- Whiteheads — Small pimples under the skin. They appear white or flesh-colored.
- Blackheads — Clearly open and visible on the surface of the skin, blackheads appear black in color and usually need to be extracted.
- Papules — Small, solid, rounded bumps that rise from the skin. They are often red in color.
- Pustules — These pimples are usually full of pus. Red and pus ridden on top, they are visible on the skin’s surface.
- Nodules — Similar to Papules, but larger. They can be painful and are embedded deep in the skin.
- Cysts — pus-filled cysts are visible on the skin’s surface and commonly cause scarring.
As if one kind of pimple wasn’t enough, they really had to throw in five more. No worries, though! We can tell you why this is happening so you can get ahead of it.
Why does acne happen?
So we know that clogged pores can lead to pimples — tell us something we don’t know, please. There are four main factors that cause acne; excessive oil production, hair follicles clogged by oil, dead skin cells and dirt, bacteria and excessive activity of androgen hormones (hormonal changes) .
Each pore of your skin is the opening of a follicle. The follicle is made up of a hair and a sebaceous oil gland. The oil gland releases oil (sebum), which travels up the hair, out of the pore and onto your skin to keep your skin lubricated and soft. Since sebaceous oil glands are found on the face and scalp more than anywhere else, it’s easy for pimples to show up on the face and next to the hairline
One or more problems in the lubrication process can cause acne. Too much sebum can be produced and dead skin cells accumulate in your pores. Sometimes, dead skin cells aren’t shed — yikes. When this happens, those dead skin cells remain in the pores and get stuck together by the sticky sebum which causes blockage in the pore, causing a buildup of bacteria (infection), resulting in one of the pimples listed above.
Even though the sebaceous glands begin producing sebum at birth, sebum production may increase up to 500% when there is excess activity of androgen hormones during puberty and hormonal changes.which is why acne is most often found in teenagers and women acne can pop up at any age.