The American Academy of Dermatology states that acne vulgaris, or simply called acne, is the most common skin disorder in the United States.

Acne, at its most basic, starts when the oil and dead skin cells clog up the hair follicles or pores in your skin.  Sometimes germs also get trapped in the pores and the result is redness and swelling (inflammation).  These clogged pores can become blackheads, blemishes, whiteheads, pimples, the slang word zits, or in its most severe form cystic acne.

Acne can appear just about anywhere on the body but most of the time you will find acne on the face, neck, back, shoulders and chest and even the inside of ears and nose.  Because there are no hair follicles or pores on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet, acne will not appear on these areas.

As to severity, acne can range from a mild case which is just a few blackheads, pimples or a small number of red spots to a severe case which includes hundreds of pimples and blackheads covering the face, neck and back.  An even more severe case could include large red bumps deep under a person’s skin that are painful cysts, called cystic lesions.

Acne typically starts in the teenage years for most people.  When we hit puberty hormone changes make the skin oilier.  It is safe to say that most young people will get at least a mild case of acne during their teenage and even preteen years.  But don’t fret, most of the time this mild form of acne starts to clear up and does get better once we become a young adult.

But acne is not just a teenage problem and I can speak from experience.  The American Academy of Dermatology reports that 80 percent of adults between the ages of 20 and 30 suffer from mild to moderate acne. And that over half of all women, regardless of age, suffer from some form of acne. In my life this has been a frustrating problem, especially when I thought I had left those skin problems behind in high school.

Personally, I had very mild instances of acne in my teenage years.  When I hit the age of 26 I was plagued with a moderate onset of adult acne unlike any of the acne I had in my teenage years.

The good news is I was not left a victim to this condition and neither are you.  We’re going to explore the causes of acne and even more importantly the treatments to help us be acne free.