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What causes acne ?
Have wonderful Thanksgiving!
I hope that after understanding “what causes acne?”,we can put potential ingredients for acne. I hope that everyone inputs to this post.
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26 Replies
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Oh, it’s a broad topic! Acne have multiple causes: stress, hormones, some cosmetic products, some medications, you name it.. this issue isn’t that well understood as many think.
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Acne is caused by overactive androgen hormones stimulating an increase in DHT and increased sebum production. The excess sebum in acneic skin causes the normal shedding of dead skin cells in the hair follicles to form a solid mass of dead skin cell that plugs the hair follicle. The P. Acne bacteria feed on the sebum resulting in an exponential growth of bacteria trapped in the plugged hair follicle. Acne is genetic, but can be exacerbated by other factors that include diet.
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I searched on google:
the increased sebum causes acne as @MarkBroussard.
Now what ingredients can reduce the sebum?
other documents on internet said that omega 9 > omega 6 causes acne
if formulation has more omega 6 and Laurie acid that can kill bacteria and control the sebum? -
You’ll want to add a DHT-blocker or alpha-5 reductase inhibitor. Yes, acneic sebum has an imbalance of Omega9/Omega6, so you can try to address that in your choice of oils. As for killing the acne bacteria, there are several ingredients that are bacteriostatic against P Acnes … as @Belassi noted in another post, monolaurin, tea tree oil and several other ingredients are effective against P Acnes.
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Safflower oil has high percentage of omega 6
babasu oil has high percentage of Laurie acid
salisylic acid as @ngarayeva001 mentioned on other post.
what else? -
Newer research says acne is mostly a bacterial disease, mainly be propionyl bacterium acnes causing inflamation.
While Testosterone/DHT increases sebum production buy skin cells, lots of women with no excess androgen diseases (i.e. PCOS).
I don’t think any fatty acid can kill bacteria.
I don’t believe it’s wise to supplement with ANY kind unsaturated acids, as they create lots of free radicals when they are broken down.Some essential oils seem to have antibacterial activity that might kill or reduce the acnes bacteria.
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PCOS is associated with overactive androgen activity in women.
Yes, acne is a bacterial condition, but that is only one half of the equation since P Acnes is a normal flora bacteria on the skin … all humans have P Acnes on their skin, yet only a specific set of individuals actually develop acne. So, there is a cascade of imbalances that contribute to the development of acne beyond the presence of P Acne bacteria.
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I just found information that Egypt lotus + sacred lotus extract can control the access of sebum
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There are quite a few ingredients that function as DHT-blockers and/or alpha-5 reductase inhibitors … and plenty of research papers you can review. Same with bacteriostatic agents that are effective against P Acnes bacteria. Just research and you’ll find lots of options.
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Ketoconazole in the Treatment of Acne in Women
Arch Dermatol. 1986;122(6):629. doi:10.1001/archderm.1986.01660180029008FullTextAbstractTo the Editor.— The great interest recently aroused by the use of antiandrogens in dermatology1 prompts us to report the preliminary results that we obtained using a new antiandrogen, ketoconazole, in the treatment of acne and hirsutism in women. Ketoconazole, an oral imidazole antifungal drug, is a potent inhibitor of testosterone synthesis that has been recently used to induce and maintain a remission in patients with advanced prostatic cancer.2,3 In the last few months, we have used oral ketoconazole in the treatment of three female patients affected by severe acne and hirsutism.At the start of therapy, serum total testosterone levels were raised in all three patients, ranging from 1.12 to 1.54 ng/mL (normal, 0.36 to 0.80 in women and 2.58 to 7.78 in men). Ketoconazole was administered at the dosage of 300 mg twice daily for three months. No topical therapy was added. All three patients experienced
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/article-abstract/547234
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@MarkBroussard In newer acne research you will find the cause why not all people get acne with P. Acnes inhabiting everybody. There are specific strains which are pathological and cause acne. An interesting feature is that these produce more porphyrins than non-pathological strains.
Seeing as you don’t have to have oily skin to have acne I don’t think you can help everyone with 5-alpha hydrogenase inhibitors, but you probably know that. -
There are some discussions about pre-biotics in skincare now. Not sure if it’s marketing hype sponsored by pre-biotic ingredients manufacturers, but there are some papers implying that acne are caused by imbalance of “good” and “bad” skin bacteria. I have not seen any relible reseach yet.
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@ngarayeva001 - marketing hype. The science is not nearly advanced enough in that area to create products.
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Right now science can’t tell why only some people get symptoms from bacteria.
Like Helicobacter pylori. 50-70% of the population has it
yet only a few get ulcers from it. -
@ngarayeva001- Most definitely marketing hype.@MarkBroussard The article I referred to previously (regarding porphyrins)
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Good articles … many thanks. The sebum of acneic individuals is also different in composition from the sebum of non-acneic individuals. Perhaps that also has something to do with the increased porphyrin synthesis of certain strains of P Acnes since the bacteria use sebum as a food source.
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Well, what I find interesting is that the strains differ between “healthy” and acneic individuals. But it would seem totally reasonable to expect people with a higher Squalene content in their sebum and with more porphyrins to create singlet oxygen and cause oxidation of the squalene, the oxidation product of which seems to be comedogenic (how I hate that term).
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Exactly on the Squalene.
I wonder if the various strains are all present on the skin of all individuals or if acneic individuals have a disproportionately higher population of porphyrin producing P Acne strains on their skin than non-acneic individuals.
The singlet oxygen issue may contribute to inflammation which is also a precursor to development of acne as opposed to comedogenicity. The “comedogenicity” of acneic skin is primarily from dead skin cells not shedding properly. But, certainly possible that the oxidation of squalene is what is causing the dead skin cells to form a sticky mass in the first place.
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@MarkBroussard According to the article, acneic individuals have strains which are producing porphyrins at a much higher rate than that of healthy individuals. There appears to be some inhibitor of the synthesis in “healthy” strains, as adding more precursor (Riboflavin and 5-ALA) hardly makes a difference in the total output of porphyrins, whereas acneic individuals produce significantly larger amounts when the precursors are available.Of course, we can speculate on the basis of available research, but for now, I think there are still too many questions to answer before we can reach a solid conclusion on the exact pathology of acne.
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Thanks for clarifying that … I was only able to scan through the article. I’ll review it in greater detail.
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@Sibech I would like to know your reasons for hating the term “comedogenic”, if you please will!
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Acne is primarily caused by four main factors: excess oil production, clogged hair follicles, bacteria, and inflammation. Hormonal changes, particularly during puberty, can increase oil production. Dead skin cells and excess oil can clog pores, creating an environment where bacteria can thrive, leading to inflammation and acne.
See details at https://doctoracnes.com/
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thank you for such different advice!
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Whaoa……. didn’t realise we had so many medical professionals here.
In my opinion, if you are producing skincare products to treat acne, then you are in for a hiding from the likes of MoCRA.
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Agreed. If they are in the US and follow some of these recommendations, they are impinging upon the US OTC Acne Monograph. Hopefully, they can follow the Regulatory Guidance.
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Mike is spot on. You shouldn’t expect to understand a disease process based on folks offering a few sentences in the forum.
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