Is Sebum Clogging Your Pores?

If you suffer from seasonal acne, there could be a number of explanations. You may be more stressed at certain parts of the year, or you may be allergic to a particular weather product. One factor that some people point to when it comes to seasonal acne is sebum. When the air is hot and humid, the sebaceous glands tend to produce more sebum, and it is sebum, along with dirt, oil, dead skin cells and acne causing bacteria, that clogs pores around hair follicles and produces acne. If you suffer from seasonal acne, it may interest you to learn more about sebum.

How Sebum Affects Your Skin

If you suffer from oily skin, and it gets worse when the weather is hot and humid, you are probably one of those people who is prone to excess sebum production. Sebum is an oily, waxy product produced by the sebaceous glands around the hair follicles in your skin to lubricate hair and skin. Although this is not always the case, sebum can combine with acne causing bacteria and other skin debris to produce pimples, blackheads or other forms of acne, so it is usually the case that the less sebum produced, the better.

Sweat and Sebum

It’s important to note that sweat does not cause acne. However, excessive sweat on the skin can lead to overproduction of sebum, which is a contributing factor in acne. For this reason, you shouldn’t be afraid to sweat, but you should wash and cleanse your skin thoroughly after a strenuous activity that has caused excessive sweating.

How Does Benzoyl Peroxide Affect Sebum?

Benzoyl peroxide’s action is not so much about removing sebum, although an acne control product that includes benzoyl peroxide can clear out many of your skin’s products that combine to form acne. Rather, benzoyl peroxide allows oxygen to penetrate deeply into the clogged pore. Propionibacterium acnes, the bacterium that causes these skin products that clog the pore to produce acne, is anaerobic, which means it cannot survive in the presence of oxygen. When the benzoyl peroxide comes in, it brings oxygen with it, killing the acne causing bacteria.

What Can One Do About Sebum?

Sebum is a natural product of your body, so there isn’t much you can do about it. There are some medications that may reduce sebum production, and if you confine yourself to non-humid climates this may help, but for the most part, you’re just going to have to live with it. Fortunately, sebum does not cause acne on its own. You need that other skin debris, acne causing bacteria, and a genetic disposition towards acne in order to develop a serious breakout. Therefore, if you consistently cleanse your skin of that debris, use a strong acne control treatment containing a strong acne fighter like benzoyl peroxide, and practice good hygiene, you can reduce the problems that sebum causes for you. If you know that you are prone to acne under certain weather conditions, begin or ramp up your acne control treatment when those conditions are imminent.