Other Acne Theories

[nick]

I was talking to someone on another forum and they said that sebum doesn't hydrate/moisturize the skin?

Oil and sebum both come from the sebaceous glands, but what are the differences between them and their respective roles?

They said that their is no sebum response mechanism when your skin gets dry.

They also said that water moisturizes the epidermis and that sebum doesn't have any moisturizing affect. Which is totally wrong.

If dead skin cells block the pores, then how does one explain a skin shedding 'deficiency' as the cause. Wouldn't scientists look at skin shedding as a major problem in acne?

Also, why does Vit. E increase skin shedding. I've read reports of people using to help heal scars with no success.

[RRM]

I was talking to someone on another forum and they said that sebum doesn't hydrate/moisturize the skin?

Do they agree that when you put oil/fat on your skin (as natural living people in hot countries do since thousands, and probably millions of years), that this helps to prevent dehydration?

Oil and sebum both come from the sebaceous glands, but what are the differences between them and their respective roles?

I think that the only difference is their 'thickness'; and that the 'thickness' varies to the 'need' of the skin.

They said that their is no sebum response mechanism when your skin gets dry.

Do they also think that oil/sebum production is not influenced by sun exposure?

They also said that water moisturizes the epidermis

Sure it does. Water 'works from the inside' (cells contain less water the more they surface), whereas sebum/oil protects the outside.

and that sebum doesn't have any moisturizing affect.

I guess they take it literally?
Fats cannot moisturize, indeed, but they do protect the skin against dehydration, which is moisturizing indirectly.

If dead skin cells block the pores, then how does one explain a skin shedding 'deficiency' as the cause. Wouldn't scientists look at skin shedding as a major problem in acne?

Exactly.
Also, then the cure for acne would be to remove the top layer of skin cells all the time, which is easy.

Also, why does Vit. E increase skin shedding. I've read reports of people using to help heal scars with no success.

Whether scars fade away, or not, is determined by to what extend healing is done properly. Shedding just stimulates skin cell reproduction, not healing scars. Healing scars is about replacing skin cells as they originally were located. Permanent scars occur when this 'copying' of the original skin structure is not possible.
Stimulating skin renewal by vitamin E only speeds up the process, which is not at all the same as increasing accuracy of this process.
Actually, the slower the healing, the more accurate it may be.

[nick]

So Vit. E stimulates skin renewal and in a normal person there is no need for such a thing. Thus it is pretty much speeds up aging?
Why does it speed up renewal?

In another forum some told me that sebum doesn't reach the surface and that it is an epidermal lipid:

The sebaceous glands secrete continuously, producing sebum that consists predominantly of triglycerides, wax esters, and squalene. High rates of sebum production per sebocyte result in low levels of linoleate in the sebaceous esters, subjecting the follicular epithelium to essential fatty acid deficiency and the characteristic hyperkeratosis that results in comedo formation.

In some later research they determined that that fatty acids derived from sebum become incorporated into comedonal acylceramides, displacing linoleate. This is most likely why acne parients also seem to almost always have a certain degree of impairment in their epidermal water barrier function...Sebum actually damages our epidermal barrier function!!!!

Something about linloleate displacement and having to do with linoleic acid.

Also, retinoids dry the skin don't they?
My friend uses them all the time and doesn't believe it will affect his skin in the long term.

[RRM]

So Vit. E stimulates skin renewal and in a normal person there is no need for such a thing. Thus it is pretty much speeds up aging?
Why does it speed up renewal?

It stimulates cell division, which has very different effects depending on the type of cells involved. When T-cells are involved, for example, the immune system is boosted due to increased division of t-cells. When applied topically, it will stimulate skin cell divison, and also has many other effects, including oxidant scavenging, which can have protective effects when too much oxidants are present (due to sunlight exposure for example), but also negative effects, as oxidants also prevent tumor growth.

I dont know how exactly vitamin E promotes cell division.

In another forum some told me that sebum doesn't reach the surface

If it wouldnt, you would never see blackheads, which are the tops of sebum; oxidized at the top (browning of the top).
If the water pressure in your skin is not too high, you can press the skin on the sides of your nose between the top of your fingers, and you will see some sbum coming out. Thats is because they can come out by the pores; sebaceous glands are ALWAYS situated in your pores. simply because the sebum needs to be able to get to the surface of your skin.
Most of the time, the top of the sebum 'sticking out of your pores' just keeps your skin a bit oily, as it is spread over your face when something / your hand touches your face.


and that it is an epidermal lipid:

"the characteristic hyperkeratosis that results in comedo formation".

The comedo formation is the result of the blockade of your pores by water retention. Hyperkeratosis is a symtom; not the cause.

"This is most likely why acne parients also seem to almost always have a certain degree of impairment in their epidermal water barrier function...Sebum actually damages our epidermal barrier function!!!!"

Ha, ha
They see the impairment in the epidermal 'water barrier', not knowing that THAT is the cause. And of course that often comes with acne...

Also, retinoids dry the skin don't they?

Retinoids kill skin cells very rapidly, so that the skin gets thinner. Thinner also means 'less moist' (because there are less cells containing water)

My friend uses them all the time and doesn't believe it will affect his skin in the long term.

He doesnt want to believe it BECAUSE he uses them all the time. He doesnt want to doubt that what seems to be a help to him.

[nick]

"the characteristic hyperkeratosis that results in comedo formation".

The comedo formation is the result of the blockade of your pores by water retention. Hyperkeratosis is a symtom; not the cause.

So how does water retention affect this hyperkeratosis?
I know that it is when the cells that attach to the hair folicle speed up and clump together, thus blocking the pore, which is mistaken for the cause of acne.
It must somehow cause the skin to react this way, I guess?

I would have thought that hyperkeratization occurs only around the hair folicles and then would have though why did I get spots on my checks and forehead. But their are very small folicles there too!
Makes sense.

Thanks RRM!

[RRM]

So how does water retention affect this hyperkeratosis?

Keratin is a protein in the skin, formed from cells, that is only composed in hair follicles.
The keratin surrounds the hair, and generally gets out of the skin with the hair it attaches to.
When the water pressure is too high due to too much water retention, the pores (and thus the sebum canals) are pinched off, and less keratin may attach to the hair, leaving more keratin in the skin, resulting in hyperkeratinization.

If the skin does not produce much sebum (which is individaually different) there may be hyperkeratinization (depending on the degree of water retention), but no acne.

I know that it is when the cells that attach to the hair folicle speed up and clump together, thus blocking the pore, which is mistaken for the cause of acne.

The clump does not block the pore; the pore is already blocked, resulting in the clump.