Acne is often considered the scourge of adolescents. However, it is not limited to teenagers. Many people have trouble with acne well into middle age. The term “acne” is actually a catch-all word for a whole host of skin problems, ranging from whiteheads to infected pockets that leave deep scarring.

Acne begins when sebum, dead skin, and pollutants clog the pores of the skin. These clogged pores may become inflamed, and in any case will cause lesions on the face, neck, and shoulders, mainly.

You’ll find that acne may be genetic. If your parents had acne, you probably will, too. In fact, if both of your parents had to deal with acne as teenagers or young adults, you have a 75% chance of having to deal with it, too.

However, other factors can cause an acne outbreak. Stress, for one, will increase the toxin levels in your body, which will be released through the skin, often causing acne breakouts. Sun exposure, too, can cause inflammation in the skin, clogging the pores and trapping impurities. Seasonal changes will often bring about a bout of acne, as the relative humidity changes making your skin drier or more oily.

Women also may have problems with acne because of birth control pills or cosmetics. The oil in oil-based cosmetics will cause women to break out. It’s usually derived from fatty acids that are stronger than your own, so they mess up your own natural oil balance. If you are susceptible to acne, try switching to water-based makeup. Some of the “code words” for oil based makeup are: lanolin, sodium lauryl sulphate, isopropyl muristate, laureth-4, and red D & C dyes will be too strong for oily skin.

Keep your skin clean. You should wash off your makeup every night. There are soaps formulated for just about every skin type, so try them out until you find the right one for your skin that won’t dry it out too much or make it oilier. Use the soap at least twice a day and rinse 6 or 7 times to make sure it is clean.

Also, leave your face alone. So many people want to squeeze pimples and whiteheads. The pimple is an inflamed skin pore, and if you squeeze it, you’ll run the risk of adding to the inflammation that turns into an infection. Pimples go away in between 1 and 4 weeks on its own.

However, if the pimple has a little pus head in it, you can squeeze it and get the pus out. It will be a little yellow head right in the middle of the pimple. With this type of pimple, getting the pus out is key to healing the pimple.

You can also squeeze blackheads. A blackhead is a pore that is extremely blocked. The black that you see is dirt, dead skin, and oil. By squeezing the blackhead, you can pop the plug out of the pore and speed healing.

If, on the other hand, you have really dry skin, you’ll need to take special care of it. It can be sensitive to many of the treatments used on oily skin, and make your problem much worse. Start off with a low dosage, and see how you do.

Some acne medications will adversely react to sunshine, so be careful when you go out. Also, be sure to only use one acne treatment at a time. Also, the use of colon cleanse tablets will help rid your body of toxins, which will improve your complexion.