The oily and waxy substance that makes your skin look so shiny is called sebum. It is produced by specialized cells in the sebaceous glands called sebocytes. The sebocytes accumulate lipids until they eventually burst, resulting in the release of sebum into the lumen of the sebaceous glands and from there into the hair follicles.

Sebum over-production causes enlarged skin pores

As it turns out there is a correlation between the amount of sebum produced and the diameter of the skin pores. Sebum over-production results in enlarged pores. Thus, people with oily skin often also have large pores.

This relation between oily skin and pore size has been studied extensively by Roh and coworkers from the University College of Medicine in Seoul, Korea [Ref 1]. In one study they measured the pore diameters from 30 female and 30 male volunteers. They did this by taking pictures with a special dermoscopic camera and then measuring the size of pores using image analysis software. They also measured the sebum production of the skin using a sebumeter [Ref 1]. Health history and hormonal status were also taken into account.

The results show that there is a statistically significant correlation between pore size, amount of sebum produced, sex and age. The average production of sebum turns out to be significantly higher in males than in females of comparable age. On the other hand, the average pore size of females tends to be larger as compared to males. In females sebum production is significantly higher during the menstrual cycle and skin pore size increases around the ovulation phase. The graph shows how the pore size increases with increased sebum output (figure based on data from Ref. 1).

Correlation of sebum output and skin pore size.

In addition to hormones, there are also a number of environmental factors that can increase sebum production, such as temperature, humidity, and exposure to ultraviolet light (photo aging due to excessive sun light). As a result, there are seasonal changes in sebum production. Hereditary factors also can play a role. The good news is that large pores does not appear to be related to the severity of acne.

Is it possible to shrink large pores?

Treatments for enlarged pores include oral isotretinoin (e.g. acutane), various retinoic acid creams, iontophoresis, strong pulsed light, and chemical peels. Unfortunately, such treatments have only had mixed success. A really effective treatment for large pores is not yet available. So, is there anything else that can be done?

One of the best clues comes from the correlation of sebum output and pore size during the female cycle, where both sebum output and pore size go up and down in sync. Another clue comes from what happens as people get older, where both sebum output and pore size decrease with age.

Thus, it is clear that reducing the oil production of your skin will result in a reduction of pore size over time, although this may not be a fast fix. Therefore, until better treatments specifically for enlarged pores become available, your best bet is to normalize your oily skin which then should cause the pores to shrink over time.

The problem is that it takes a long time to shrink pores. Many of the products that can reduce oily skin and pore size are really designed to treat acne and can be quite harsh to your skin (for the topical products) or tough on your body (for the oral acne treatments). But the biggest issue is that these products are not really suitable to be used long term, precisely because they can be so tough to take.

Tangerine Anti-Shine Cream

We have developed a treatment for oily skin that contains a special tangerine peel extract.
Citrus peels, and in particular tangerine peels, contain large amounts of a natural compound called nobiletin, which recently has been shown by researchers to reduce sebum production. Contrary to other oily skin products on the market, our Tangerine Anti-Shine is very gentle and soothing to your skin and thus is suitable for long term use. If you are interested to learn more about nobiletin or about our products, check below in the For Further Reading section.

References

1. Roh M, Han M, Kim D, and Chung K (2006) Sebum output as a factor contributing to the size of facial pores. British J Dermatol. 155: 890–894

For Further Reading

Learn more about how nobiletin reduces oily skin

Because there is so much misinformation on this topic, we wrote this post. As regulars at sanafela.com have come to expect, this article is based on what science has to say about the topic.

Let’s first find out a bit more about what soap actually is.

What is soap anyway?

Soap is made in a process called saponification. Animal or plant fats are treated with hydroxide (lye) which hydrolyzes the fatty acids. The main animal fat comes from rendered body fat obtained from the meat industry. In the United States the main plant fat for soap comes from coconut and palm oil [1]. You can find a summary of the chemistry of saponification and general structural formula on about.com.

The properties of the soap being manufactured depend in part on the chain length of the fatty acids that are used. The shorter the chain length (less than 12 amino acids), the more irritating the soap will be [1]. The longer the chain length, the harder the soap is and the smaller the bubbles in the soap lather will be. Shorter chains create softer soap and lather with larger bubbles. Small bubbles last longer than large bubbles, so the longer fatty acid chains produce dense and longer lasting lather.

Animal fats mostly yield long chain fatty acids whereas the short chain fatty acids are mostly derived from plant fats. By mixing animal and plant fats the hardness and type of lather of the soap bar can be set to whatever is intended. The hardness of the soap is also determined by the type of lye that is used. Sodium hydroxide will produce a harder soap as compared to potasium hydroxide. The solvents that are used to dissolve the fragrances that are used in soaps tend to make the soap softer.

Soap Additives

A whole host of substances can be added to the soap base to change its properties, give it a longer shelf life, or make it smell good. Some of the more important ones to keep in mind when looking for soap are mentioned here.

Unsaturated plant fatty acids easily oxidize in air, so it is necessary to add preservatives such as EDTA (EthyleneDiamineTetraAcetic Acid), citric acid or butylated hydroxy toluene.

Glycerin is a byproduct of saponification and is thus found naturally in soap. Glycerin absorbs water and is commonly used as a moisturizer. The amount of glycerin in soap determines how easy it is to rinse the soap away. Examples of other skin conditioners that are often added to soaps are aloe, lanolin and vitamin E.

Other additives that can be used in soaps are things like exfoliants (e.g. pumice), anti-acne additives, as well as fillers such as resins and talcum. The color and transparency of soap can be changed by the addition of pigments, dyes, and metal oxides, most often zinc oxide and titanium oxide.

The topic of soap ingredients and additives is extensive. Stay tuned for future posts and an ebook that will go into the details and pros and cons of the various constituents of soaps and creams with an eye on oily skin and acne. You can also sign up for our email list to get advance notice of new posts and special discounts on our product and ebooks.

How does soap clean?

Soap cleans by changing the surface tension of water and by solubilizing and suspending dirt which then can be rinsed away. Soap molecules have an apolar hydrophobic and a polar hydrophilic end. The hydrophobic (fat loving) parts of the molecules bind to oily or greasy dirt, causing the hydrophilic (water loving) parts of the soap molecules to orient themselves toward water. The soap thus acts as a bridge between the water and the dirt, allowing the dirt to be held in suspension and to be washed away.

Regular soap is bad for your oily skin

Your skin protects itself from the environment by the acidic mantle [2]. The acidic mantle consists of a mixture of oil from the sebaceous glands and secretions from your sweat glands. Among other things, it contains fatty acids that have antibacterial properties. As a result, the pH of your skin normally is acidic. While the skin of a newborn baby is just about neutral (pH 7), the pH of the skin becomes more acid as you get older. The skin of adults is usually slightly to moderately acidic (pH 4.5 to 6.5).

When your skin is too oily, your sebaceous glands are overdoing it and secreting too much oil. However, you can’t just remove all the oil in any old way, since any kind of irritation to the sebaceous glands can cause them to secrete even more oil. To prevent irritation as much as possible, you need to use a soap that does not change the pH of the skin, or at least does not flip it from the natural acidic into the alkaline range.

After you have read above how hydroxides are used to make soap, it is not surprising that a standard bar of soap is quite alkaline. If you use regular soap, the pH of the washed skin will turn alkaline. This irritates the skin which then responds by producing more oil as it tries to protect itself.

Soap formulations for oily skin

As explained above, the pH changes of your skin that are caused by regular alkaline soap, while doing a great job cleaning, cause irritation which stimulates the skin to keep on over-producing oil. When you have oily skin, you should look for soaps that are specifically formulated to have a neutral or acidic pH. The pH of traditional bar soap is around pH 10. This pH can be lowered and neutralized by adding an excess of free fatty acids that are not saponified. This is referred to as “superfatting” of soap [1].

The best soap for oily skin is not really soap at all

The best soaps for oily skin are not soaps at all. This refers to a group of products called the Syndets. Syndet is an acronym for Synthetic Detergent [3]. These are really detergents that can be in the form of a bar of soap, but also may be thick liquids.

Because no hydroxides are involved in the production of Syndets, they can be made at a wide variety of pH. Syndets contain synthetic surfactants that cause less irritation and have better “skin feel” and conditioning and moisturizing properties as compared to traditional soaps. Such synthetic soaps generally are much milder for the skin and have superior lather properties. They also typically have more conditioners and moisturizers. A well known example is Dove.

There are also mixtures of traditional soap and Syndets. Such mixtures are usually referred to as Combars. Well known examples are Zest and Ever 2000

Recommendations for oily skin

If you have oily skin, it is important to wash your face with a soap that has a mildly acidic pH and is non-irritating to the skin. As explained above, some of the best choices are superfatted acidic soaps as well as acidic Syndet based formulations. Also, keep in mind that longer amino acid chains tend to be less irritating. As always, having a little knowledge and reading product labels goes a long way to make the right choices for your skin care.

Suggested Reading

If you enjoyed his article, you also might like to read our other articles on oily skin. Regardless of how you wash your face, if you are looking for an effective, long-lasting way to reduce the amount of oil that is being produced by your skin, have a look at our nobiletin-based Tangerine Anti-Shine Cream.

References

[1] Handbook of Cosmetic Science and Technology

[2] Schmid MH and Korting HC (1995) The concept of the acid mantle of the skin: its relevance for the choice of skin cleaners. Dermatology 191: 276-280

[3] Kirsners RS and Froelich CW (1998) Soaps and detergents: understanding their composition and effect. Ostomy Wound Manage 44: 62S-69S

We tallied up all the responses we received since the introduction until now, expressed the results as a percentage and created the graph to the right. The results were better than we dared to hope. A whopping 96% of customers either told us that the Tangerine Anti-Shine Cream substantially improved their oily skin, or had no comments.

Only a small percentage (4%) told us that they did not like the product. We are pleased to have made nearly all customers happy; but as the expression goes, we can make most customers happy some of the time, but not all are going to be happy all of the time, which is why Sana Fela has a liberal customer service and refund policy.

We love to hear from our customers that our products work for them, but want to understand why some people were not happy. So, we really would like to encourage everybody to let us know how things are going. We strive to develop the best products possible. In return we ask our customers to be honest with us.

Maybe some of you are reading this page, but don’t quite know what Sana Fela Tangerine Anti-Shine Cream is and what it does. In short, this product contains a special extract made from tangerines that contains nobiletin. This compound reduces the activity of your sebaceous glands and with regular use provides less oily skin. Click here for more information on nobiletin and oily skin.

We close this post by thanking our customers for the trust they put in us when they purchase our products. Our goal is to provide everybody with tools to get healthier, better looking skin. However, our products can’t help anybody unless people know about it. So, if you like our products, tell your friends!     …What are you waiting for?  C’mon, pick up that phone!  Send that tweet!  Post to your wall!  We will be right here when you get back …

Nobiletin reduces oily skin

Our Tangerine Anti-Shine Cream is being discovered by more and more people with oily skin issues. As is discussed elsewhere on this blog, citrus fruits, and in particular tangerines, contain relatively large amounts of Nobiletin. This compound has been shown to reduce the amount of oil that is produced by the skin. Our exclusive patent pending Anti-Shine Cream contains a special extract from tangerine peels that is enriched in nobiletin.

If you ever wondered what other things Nobiletin can do, this post is for you. As it turns out, Nobiletin also has several other important beneficial properties. This post illustrates these, and you will find that this compound has the potential for great future medical applications. There are a number of papers that describe the anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties of Nobiletin. This post describes some of the work of Akira Murakami and co-workers (Ref 1).

Nobiletin reduces the generation of free radicals

Free radicals are molecules that can be produced by white blood cells during an immune response. Free radicals are highly reactive molecules and can damage cells and cause inflammation and even cancer. Because the consumption of citrus fruits has been found to be beneficial for cancer prevention, Muarkami’s group decided to study various extracts of satsuma mandarins, one of the most popular citrus fruits in Japan. When they tested the various fractions, they found that the fractions that contain Nobiletin were able to reduce by up to 58% the production of free radicals by cells that had been stimulated to produce them. They found that this inhibitory action of Nobiletin was about as potent as compared to resveratrol, the compound that is responsible for the famous health benefits of red wine.

Anti-Inflammatory activity of Nobiletin

The researchers also looked at the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative activity of Nobiletin on skin. When skin gets severely irritated, activated white blood cells accumulate in the affected area. This in turn causes inflammation. The researchers showed that if they treated the skin with nobiletin they could reduce by 3-fold the number of white blood cells that accumulate in the skin, significantly reducing the amount of inflammation.

Nobiletin reduces tumor-formation

As one would expect based on it’s  suppressive effects on free radicals and inflammation, Nobiletin is quite effective in the prevention of a variey of skin tumors. Indeed, the researchers were able to show  that topical applications of Nobiletin at very low concentations were able to reduce skin tumor incidence by up to 43% and the number of skin tumors per incidence by up to 76% (Ref 1).

Summary

In summary, Nobiletin is quite a powerful compound with several beneficial medicinal properties. It will be exiting to see whether further research will confirm these beneficial properties for Nobiletin and whether such research will eventually lead to further Nobiletin-based products. In the mean time, let’s spread the word on the oily skin reducing properties of this exiting substance!

For further reading:

If you enjoyed this post, click here for additional posts on Nobiletin
More information on our Anti-Shine Cream

References:

1. Murakami A, et al (2000) Inhibitory effect of Citrus Nobiletin on Phorbol Ester-induced Skin Inflammation, oxidative Stress, and Tumor Promotion in Mice.  Cancer Research 60: 5059-5066

Anybody who has the misfortune to suffer from it will be able to attest to the fact that having oily skin can cause a substantial psychological drain and have a significant impact on quality of life, happiness, self confidence and general well-being.

It is very clear that how one perceives one’s own physical appearance can have a profound impact on one’s psychological state and on social interactions. Sufferers with poor self image tend to interact less with other people and in extreme cases can isolate themselves from social interactions all together.

But let’s go back to basics for a moment. What is a terrible oily mess for one person might be looking pretty good for somebody else. So, the question is how does one judge as objectively as possible what level of oiliness the skin of  a given person is?

How your dermatologist measures oily skin

Dermatologists use a Sebumeter to measure the amount of oil produced by somebody’s skin. This device gives a direct readout  of the amount of oil that has been collected on a special plastic strip (Sebutape) by touching it to the skin for a set amount of time (usually 30 seconds). The tape becomes transparent where it absorbs oil and the Sebumeter measures the variation of light transmission through the strip.

Determine your own oily skin level

Most people don’t have a Sebumeter lying around, so apart from going to the dermatologist, what can be done to get a better idea as to how oily your skin is?

In 2007 Segot-Chicq and coworkers published a paper in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (1) in which they demonstrate that a simple questionnaire with 18 questions was remarkably accurate in distinguishing the oily skin group from the normal skin control group.

They defined the normal skin group as having Sebumeter readings in the range of 70 to 150 micrograms per square centimeter (males tend to have higher numbers as compared to females), whereas the oily skin group was defined as having readings of over 150 micrograms per square centimeter.

OSSIQ questionnaire

The questionnaire is called the OSSIQ which stands for “Oily Skin Self-Image Questionnaire”. The 18 questions are grouped together in the categories of Symptoms, Behaviour and Emotional Status.  One additional question is considered Neutral. Each question has five possible answers that are scored as follows:

0 – Never

1 – Rarely

2 – Sometimes

3 – Often

4 – Always

The higher your score, the oilier your skin.

The OSSIQ questions are (freely translated from French):

Symptoms

1. My skin makes me feel uncomfortable

2. I have sensitive skin

3. My skin is irritated

Behavior

4. My skin condition makes my social life problematic

5. I tend to stay home because of what my skin looks like

6. My skin condition affects my interactions with relatives

7. The appearance of my skin affects my relations with others

8. I try to hide my skin from others

Emotional Status

9. My skin is not pretty

10. I feel depressed about my skin

11. I don’t like to look at my face

12. I don’t like to touch my face

13. I am not happy with the way my skin looks

14. I am frustrated about  the condition of my skin

15. I often obsess about my skin

16. My skin problem is stressful to me

17. I think my skin makes me feel unattractive

Neutral

18. I feel that taking care of my skin constrains my life

The researchers showed that this combination of questions that address perception, behavioral and emotional consequences that are associated with an oily skin condition clearly distinguished the oily skin from the control group. They also showed that improvements in oily skin condition were accurately reflected by an improved (lower) score in a repeat of the questionnaire.

The OSSIQ is thus a valuable tool that you can use to monitor the improvements of your skin.

We are interested in your feedback!

Do the OSSIQ questionnaire before and after you use our Tangerine Anti-Shine Cream (or whichever product has your preference) for a week or two and let us know by how many points your score improved. We will report back in this blog with your collective experience!

If you enjoyed this post, please let others know using your social media of choice below. Thank you!

Also, if you would like to read more about the science of oily skin, see the other posts on this topic.

(Picture courtesy of matchstick)

References

Segot-Chicq E, et al (2007) Development and validation of a questionnaire to evaluate how a cosmetic product for oily skin is able to improve well-being in women. JEADV 21: 1181-1186

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17894702

Nobiletin reduces sebum production

If you have read part one of our posts on oil control and acne, you know that  Nobiletin has been shown to be very effective in reducing the amount of oil that is produced by the sebaceous glands, as well as the overall size of the glands themselves. If you have not yet read this post, click here to have a look. The researchers showed quite convincingly that Nobiletin reduced the production of sebum by hamster sebocytes, both in vitro and in vivo.

Nobiletin is found in Tangerine Extract

Nobiletin is a flavenoid that is present in many citrus fruits, and is especially prevalent in tangerine. The Tangerine Extract we use also has a large amount of tangeretin, which has a very similar structure as compared to nobiletin. For you chemistry buffs out there, there is only a  difference of one methoxyl group between the two.

Formulation and Testing

Over the last two months we have been working hard on putting together the optimal formulation for our new Tangerine Anti-Shine Cream. We obviously did not want to use an oil cream base for this product. After all, we are trying to reduce the amount of oil on your face, so adding more via the base would be kind of counter-productive. It took some doing, but we found an oil-free base that fits the ticket and that in and of it self is a very nice and luxurious moisterizer.

After finding the right formulation the testing team took its time to thoroughly test the new product. The response was very encouraging. One of our testers chose to first use it only on her nose, but within a week decided that the results were so good that she started to use it on her forehead also.  Here is what she said:

“I’ve been testing the Tangerine Anti-Shine Cream for about a week, and I’m already noticing a big difference! I started off just using it on my nose and expanded to using it on my forehead a few days later, and tonight I noticed that my nose was way less greasy than my forehead- which will be soon to follow the pattern! It smells really good, too ”

Kara from Irvine, CA

No strong tangerine smell

One question we received was: “Won’t I be smelling like an orange when I put this stuff on?” (this question came from a male on our test panel) The answer is a clear “No!”. The smell is quite subtle and goes away quickly. You won’t be able to smell it anymore within 15 minutes or so. Our test panel thought it smelled quite nice!

Very fast skin absorption

As is the case for our Acne Treatment product, the new Anti-Shine cream also is absorbed very quickly and spreads very easily. You only need a small dab for pretty much your whole face.

Only for night use

Sana Fela Tangerine Anti-Shine should only be used as a night cream. The reason why is because Tangerine Oil – as do other citrus oils – can make your skin more sensitive to the sun.   Until we have more data, we decided that it is best to only approve use as a night cream. In any case, once-nightly use has provided excellent oil control, so there is no need to have more than one treatment per 24 hour period.

Reducing oil can help prevent acne

There are many factors that are involved in causing acne, and which ones are responsible in each particular case is not always clear. However, since the amount of oil that is being produced by your skin is often correlated to the development of acne, it stands to reason that reducing the amount of oil produced will also help prevent acne.

The combination of Sana Fela Acne Treatment and Tangerine Anti-Shine in our test panel definitely helped to further control acne outbreaks.

One thing we want to test is whether it is possible to combine both products into one. We are actively working on this. One problem is that the Sana Fela Acne Treatment is typically used at least twice a day, whereas the Tangerine Anti-Shine is only a night cream. The obvious alternative is to make it available as a set.

Announcing the immediate availability of
Tangerine Anti-Shine Cream

Sana Fela is proud to announce the immediate availability of Tangerine Anti-Shine Cream, our new oil control facial cream that is designed to reduce oily skin by reducing the amount of sebum that is produced by the sebaceous glands.

Get your own!

Whether you would just like to reduce the oily sheen of your face, or whether you want to help prevent the (re-) occurence  of your acne, we are confident that you will like this new product.  Sana Fela Tangerine Anti-Shine Cream did wonders for the skin of our test panel. What worked for them will also work for you! So, get your own and see for yourself. As always we offer a 100% money-back guarantee. So what do you have to lose? Visit our store and order your own! Experience for yourself how much it will improve the looks of  your skin!

Here is to a healthier skin!

For further reading

How to reduce oily skin and prevent acne (1)
How to reduce oily skin and prevent acne (2)
Posts on nobiletin
More information on our Anti-Shine Cream

OK, so may be that  is a bit of an exaggeration.

An apple a day doesn’t REALLY keep acne away.

… Or does it?

Let me not mince words here and give it to you straight.

The fact of the matter is that eating right is a large part of being acne free. I know you don’t necessarily want to hear this, but eating fast food a couple times a week and eating pizza every other day is not going to help to get you acne free.

We all know that eating healthy is important for all kinds of reasons. Staying acne free is just one of them.

In some ways, acne is a creation of the modern food industry. Processed foods wreak all kinds of havoc on our health. The food industry puts a ton of sugar and fat in all kinds of things. Why? Because it is cheap and because it is what people want. Why? Because people have been conditioned to believe that it tastes good.

There didn’t use to be as much sugar in, for example, bread. But over time it has become sweeter and sweeter. Used to be that sugar was rare and expensive. So people didn’t use it much. Now you can find it everywhere. And it is not even real sugar. It is high fructose corn syrup which is cheaper and easier to use. No wonder it is used so much by the food industry.

So, to get back to the apple:  If you really would be eating an apple a day, chances are that your other food choices also would be healthier. If you eat an apple a day, maybe you also eat more veggies and salad. Maybe, just for today,  you let the pizza pass you by. Maybe the sum total of all the better choices you make, will in fact make you heatlhier over time. And so, starting with an apple a day, you will indeed keep your acne away !

For further reading:

Acne and Diet

]]> http://www.sanafela.com/2009/11/can-an-apple-a-day-keep-your-acne-away/feed/ 0 http://www.sanafela.com/2009/09/do-like-woody-and-stay-acne-free/ http://www.sanafela.com/2009/09/do-like-woody-and-stay-acne-free/#comments Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:03:12 +0000 admin http://www.sanafela.com/?p=379 We all know Woody Harrelson from his appearances in unforgettable movies such as “White Men Can’t Jump”, “Kingpin” and “Natural Born Killers”.
And who could forget his splendid role as the hilarious bartender in the sitcom “Cheers” ?

Woody had tons of acne

Turns out that in his early twenties Woody had a terrible complexion and tons of acne.
Woody explains that his acne disappeared after he became a vegan. He has remained a vegan for the last 25 years and his acne never came back.

Says Woody: “It’s been at least 20 years. I used to eat burgers and steak, and I would just be knocked out afterward. I had to give it up. The first thing was dairy. I was about 24 years old and I had tons of acne and mucus. I met some random girl on a bus who told me to quit dairy and all those symptoms would go away three days later. By God she was right.”

If you are a regular here at Sana Fela, you know that we have discussed the role of diet in the development of acne before.

Looks like Woody is a good example of somebody that took that advise to heart and reaped the benefits.

Becoming a vegan helped Woody to stay acne free

Drinking milk can raise the levels of several hormones that play a key role in the development of acne. See this post for more details.
Likewise, consumption of lots of sugar can cause an increase in the production of oil by the sebaceous glands, which in turn leads to an increase in acne. The mechanism behind this is explained in this post. It is thus no wonder that a low carb diet can help prevent acne. By becoming a vegan, Woody stacked the cards to his advantage.

It is one thing to clear up an active acne out break. It is another to keep the acne from coming back.
Several solutions are available that can bring an acne outbreak under control. As you know, here at Sana Fela we are partial to using a natural Tea Tree Oil treatment, because it is simple and effective without being harsh on your skin like some of the other treatments.

How to keep acne at bay

Once you have a handle on your existing acne, how about taking steps to prevent it from returning? Have a critical look at your diet and see if there is something you can change to keep the acne away. Sounds simple? It can be if you consider changing your diet as something that is simple to do and worth it. But many of us would rather have there wisdom teeth pulled without anesthesia than to radically change our diet. Then again, maybe at least reducing things like milk, dairy and sugar in our daily diet would be worth it if it would help our skin.

Think about it. But don’t take our word for it. Ask Woody!

For further reading:

Role of diet in the development of acne

How to treat acne and prevent it from re-occuring

Sebocytes are more than skin deep

Scientists used to think that sebocytes (the cells inside the sebacious glands, see the diagram on the right and the Skinny on Acne post),  were only involved in producing sebum (oil) for lubrication. However, it is now becoming clear that these cells are much more sophisticated than that.

Neuropeptide Receptors

The cells have now been shown to express several important receptors for neuropeptides on their cell surface. Binding of neuropeptides to these receptors cause the cells to respond by producing cytokines such as IL-6 and IL-8 (Interleukin-6 and Interleukin-8). These are signaling molecules that are involved in inflammation and help to stimulate immune responses. For an introduction to cytokines, see this Wikipedia post

TOLL Receptors

Sebocytes now also have been shown to express TLR2 and TLR4. These are so-called TOLL-like receptors and are components of the innate immune system. Your innate immune system does not make antibodies and does not require exposure to pathogens to learn which antibodies to make. Instead, it relies on pre-existing receptors (the TOLL-like receptors) that recognize certain classes of micro-organisms. As a result, this part of your immune system can respond very quickly to an infection, and does not first have to make antibodies. The innate immune system is your first line of defense, so to speak. TLR2 and TLR4 recognize certain bacteria directly, as well as indirectly due to the endotoxin and other molecules that these bacteria produce.

Bactericidal agents

Researchers now also have found that that sebocytes secrete bactericidal substances such as defensins (small proteins that are active against bacteria, fungi and viruses), as well as oleic acid and palmitic acid. The latter two are fatty acids that are known to kill Gram-positive bacteria. The major culprit associated with acne, Propionibacterium acnes, is Gram-positive.

Conclusion

So, you can see that the skin is well equipped to defend itself against all sorts of bacteria, including acne bacteria. Unfortunately, in the process of eliminating the infection, a temporary inflammation is created that manifests itself as acne.

The good news is that new scientific insights in how skin functions, such as the ones discussed above, eventually will lead to new treatments. It will take time, but more effective acne treatments may be on the horizon.

References

(1) Kurokawa et al (2009) New developments in our understanding of acne pathogenesis and treatment. Exp Dermatol. 2009 Jun 23. [Epub ahead of print]

For further reading

If you liked this post, you may also be interested to read:

New acne viewpoint paper published

Why do skin pores get plugged and cause acne?

Acne Treatment

… or visit the Sana Fela Store

Tea Tree Oil is just as effective as Benzoyl Peroxide to treat acne

Acne patients (average age 19.7 years old, 124 participants total) were randomly assigned to either the tea tree oil group or the benzoyl peroxide group. The researchers then scored the number and severity of acne lesions in both treatment groups using a standardized method.

After three months the amount and severity of acne had decreased significantly in both groups. However, the researchers reported that there was no significant difference in amount or severity of acne between patients treated with tea tree oil and patients treated with benzoyl peroxide.

The design of this study was straight forward enough, but there was one design flaw in that there was no formal placebo group. Thus, the theoretical possibility existed that the improvements were due to spontaneous healing in either or both groups.

Now, while theoretically this is a possibility and while the researchers can be criticized for leaving out a control group, anybody who suffers from acne knows that the chances that the acne went away by itself in all these patients is rather remote. It is much more likely that the two treatments worked.

Never-the-less, this is something to keep in mind when reading these kinds of reports. The take-home message for a scientist is clear:  Never, never, never leave out your control groups!

Tea Tree Oil is much less irritating to the skin

The paper also notes that the patients in the tea tree oil group reported much less of the skin dryness, redness, itching and stinging that patients that have tried benzoyl peroxide products are so familiar with. To be fair, note that in this study benzoyl peroxide is used at a concentration of 5% whereas Proactiv only contains 2.5%, so is likely less irritating. While we are on the topic of irritation: Clearasil Ultra contains a whopping 10% (ouch!).

So what is better?

One part of the paper that we take issue with is that the researchers say that the time it took for tea tree oil to start showing its effects was a little longer as compared to benzoyl peroxide.

Actually, people that have tried Sana Fela Acne Treatment  have told us that one of the things they like most about it is how fast it works, with a typical pimple shrinking away within just a few days. Then again, this might be because Sana Fela Acne Treatment in addition to Tea Tree Oil also contains Eucalyptus Oil as a transdermal delivery agent.  The other thing to keep in mind is that the amount of benzoyl peroxide used in the Australian study was double of what is found in Proactiv, so this is like comparing Tea Tree Oil with “double strength Proactiv”.

What would you chose?

So, if you have to choose between two products that are equally effective, but one is based on harsh chemicals that leave your skin parched and irritated, whereas the other one is based on natural, botanical, active ingredients that are much gentler; which one would you chose?

Call us biased if you want to, but we at Sana Fela would chose the gentler approach any day of the week  :-)

References

The reference for the paper is below. Unfortunately it is not available online. You will have to get it via a university library if you are interested in reading it. At least the link below let’s you read the abstract.

1. Bassett IB, Pannowitz DL, Barnetson RS (1990) A comparative study of tea-tree oil versus benzoylperoxide in the treatment of acne.  Med J Aust. 153:455-458  (Medline abstract)

For further reading

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Tea Tree Oil is effective against Acne

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