Stress is one of those factors that can make your acne even worse than it already is. Stress can make those who don’t currently have acne, breakout in acne. As soon as you start to stress, your complexion heads south and you will start to see the eruption of acne cysts and pimples. Just to prove the effect of stress on a person’s acne, Stanford University did a study.
They monitored students acne before, during, and after their final exams. Those with more stress created by finals week had flare-ups of acne and their severe acne worsened. While Stanford University did prove that stress makes acne worse, there still is no medical evidence of the connection between stress and acne. Simply, dermatologists do not yet know why stress causes acne to worsen on the skin.
One connection many have found is in the sebum. If you don’t know what sebum is, it’s the oil on your skin. The natural oil that your body produces is sebum. The cells that produce this oil have receptors for the stress hormones. When stress is at a high level, the production level of sebum seems to be unregulated. Why this occurs is not yet know, but they are convinced that the unregulated production of sebum is responsible for the acne breakouts during times of high stress.
Sebum combines with dead skin cells in the pores. When they become clogged, the skin breaks out in acne. This is a problem that many people face. Acne is not just a teenage condition as you have just discovered that those in college were experiencing outbreaks. In addition, adults will experience acne outbreaks from time to time as well. Some adults are even living with severe acne. No matter what your condition there is always a treatment out there to help with your acne prone skin.
One of the other contributors to acne caused by stress is the human response to pick at the acne. When we are stressed out we tend to pick open pimples and let the pus out. This can cause outbreaks in the local areas where the pus was. In addition, it can result in unwanted acne scars on the surface of the skin. Also, part of the stress response may be washing the face too often. When you wash your face too often it can result in dry skin. The act of cleansing can induce inflammation of the skin.