Why do skin pores get plugged and cause acne?

Acne develops when bacteria, in particular Propionibacterium acne, infect the oil (sebum) that accumulates inside plugged hair follicles. See the post on the “skinny on acne“  for more details.

But the question is: how and why exactly do the hair follicles get plugged?

The answer is found in one of the properties of the bacteria (Ref 1, 2).

Acne bacteria secrete a glue-like substance

How bacterial biofilm causes acne

It turns out that the bacteria secrete a bio-film (glycocalix) of sticky polymers. The bacteria produce this bio-film to attach themselves to the walls of the hair follicles.  Some of this “glue” also ends up in the sebum (oil). This causes dead cells that are being sloughed off from the walls of the hair follicles, as well as bacteria and dirt to clump together.

Plugging of pores

The clumpiness gets worse and worse until the hair follicle is completely plugged. Now the mix of sebum, bacteria, dirt and dead cells (keratinocytes) cannot go anywhere. The hair follicle starts to swell and the infection gets really started. The end result is an acne break-out. First a whitehead is formed. More advanced stages are blackheads and actual acne lesions.

The sticky polymers also protect against antimicrobial agents

Incidentally, the sticky polymers not only causes everything to clump together and plug the hair follicles, but they also function as a protective shield that protects the bacteria from antimicrobial agents such as the ones that are being used to treat acne (Ref 2). This makes such agents less effective and is one of the reasons why acne is so hard to treat.

Use essential oils to unplug pores

Oil and water don’t mix. On the other hand, oils and oils do. The active ingredients in Sana Fela Acne Treatment are essential oils of Tea Tree and Eucalyuptus that have strong antibacterial and transdermal properties.

But there is more to it than that.  Since they are essential oils, it makes sense that these extracts also can dilute and help prevent the clumping together of sebum, bacteria, dead cells and dirt! This is one of the reasons why Sana Fela Acne Treatment works so well.

See  the pages on Sana Fela Acne Treatment and on Tea Tree Oil to learn more or visit the store to purchase your own!

References

1. Burkhart CG and Burkhart CN (2007) Expanding the microcomedone theory and acne therpeutics: Propionibacterium acnes biofilm producesbiological glue that holds corneocytes together to form plug.  J. Am. Acad. Dermatol 57:722-724

2.  Coenye T et al (2007) Biofilm formation by Propionibacterium acnes is associated with increased resistance to antimicrobial agents and increased production of putative virulence factors. Research in microbiology 158: 386-392