Causes of Skin Blemishes

Skin blemishes come in many forms, including pimples, blackheads and whiteheads. These blemishes can range from mild to severe, and treatment options abound. However, a main course of action for treating skin blemishes is prevention. In order to prevent blemishes, you first need to understand why they appear in the first place.

Hormonal Changes

Acne and skin blemishes can occur as a result of hormonal changes; this is why so many teens get blemishes (8 in 10 according to the Nemours Foundation web site, kidshealth.org). As a teen grows, hormones stimulate his sebaceous glands to produce excessive oil in his skin, causing blemishes to appear. This can also occur with other hormonal changes, such as pregnancy or menopause.

Makeup and Skin Care Products

Using oily products on your skin can cause your pores to become blocked, which in turn causes blemishes. Try using oil-free makeup and make sure to wash it off at the end of each day.
When you wash your face, use gentle or oil-free cleansers, and do not scrub too hard; scrubbing can irritate skin and cause blemishes to worsen.

Oily Contact

If you work in a place where you come into contact with a lot of oil, this can get into your pores and cause blemishes. People who work in fast food restaurants, for example, should be careful to wash their skin thoroughly after work each day to remove the oil from their pores.
You can also get oil on your skin from your hair, especially if your hair hangs in your face. Be sure to wash your hair regularly to avoid oily transfer to your skin. The products you use in your hair, such as gels and hairsprays, can also clog your pores and cause blemishes to appear, so watch carefully to be sure you get these products in your hair and not on your face.

Picking and Irritating

You can actually make your own blemishes worse if you pick at them. Squeezing, scratching, scraping and picking at pimples can irritate your skin worse than it was to begin with, and cause the blemishes to worsen. Also, the oil from the skin on your fingers can clog your infected pores and create new blemishes at the same time. Avoid touching your blemishes in order to prevent spreading.

Blemish Myths

Skin blemishes are not caused by eating greasy foods, such as pizza or French fries. Though some people may get more blemishes after eating certain foods, food itself does not generally cause blemishes to appear. Stress can increase sebum (oil) production in the skin, but stress itself does not cause blemishes to appear.