Acne and Age
Most people think acne is limited to puberty and is all about hormones going wild. It is true that the opposing effects of different hormones regulate sebum production.
Testosterone (an androgen) and progesterone increase and estrogens decrease sebum production. Hormones regulate sebum production because the skin requires the right amount of sebum to stay flexible. And yes, normally acne first appears in puberty due to a larger androgen-production. 36% of teenagers have acne, 85% of adolescents have had acne at some time, and 89% of women with acne have had it since the onset of menstruation. But not only adolescents have acne. An increasing number of adults are now affected, women in particular; 12% of middle-aged women still have facial acne. Some people still have acne when they are 70 years old.
Even infants can have acne, even from the age of six months. Since nowadays more and more infants get acne, doctors even have a name for it: "baby-acne", they simply say that this is due to the hormones the babies receive from the mother.
The current theory runs thus: in everybody with acne "the hormones go wild" .….. but that is too easy an answer.
Androgens
If sebum canals are pinched off and much sebum is produced, you will have acne. Androgens increase sebum production so if your androgen levels are increased, you are more likely to have acne. But androgen production is certainly not excessive in all acne patients. In 61% of women with acne the level of at least one androgen hormone (like testosterone) is slightly elevated, which means that in 39% of women with acne the level of all androgens is either equal to, or even below, average.
Due to the menstrual cycle, progesterone level strongly fluctuates. But in only 30% of women with acne, is acne severity related to the menstrual cycle. In 39% of women with acne, the menstrual cycle is irregular. So what do all these numbers tell us?
Androgens and progesterone exacerbate acne, but are not the cause. Suppressing excessive androgen production by oral contraceptive use can decrease acne, but this still does not remove the cause. Moreover, use of any hormonal contraceptive can cause breast cancer.
Corticosteroids
Cortisol is a corticosteroid hormone produced by the body that facilitates decomposition of protein. Like Cortisone, cortisol has been (and is) applied to 'solve' stress injuries and unexplainable pains; administration of cortisol simply eliminates the pain by destroying the targeted tissue, eliminating inflammation and healthy cells as well.
In acne, the cortisol level is often elevated. Not everyone who consumes 'dirty' protein retains water because how effectively protein is decomposed and absorbed is individually different. If you absorb much un-decomposed ('dirty') protein, you are more likely to have acne. That is why in acne the cortisol level is often elevated; to fight the inflammations and to clean up that extra 'dirty' protein in the skin. Because they lessen inflammations and clean up 'dirty' protein, corticosteroids can be successfully administrated to diminish acne. Unfortunately, administration of corticosteroids can also easily impair the system that regulates natural cortisol secretion by the body. Repeated or prolonged administration of corticosteroids can therefore make your body eventually produce too little cortisol to clean up 'dirty' protein. Logically, one is more likely to have acne if natural cortisol-metabolism is impaired. Administration of cortisol can even cause acne directly. The reason: Cortisol destroys tissue, which causes the release of small protein molecules from the destroyed cells. These remainders of cell-protein partly end up in the skin, causing water retention (and acne). That is why stress can also aggravate skin conditions; Cortisol is a 'stress-hormone', released when triggered by stress. Since it does not take away the cause of acne, and it can impair your natural cortisol metabolism, administration of corticosteroids to fight acne is a bad choice.
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