Acne is a distressing skin condition which causes pimples.

The eruptions

Acne may not be a serious or life-threatening ailment, but it causes a lot of psychological and even emotional problems. A few or occasional pimples may not be as distressing a whole crop of them. While it is usually the face which bears the brunt of an acne attack, this skin condition can occur in other places of the body, including the back, where it may even be unnoticed for a long time, unless you wear back-baring clothes.

Acne affects the younger population more than adults, though some adults do develop acne later on in life. It also affects more women than men. While in some people acne is a temporary condition, in others it becomes permanent and occasionally acne, or its many treatments, can even leave scars, so one has to be very careful.

Why does acne occur?

Almost everybody even with a clear, blemishless skin will have a brush with an occasional pimple or an outcrop. But for some, skin with acne is the norm. This usually happens in adolescence because of excessive hormone activity. The hormones activate the sebaceous glands and enlarge them, thus making it easy to trap excessive sebum.

The hair follicles � there are tiny often invisible hair all over the body - are involved and all the debris gets together along with bacterial to form a pimple. All this takes time and while it may seem that you get a pimple apparently overnight, the process actually has been in the making for a few days.

Acne is not caused by damp weather, heat, cold, chocolate, eating greasy foods, dirt or any other extraneous factor. However, some of these conditions can make acne worse.

An important step

One of the most important things you can do is keep your skin is clean. Use a good facial cleanser to clean your face many times a day, without removing all the moisture. While you can use specially formulated anti-pimple face washes, soaps and cleansers, there is no evidence that these work any better.

When cleaning your face, do not handle it excessively, use a washcloth or scrubber. Also use a lot of water to rinse and gently blot your face dry. There are many acne clearing �systems� available but before ordering expensive products check out user reviews and buy those which offer a money back guarantee.

If you go in for facials or face clean-ups, make sure you go to a good skin care specialist as many salons may use products or techniques which can make your condition worse.

Treatments

One of the commonest and easiest treatments is to keep the skin dry as far as possible. To this end you should use benzoyl peroxide, which is a drying agent. It may work for minor incidences of acne. For severe acne, you should visit a dermatologist or skin specialist because there are many medications for acne, including oral medicines and topical creams, ointments and lotions which are available only on prescription.

Just remember there are no instance quick-fix solutions. It takes time for any treatment to work. And the worst thing you can do is to squeeze or prick the offending pimple � you can end with permanent scarring if you do that.