How many triggers of acne are there?

Acne vulgaris or acne with its popular name is the most common skin disease all over the world. There are lots of acne types like scaly red skin, whiteheads- blackheads, pimples and large papules. Acne is mostly inflammatory but there are some noninflammatory types. Adolescence is the main period acne is seen. There are lots of reasons why acne grows but main reason adolescence is problems on testosterone balance of body. Acnes mostly disappear in a few days but there is also some acne types last longer. Acne triggers are also very important on acne problem. How many triggers of acne are there?


There are lots of myths and truth about acne triggers. Some common belief on products is wrong about directly affected but products like oily ones may trigger acnes indirectly. First of all, people think oily skin is a result of eating oily products but sebaceous glands is the reason of acnes and they have no interaction with body fat. Some people’s skin is fatty than others and it’s a genetic problem. But it doesn’t mean that oily products have no effect on acnes. They trigger hormones and break sugar resistance balance in the body and it’s one of the reasons for acne.
Another myth about acnes is connection between eating chocolate and acne production. Last researches showed that there’s no direct connection between eating chocolate and acnes. But there’s an indirect effect of chocolate in acne production because so much chocolate breaks sugar balance in body and this cause body to trigger acnes. According to American Academy of Dermatology, eating less chocolate will help body to keep the balance.

On the contrary of oily products and chocolate, milk may trigger acnes. Lots of researches are released on this topic and “Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology” is the most popular one today. Researches showed that young men who drinks more milk than standard is tend to acne. Also milk has the same effect on girls. Milk triggers acne production because of androgen hormones inside it. Researches showed that androgen hormones have an effect on acnes. For example testosterone is an androgen hormone type and it’s one of the main causes for acne. Acne triggers DHT process and it causes to work sebaceous glands for an oily skin. Also in last years, farmers are giving some hormone based products to cows for more milk production and hormones like IGF-1 may trigger acnes.

Questions about smoking and acne connections are also very high. It’s a controversial topic that if smoking causes acne or not. Latest researches showed that smoking not directly causes acnes but causes blocked pores and blackheads. A research on smokers showed that %42 of them have acne problem but nonsmokers’ rate is only %10. Especially women smoking are effecting from this trigger problem.
Makeup and acne connection is also a main question of women. Researches showed that some makeup products may trigger acnes because of breaking balance on sebaceous glands level. But main reason that makeup triggers acne is sleeping with it. It’s possible to see lots of acnes after sleeping with makeup. Also women with acne problem must use noncomedogenic makeup products because they have lowered effect on clogging the pores. Also cleaning makeup products frequently is very important because not cleaned make up products develops lots of harmful parasites to face.

Stress effects acne production. Lots of researches show this result. Stress has lots of effects to body like breaking sugar blood balance and run organs more than normal. Also some diets may cause stress and acnes.