Impure Skin
Impure skin usually has the characteristics of oily skin, but has blackheads (comedones), which can also form small reddish pustules. Blackheads develop when a folicle channel shows an increased sensitivity to degradation products of sebum lipids or comedogenic substances and thus reacts with increased formation of horny layer in the folicle channel or in the deeper sebaceous gland. As a result, the sebaceous gland enlarges and is clogged with a horny mass of sebum, horny cells, bacteria and hair remnants. A distinction is made between open and closed blackheads. The closed blackheads lie deep in the skin with a narrow folicle channel. They can be seen or felt on the skin as a roundish elevation. The open blackheads are located further up on the skin with a widened folicle channel, which is clogged with horny mass up to the skin surface. Due to melanin and oxidation products of lipids this mass is colored black on the skin surface.
With particularly strong cornification, the sebaceous gland inflates like a balloon, which can cause the follicle and sebaceous gland wall to tear. This causes the blackhead contents to spill into the surrounding tissue and trigger an inflammatory reaction with pus formation. Even without tearing of the gland wall, acne patients may experience irritation of the gland wall and migration into the surrounding tissue of the sebaceous gland due to bacterial enzymes and lipid cleavage products in the sebaceous gland. This also leads to the formation of pus and an inflammatory reaction. The result is painful acne pustules and nodules.In order not to unnecessarily provoke the tearing of blackheads and the inflammatory reactions, one should not improperly press on blackheads and acne pustules.
With acne, the skin usually has an oily condition and is characterized by blackheads, pustules, cysts and scars. It occurs on skin areas rich in sebaceous glands such as the face, neck, upper chest, back, shoulders and upper arms. Although acne usually occurs during puberty, it can also break out in later adulthood. The following factors play a decisive role in its development:
- oily skin condition
- genetic disposition in the family
- increased sensitivity to comedogenic substances
- colonization of the follicular ducts with Propioni bacteria
- excessive cornification of the follicular ducts