Acne - The Child of Hormonal Imbalance

The root cause of acne is hormones. Acne is the result of various hormonal changes taking place inside our body. There are a lot of external conditions like stress, lack of hygiene, lack of exercise, poor digestion that may contribute to the cause of pimples, but hormonal imbalance is the major cause.

The main hormones that cause pimples belong to the androgen family. Androgens are notoriously known for activating the sebaceous glands, or the oil glands of our body. When the oil glands are activated they produce sebum, or natural oil in excess amount. The sebum mixes itself with dead skin cells, and clogs the pores of our skin. The dead skin cells and the bacteria that are trapped inside the hair follicles cause eruptions on our face that is called acne.

During the teenage when men and women undergo their puberty, the level of androgens and testosterone is on rise. Thus the problem of pimples is common among teenagers. But it fades away as men and women enter their adulthood. Similar hormonal reaction takes place among women before their menstruation, and during pregnancy, manifesting itself in the form of bad skin conditions. Hormonal imbalance also causes pimples among adult men.

Treating Hormonal Acne

We see a number of ads that claim to cure the problem of pimples by applying creams and ointments on the skin. Using anti-pimple lotion or medicine might reduce the instances of pimples, but only superficially. On the other hand if we treat pimples by curing the root of the problem that is hormonal imbalance then the treatment will be permanent.

Curing the acne by taking care of hormonal imbalance is called hormonal treatment. This treatment aims at reducing the effect of androgens on sebaceous gland and thus controlling the production of excess sebum in the body. Doctor first prescribes a blood test, and on the basis of its report gives oral medication to treat the hormones. Most severe acnes can also be treated with the help of hormonal treatment.

Hormonal changes are bound to take place within all human beings. But for some people it has no effect while for others it takes ugly form like acne. Among most of the people it disappears after teenage, and seldom occurs during adulthood. But in other cases it can continue till the age of 50 or even later. If not eradicate, we can definitely reduce the problem of pimples by improving our lifestyle - eat the right food, exercise regularly, maintain hygiene, etc. Moreover we can't do much to help stop the acne except treating our hormones, because they are directly related to acne.