Acne Treatment in Raleigh, NC: Clearer Skin With Professional Care

Sebaceous glands attached to hair follicles produce sebum, and androgens increase that production. This is why acne typically begins at puberty and why it flares with hormonal shifts in adulthood, particularly around the menstrual cycle and in conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome.

At the same time, the cells lining the follicle fail to shed normally and accumulate, forming a plug. That plug traps sebum, creating an oxygen poor environment where Cutibacterium acnes, a bacterium present on everyone's skin, proliferates. The immune response to that overgrowth produces the redness, swelling and pus of an inflamed lesion.

Genetics strongly influence how severe this gets. Diet plays a smaller but real role, with high glycemic load foods and possibly skim milk associated with worse acne in studies. Published guidelines of care for acne vulgaris set out the evidence, and the American Academy of Dermatology publishes patient guidance.

Every dermatologist says it and almost nobody listens, so it is worth explaining the mechanism rather than just repeating the instruction.

Squeezing a lesion ruptures the follicle wall beneath the surface, spilling its contents into the surrounding dermis. That triggers a much larger inflammatory response than the original spot, which is why a picked spot becomes bigger, redder and longer lasting. It also spreads bacteria across the surrounding skin.

The lasting consequences are the real problem. Post inflammatory hyperpigmentation, the dark mark left behind, correlates directly with how much inflammation occurred, and it lasts months. More seriously, deep follicle rupture destroys collagen and produces permanent atrophic scarring that no facial will fix. Professional extraction under magnification, performed on the right lesions at the right stage, avoids all of this.