diet is flawed, in terms of how our bodies react to it. A typical western diet is associated with hyperinsulinemia and/ or insulin resistance, which can have a very interesting, but negative affect on your body’s organs and tissues. There is a lot of scientific evidence to show that it can cause too much growth in your organs and tissues. As shown in the next event, this overgrowth of body tissues/cells starts the formation of acne, but also even more alarming, to the growth of cancer cells and myopia in some people.
- Overproduction of Skin Cells: You may have started to see the bigger picture by now. Remember what actually starts the formation of acne is something called retention hyperkeratosis? This is where the skin cells are over shedding past your body’s ability to get rid of them, causing a plug in the pore. Most dermatologists will say “its genes” that causes this. Yes it’s genes, but a genetic predisposition. Whats starts this over shedding mechanism? It is Diet. It’s a genetic predisposition to how your body reacts to the typical western diet. People who tend to get acne have too much growth in their organs/tissues due to the typical western diet. This is a huge eye opener when you start to understand the power you actually have on curing acne.
- Sebum Secretions: What happens after the overproduction of skin cells is it mixes with the sebum in the pores.
- Clogged Pores: Now when the sebum and dead skin cells mix, it acts as a plug and clogs the pore. If there was just a normal amount of dead skin cells, it wouldn’t clog the pore. However, since there are too many dead skin cells caused from insulin resistance due to diet, it creates a thick sticky substance that can’t escape the pore opening.
- Bacteria Growth: Because this thick substance does not expel from the pores, it becomes a perfect environment for bacteria to grow and reproduce. So bacteria begins to grow and flourish in the dead skin cell/ sebum mixture within the blocked pore.
- Acne: Then finally the white blood cells come in to fight off the infection and thus you get acne, which is essentially just your bodies way of fighting off bacteria.
Things That Cause More Acne Production:
Hormones – An increases of hormones from puberty, birth control, pregnancy or from things like weightlifting cause an increase in sebum production because of the elevated hormone levels. This is fine when the pore is operating normally and the body can exfoliate all the sebum (oil)/ skin cells, but when the persons skin is in a state of overgrowth/over shedding of skin cells, this can make the acne much more severe because it just causes more opportunities for the dead skin cells to mix with sebum to clog the pores.
Many people associate hormones or bacteria as the cause of acne, but in reality they are just “influencers.” They are not the true cause of acne. For example, bacteria is an after effect from too many dead skin cells in the pore, which leads to acne. Bacteria is not the root cause. And hormones are just an amplifier of blocked pores, meaning it can cause more sebum to mix with the already dead skin cells and appear to make acne worse or it can even appear to be a trigger, however it is not the underlying cause.
Stress: Stress can cause more hormones to surge through your body which causes more sebum production.
Diet: Diet is one of the main foundations that truly causes acne.
- Insulin Resistance: As stated above, any foods that cause a spike in blood sugar levels is bad. Insulin resistance fuels the chain of events leading to acne.
- Sebum Quality: Diet can also change the quality of the sebum that your sebaceous glands produce. If your pores produce low quality sebum due to a bad diet, you are essentially developing an environment that the bacteria is more likely to thrive in. Couple this with the over shedding of skin cells and you have a bad case of acne.
- Inflammation: If you have too much inflammation from too many grains or an imbalance of omega fatty acids, this can worsen your acne.
- Hormones: Things like dairy, and even healthier probiotic yogurt can make acne worse, because of the hormones in dairy.
Though there is more to clearing up acne than diet, you should always have a good diet to aid in getting rid of your acne. This should be one of your main priorities. The question then becomes, what diet should I eat?
Finding The Cure For Acne
What to Eat To Cure Acne
- Low Glycemic: You should eat foods that do not spike insulin levels. High glycemic foods can cause your sebum and skin cells to overproduce, which can lead to acne.
- No Dairy: You should also not eat any dairy, as these often have hormones in them that cause your sebaceous glands to produce too much sebum.
- Little or No Carbs: It is better to have little or no carbs. If you do have carbs, choose slow digesting, low glycemic carbs. Choose grains that have fiber like whole wheat or things like sweet potatoes. Some people may also have gluten allergies, which can cause acne.
- Omega 3: The american diet is too high in omega 6, so supplementing with omega 3 fish oil pills (molecularly distilled) is a good option. If the body is too high in omega 6 and too low in omega 3, inflammation develops (not good for acne).
- Organic Meats (grass fed preferably): If you choose meats that are not organic, either supplement with omega 3 or choose lean meat. The reason is because most cattle are fed grains, which cause an imbalance in the ratio of omega 3 to 6. If you choose grass fed meat, it will have a higher degree of omega 3’s.
- Small amount of Fruits: You don’t want too much sugar, as it can spike insulin levels.
- Large amounts of Vegetables: Veggies are great because they have lots of water, nutrients, fiber and are low glycemic
- Drink Water: It is always good to stay hydrated by eating veggies and drinking lots of water.
- Choose Organic: Whenever possible, choose organic.
The Holistic Approach – Curing Acne For Good
You shouldn’t rely on western medicine and over the counter products to cure acne, because they almost always act as a short term “bandaid” for acne. Sure it may help relieve the symptoms, but only for a short time. The reason is because dermatology/ western medicine doesn’t typically treat the root cause, it only treats one of the “chains” in the formation of acne, such as clearing the old skin cells or fighting bacteria.
There is a lot that goes into how and why we get acne, but many just want to know how to get rid of it. To get rid of acne, you really must have a holistic approach and target all the “chains” within the formation of acne. What you really need is a holistic approach to clearing acne for good, that focuses on the right diet (not the food pyramid diet!), along with focusing on all the chains within the formation of acne. Only then you can completely obliterate your acne problem forever. To find out more to completely get rid of your ance, click here