While pimples usually first appear during puberty, many men and women in their 20s through 50s also experience sudden outbreak of pimples. While never life threatening, pimples can be a source of irritation and frustration. Chronic, persistent pimples can even adversely affect one’s self-confidence and self-esteem.

Popular Myths on Pimples

1. Dirt Causes Pimples Although dirt feels unpleasant on the skin, it does not cause pimples. E.g. many construction workers have relatively clear skin although they are exposed to dirt, debris, mud, etc in their work.

2. You Can Dry Up Pimples You can dry up water but not pimples. Skin cells contain water and when you attempt to dry up pimples, you are really drying up the water in the skin cells. This can impair your skin’s natural barrier function, thus increasing the presence of bacterial in your skin. It can also cause the skin to become dry, flaky and irritated, thus aggravating your skin problems. What you really need to do is to reduce sebum production by using the right product. This process is not the same as merely ‘drying up’ pimples. You can observe that those who were misled by this myth suffering from dry, flaking surface skin even while they have acne.

3. You Can Spot-Treat Pimples You can’t. The ‘making’ of a pimple takes at least 2 to 3 weeks before it appears on the skin surface. To treat pimples and acne, you have to understand the multiple causal factors and address them directly.

Be Careful of ‘Oil-Free’ Products Just because a product is oil-free does not automatically mean it will not cause pimples or clogged pores. In my years of research and experiments, many so-called ‘oil-free’ ingredients such as silicones, emulsifiers, etc can still be potentially comedogenic(leading to comedones and pimples).

The Real Causes of Pimples

1. Imbalances of the hormones

Male hormones/androgen, especially testosterones are responsible for sebum production. Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is converted from testosterone, is another form of male hormone that stimulates the sebaceous glands.

Pimples that pop out during the menstrual period are caused by hormonal imbalances. About 8 to 10 days before the start of the period, the female hormone, estrogen, begins to decrease leading to an increase in the level of testosterone in the bloodstream. This in turn causes an increase stimulation of the sebaceous glands.

Other factors that trigger hormonal imbalances include stress, birth control pills, pregnancy, menopause and of course, puberty.

2. Excessive Production of Sebum

Although sebum is essential for healthy skin and hair, an excess of sebum caused by hormonal imbalances will cause the skin to look oily and unsightly, and may even cause skin irritation and inflammation if things get out of hand.

Hyperseborrhea is caused by an increase in the size and activity of the sebaceous glands resulting from the effect of androgen. The enzyme,5 alpha-reductase, found in the sebaceous gland, converts testosterone into dihydroxytestosterone (DHT). Sebaceous gland is activated when DHT works on the activity of the hair follicles, resulting in an increased production of sebum.

3. Accumulation of Dead Skin Cells On Both The Skin Surface And Inside The Pore Due to Irregular Skin Shedding

Dead skin cells on the skin surface and within the pores can accumulate and block up the pores when they do not shed normally. Add excess sebum to the dead skin cells and they form a soft, while substance that clogs the pore. A whitehead/milia is formed when the surface of a clogged pore is covered by skin. If there’s no skin covering, a blackhead is formed as the top of the oil clog is exposed to the air and oxidized.

4. Development of Bacteria The growth of acne-causing bacteria, propionibacterium acnes, is caused by excess sebum. This is followed by skin irritation and inflammation which cause the walls of the oil gland to break, releasing oil, dead skin cells, bacteria, etc into the surrounding skin tissues. Your body’s immune system is then activated. Lymph is transported to the inflamed area to assist with repair (and causing swelling). A pimple develops.

What About Food?

This varies from individual to individual. Some people are seemingly unaffected even when they ate loads of junk foods. Others get an outbreak the moment they eat something ‘heaty’ or spicy. So I guess it depends very much on the individual’s body chemistry. If the pimple outbreak is caused by food intake, it is likely that the food has upset the balance of the body’s biochemistry. In a way, the saying, ‘we are what we eat’ is true to a certain extent.

Different Types of Pimples

1. Acne Vulgaris, aka common acne, usually experienced by teenagers. Symptoms: Pimples filled with pus that appear on the surface of the skin.

The pustules usually discharge this white pus when squeezed.

Occurs on the face, upper and lower back, and upper chest.

2. Symptoms of Cystic Acne: Nodule, cyst-like deep infections

Infections do not surface and do not discharge their waste materials

Infections heal very slowly and permanent scarring is possible.

A slight, reddish and hard bump may appear on the skin surface which does not diminish for a long time. May feel slightly painful.

3. Acne Rosacea Symptoms: Should be diagnosed by a physician

Skin appears red and blotchy. This redness spreads across the cheeks and nose.

Skin keeps flaking and crusting.

Usual acne treatment does not work. On the contrary, the usual acne treatment ingredients such as benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, etc, may aggravate acne rosacea further.

Getting Rid of Pimples

Available Types of Treatment (By Prescription)

1. Antibiotic (Oral) Several studies indicate that antibiotics, such as tetracycline, erythromycin, and clindamycin can help to reduce acne-causing bacteria when used in conjunction with topical Retin-A treatment. However, antibiotics should only be used as a last resort as they can produce some adverse long-term health problems such as chronic yeast infections and stomach problems. In addition, acne-causing bacteria can become immune to antibiotics if taken for prolonged period of time.

“Antibiotic treatment in patients with severe acne causes development of antibiotic resistanceThe prevalence of antibiotic resistance to tetracycline, erythromycin, clindamycin, and trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole was found after two to six months. When patients with acne are treated with antibiotics, the risk of development of antibiotic resistance should be realized. The use of antibiotics to treat acne should be restricted and other regimens should be tested.” quoted a paper presented at the General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in May 2001.

2. Hormone Therapy (Oral) This method of treatment is available for women only. The FDA has approved low dosage birth-control pills, Ortho Tri-Cyclen and generic norgestimate/ethinyl estrodial, for use in the treatment of acne. It appears that low dosage birth control pills can decrease the presence of excess androgen which can be highest just before the onset of menstruation., thereby decreasing sebum production that causes breakouts.

However, there may be side effects like nausea, headaches, breast tenderness and weight gain. Other health risks also include heart attack, strokes, blood clots, breast cancer, vaginal bleeding. The skin may also develop melasma or dark brown skin patches.

Another hormonal drug, a testosterone-blocking drug known as spironolactone, has also been prescribed for acne treatment. The effects remain controversial.

3. Tretinoin Tretinoin, which is a type of vitamin A, improves skin shedding and unclogs pores, thus transforming the way the skin cells are formed in the layers of skin as well as in the pore. Products that contain tretinoin include Retin-A, Renova, Avita and Retin-A Micro. However, tretinoin has to be used with antibacterial products for best results as it is unable to kill pimple-causing bacteria. The other minus point of tretinoin is, it is irritating to the skin and may cause the increase likelihood of sun damaged skin.

3. Accutane (Oral) Accutane (isotretinoin), which is a drug derived from vitamin A works by arresting sebum production in your sebaceous glands. It literally shrinks these glands to the size of a baby’s. This prevents the sebum from clogging the pores. Normal sebum production resumes after you stop taking Accutane, and the sebaceous glands slowly begin to grow larger again. However, they will not be as large as they were before the treatment.

Severity of the pimples/acne will determine the dosage level and treatment duration. Usually treatment takes about 16 weeks. An eight-week rest period is required between treatments if a second treatment is necessary.

The most serious side effect associated with Accutane is that it can cause severe birth defects in babies born to women who took Accutane while pregnant. Other side effects include dry skin and lips, dry nose (even leading to nosebleeds), dry eyes, lower back pain (30% of the patients), joint pain (16.5% of the patients), headaches, nausea, depression, severe stomach pain, blurred vision, bowel problems, increase in cholesterol levels, and skin yellowing.

Conventional Pimple Treatment Cosmetics Many skincare products targeted to get rid of pimples contain lots of harsh, drying ingredients. These ingredients do more harm than good to the skin because pimpled/acne skin must be treated gently as it is already in an imbalanced and fragile state. Many so-called ‘deep cleansing’, scrubs and ’spot-drying’ products will only cause more injury to acne skin. Ingredients such as alcohol, peppermint, and eucalyptus, which are commonly found in many pimple-treatment products are highly irritating to the skin. When the skin becomes weakened through irritation, it is even more prone to bacteria infection.

Examples of commonly-used harsh ingredients: Alcohol, menthol, camphor, eucalyptus, peppermint, myristic acid, palmitic acid, sodium laureth sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate

How to Get Rid of Pimples With Vitasence’s Wholistic Method

At Vitasence, we do not use any of the harsh, irritating ingredients listed above. We take into consideration all pimple-causing factors and address them in a wholistic manner. Rather than just killing bacterial alone, our pimple treatment products help the skin regains its healthy equilibrium and strengthens the skin natural defense mechanism against bacterial proliferation.

In other words, our goal is to optimize your skin’s natural ability to ‘fight its own battle”. The synergistic combinations of biodynamic herbal actives in Vitasence products also optimize your skin’s healing ability so that your skin recovers quickly from pimple scars, marks and inflammation.

Coreenna Ong, founder of Vitasence, has helped manysolve their pimple problems safely and effectively through the use of Chinese and Western herbal bioactives in Vitasence products. For more information, visit Get Rid of Pimples