Bacne: You May Not See It, But It Is There
During puberty, boys’ bodies begin to produce large amounts of testosterone. This in turn leads to over production of the body’s natural moisturiser, sebum. Though sebum has an important part to play in the natural regulation of your body’s chemistry, in excess it can block up your pores, trap dead cells and lead to acne and blemishes. A blocked pore is the perfect environment for bacteria to grow, being warm and airtight, so you want to get rid of the blockage before your pore becomes infected. Blemishes don’t have to be isolated to the face: 60% of people will also suffer acne on their backs and 15% get blemishes on their chests. Men are more susceptible than women because our skin is more oily and our pores are larger.
Wherever sebum can build up, blackheads can form. This can be your chin, your forehead, the sides of your nostrils, anywhere. Very oily skin may also develop blackheads on the cheeks and the tip of the nose, as well as chest and back. The brown or black dot which you can see is a small lump of solidified oil that blocking your pore and causing a blemish. If left alone the blackhead will build up until it stretches the pore permanently. Once a blackhead becomes infected it becomes a whitehead and the skin around the infected area can become red and inflamed as your antibodies try to fight off the infection. As you can see, it is essential to take care of blackheads as soon as they develop.
So what can you do? If a blackhead is large, uninfected and fairly close to the surface of the skin you can engage extract it yourself:
1) Soften the skin by having a hot (but not scalding) shower or by holding your face over a bowl of steaming water to open up your pores.
2) Now here’s the satisfying bit. Push gently around the blackhead until it pops out. Placing tissue around your fingers can prevent your fingernails digging it and make it more comfortable. Don’t overdo it though, as too much pushing can damage the skin and lead to permanent blemishes and scarring.
3) After that’s done apply an antiseptic cooling moisturiser to kill any bacteria on the surface of the skin before they enter the open pore.
4) After that it’s simply a case of regular skincare and daily cleansing with the right facial wash and twice-weekly use of a facial scrub to shift pore clogging debris and dead cells.
Prevention is, of course, the best cure, but don’t get too enthusiastic with your skincare regime. Scrubbing your face too often can also cause all sorts of problems: not least an increased risk of blackheads and blemishes as your body produces more sebum to replace that which you have removed. It isn’t true that removing a blackhead causes more to develop, but excessive poking and prodding of the epidermis can lead to increased sebum production and thus an even greater risk of blemishes and blackheads forming. Over enthusiastic squeezing can be counterproductive to say the least.
Women are often told to remove their make up before going to bed as it can cause their pores to become clogged. While that obviously isn’t such an issue amongst men, any New Romantics, professional clowns or cross dressers should take note. Best to stay vigilant.
If you’re a bacne sufferer and need some help, take a look at Green People‘s website. They have a variety of natural facial washes and scrubs.
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