Acne Guru

You are an adult, so most of the problems associated with your teen years are over. You got through puberty with few problems except for the occasional acne flare-up. Now that you are older, acne is a thing of the past, and you will never have to be concerned with unsightly blemishes again, right?

Wrong!

Acne is no respecter of age and can strike anyone of any age. Why do adults get acne? Isn’t it part of the changes experienced during adolescence? Yes and no.

Causes of Adult Acne

Quite often, whether you are a teenager or an adult, acne can be caused by toxins in your system. Sure, the pores are blocked and the oil builds up to cause a blemish, but what causes the pore to clog to begin with? Toxins.

Some causes of adult acne in women are the hormonal changes experienced with menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause. With rapidly changing hormones, skin problems of all kinds may develop, including acne. Once the hormones return to normal, the problems usually stop and the acne clears up.

There is another thing that can cause acne in adults that is often overlooked. Medication side effects are sometimes seen on the face or another body part as acne. Anabolic steroids, lithium, iodine, and some medications that treat epilepsy commonly cause acne. Once the medication is stopped or the body gets accustomed to taking it, the acne should clear up.

Certain chemicals and herbicides can also cause a rash that might look a lot like acne and can appear anywhere on the body.

Adult Acne Treatments

Treating adult acne is not much different than treating teen acne. With proper skin care, topical ointments or creams, and sometimes an oral medication such as an antibiotic, acne can usually be brought under control.

Depending on the cause of the acne, just waiting it out will usually give your body enough time to deal with it and heal on its own. If the cause was a toxic build up in your body, you might want to consider taking supplements to help you reach a healthy level of toxicity again.
If the problem that caused the acne is hormonal, it should clear up with a return to normal hormone levels. If the cause was medication or a chemical, then it should clear up when exposure to the substance ceases.

Adult acne may become so severe that you will want to seek more aggressive help to cure it, such as laser acne treatments or a peel of some sort. If you have severe acne or are seeing what appears to be scarring, you should talk to your doctor about what treatment options are available to treat your adult acne problem.

Adult acne treatments are the same treatments teenagers use. Acne can affect more than your face. It can also appear on your back, buttocks, arms, legs, and chest. With the right treatments, you can be free of acne and all the problems it can cause.