Acne On Teenager Causes And Treatment

acne on teenager

Acne can happen to anyone regardless of gender or age. But usually, a person will start experiencing acne when they enter puberty.

Acne On Teenager Causes And Treatment

When teenagers enter puberty, their hormonal will start to fluctuate, and they will begin to feel the presence of excess oil on their face, followed by acne. The acne appearance often makes teenagers feel ashamed and less confident.

Acne on Teenager Causes

Although acne can affect anyone, studies show that certain ages influence acne appearance. According to the information reported by Hopkins All Children, acne on teenagers usually begins at the beginning of puberty, which is between the ages of 12 years or less.

When children enter the adolescent development stage (puberty), hormonal changes begin in the body. Due to these hormonal changes, teenagers will start to experience excess oil production, which triggers breakouts and acne.

Hormonal changes

Teenagers' bodies will experience up and down in hormone production, which makes the hormones become unstable. The unstable hormone will stimulate the sebaceous glands or oil glands in the skin's pores to work excessively. This condition makes oil or sebum production beyond the skin's needs.

At the same time, teenagers are loaded with abundant energy to explore new things. They love to contribute to various activities, including outdoor activities.

The number of activities a teenager carries often exposes their skin to free radicals, sunlight, and pollution. Free radicals, sunlight, and pollution are some factors that can increase the damage to the skin cells, and lead to the accumulation of dead skin cells.

If the dead skin cells do not exfoliate properly, it will increase the chance of clogged pores, allowing bacteria to freely multiply. Without proper cleansing, the clogged skin pores can experience infection if infected by acne bacteria. The infection will become visible in the form of swelling and redness, known as acne.

Puberty acne that occurs in teenagers is more common in the facial area, especially the forehead, cheeks, nose, and chin. Other body parts that also often get acne infections are the shoulders, neck, chest area, and upper back.

In addition, the appearance of acne in adolescents is associated with the signs of puberty, which means the beginning journey before adulthood. It will be experienced by both girls and boys. Many teenagers are worried that puberty acne will ruin their life.

But don't worry; over time, puberty acne will slowly disappear. However, some pimples or acne will persist even though puberty has passed. It's all due to lifestyle habits, medical effects, or health problems.

Acne On Teenager Treatment

Acne on teenagers will be challenging to treat because it involves hormonal imbalance. The hormonal imbalance will make the skin more vulnerable to oily skin, which leads to stubborn acne.

Although stubborn, acne on teenagers can be treated easily using the right basic skincare steps as below: 

1. Always double cleanse

After many activities, your skin will get dirty due to the accumulation of oil, dirt, and sweat. To deep clean your skin, practicing a double cleanse every night before going to bed will help your skin get rid of anything that potentially clogs your pores.

You can choose micellar water as one of your basic steps to remove any oil and dirt that clog your pores. Besides that, using cleansing oil or cleansing balm will also do the job.

Please always choose a product that doesn't contain fragrance or any ingredient that triggers any allergic reaction.

2. Wash your face regularly

One of the major causes of acne on teenagers is hygiene. Sometimes, you will feel lazy to wash your face after doing many things. In your mind, you just want to lay and relax your body and mind, and suddenly, you will fall into a deep sleep and forget to wash your face.

The laziness of washing your face will allow the accumulation of dirt and dead skin cells to build up on your skin. And after that, your skin pores will get clogged, which leads to germs and bacteria freely growing on your skin surface. 

Therefore, always washing your face with facial wash properly twice a day, in the morning and night before bed, will help minimize acne and prevent acne from getting worse. However, please avoid washing your face more than twice daily, as this can dry your skin.

Always choose a gentle facial wash containing active ingredients such as BHA or salicylic acid, which will be very helpful in opening your clogged pores and deep cleansing the skin from excess oil, dirt, and dead skin cells.

Simple tip on using facial wash, please do not use bar soap on your facial skin, which can worsen skin conditions and cause the skin to lose its natural moisture. If your skin loses its natural moisture, it will damage your skin barrier. A damaged skin barrier will make your skin dry and prone to many skin problems, including acne.

3. Avoid using a physical scrub

Many people often use physical scrubs because they help to remove dead skin cells and smoothen their skin. However, the friction caused by physical scrub can tear your skin and lead to breakouts.

Physical scrub will cause skin irritation and stimulate excess oil production, which makes your skin dryer and oilier, leading to acne. Physical scrub on acne-prone skin will increase the chance of getting skin irritation and develop texture on your skin.

3. Don't forget the moisturizer

Many teenagers are reluctant to use moisturizers for fear of making their skin oily. Actually, having moist skin and oily skin are two different conditions.

When you have puberty acne, you indeed have excess sebum or oil production. However, that doesn't mean you need to skip moisturizer.

Excess oil or sebum is an indication that your skin lacks moisturizer. Once your skin lacks moisturizer, your skin will inform sebaceous glands to produce more oil.

The extra oil produced by sebaceous glands tends to be thicker than expected oil production. Due to this, your skin will get stickier and oilier than your normal skin condition, making your skin quickly develop acne. 

Therefore, applying moisturizers that suit your skin will help your skin reduce oil production. You can choose skin care products that contain active ingredients that help regulate sebum production, such as Azelaic Acid or Niaciname, or simply select products that are oil-free moisturizers.

4. Protect facial skin from sun exposure

The skin cannot automatically fight puberty acne when it is often exposed to sunlight which can cause direct damage that leads to acne infection. 

According to a study, sun exposure can cause premature aging, hyperpigmentation, dark spots, increased dead skin cells, and acne. 

To avoid all those side effects caused by sun exposure, consistently applying sunscreen at least contains SPF 30 is necessary.

In addition, pay attention to the sunscreen content and the type of sunscreen. There are 3 types of sunscreen, physical sunscreen, chemical sunscreen, and hybrid sunscreen. 

Finally, if you have sensitive skin, please consider using physical sunscreen that is less to cause irritability.

5. Eat more vegetables and fruits

Eating more vegetables and fruits is proven to clear your skin and promote the growth of new skin cells. That's all due to the high amount of nutrients from vegetables and fruits.

Vegetables and fruits contain an abundant amount of antioxidant and vitamins, which is essential to develop new healthy skin cells. Not only that, vegetables and fruits are great for reducing inflammation in your body, including acne.

6. Using Tretinoin cream

Tretinoin is one of the strongest vitamin A derivatives that effectively eliminate acne and prevent premature aging.

Usually, tretinoin can be obtained by doctor's prescription, but in some countries, you can get the lowest dosage, 0.025%, from the drug store.

You can use tretinoin cream as big as pea size ( do not exceed this size) and apply it all over your acne area. Always apply the cream at night before going to bed. Do not use the cream in the morning or during the day because it can cause hypersensitivity. And always wear sunscreen in the morning.

7. Consult a dermatologist

If your acne is very severe and you have tried many methods but have given no results, then it's time to consult your dermatologist. The dermatologist will help you to get rid of acne according to your symptoms so further skin damage can be avoided.

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