Acne Is Caused By Stress
What is acne?
Everyone will experience acne. Here is an example of acne on the forehead.
Acne is a very common skin disorder that most young people get in early puberty. It is caused by inflammation of the small oil glands (sebaceous glands) that surround the fine hairs on the face and chest.
While the ordinary stresses from every-day living do not affect acne, some drugs that are used to treat people with severe stress can cause acne as a side-effect. If you think you may have acne because of a drug that has been prescribed for stress or depression, you should talk to your doctor about it.
One such study was conducted by the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2002. Although it was a small study, involving just 22 students suffering from acne, the professors involved in the study conclusively proved that the exam stress worsened acne in these students. According to researchers, their findings indicated that “Subjects who had the greatest increases in stress during examination periods also had the greatest exacerbation in acne severity.”
Stress is not a direct cause of acne but it is true that some types of stress can cause the body to produce a hormone called cortisol, which can irritate existing acne.
Indirectly, some medication that we take to alleviate or control extreme stress or emotional problems like depression can be factors in the production of acne.
The ordinary stress of day-to-day living is not an important factor in acne. Severe stress that needs medical attention is sometimes treated with drugs that can cause acne as a side effect. If you think you may have acne related to a drug prescribed for stress or depression, you should consult your physician.
Although stress does often coincide with Acne outbreaks, this is not true for each person, or in every situation. It may also be the result of external irritation, such as stress induced picking at the skin. Drugs that treat severe stress may have Acne as a side effect, but stress itself does not mean you will encounter an Acne outbreak.
Stress is commonly blamed for the development of acne. Stress can have many physiologic effects on the body, including changes in hormones that may theoretically lead to acne. In some cases the stress may actually be caused by the acne lesions, not the other way around! If the acne is being treated effectively, stress is not likely to have much impact on the majority of people.
At puberty, our body begins to produce an abundance of male hormones and this happens in both boys and girls. This overproduction of male hormones can happen at other times in life besides puberty; for example, when a girl or woman starting or stops taking birth control pills.
