It’s true. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. What’s that mean? Understanding how your skin works, how it’s different from other people’s, and what causes acne in the first place is vital to stopping acne outbreaks and preventing new ones. That’s why acne prevention starts with you.
It’s really easy to think of your skin as being one ‘thing’, a single entity that’s all the same and acts the same – whether it’s on your face, your legs or your back.
The reality is quite different. The more you know about how complex your skin is, the more you can understand why no single acne treatment works for every person, and why you can have continuous outbreaks on your cheeks yet nothing on the rest of your body.
The fact is, your skin cells make up a living, breathing organ that takes up about 15% of your total body weight. It literally acts as body armor, protecting you from the sun, wind and rain among other environmental factors. As your skin renews itself, it sloughs off dead skin cells to make room for new one. The process is ongoing and your skin and all its cells are changing continuously.
So, the next time you use the expression ‘I know it like the back of my hand,’ just consider that one square inch of your skin is home to:
- 65 hairs
- 100 sebaceous glands
- 78 yards of nerves
- 650 sweat glands
- 19 yards of blood vessels
- 9,500,000 cells
- 1,300 nerve endings
- 20,000 sensory cells
Your skin covers 20 square feet, so do the math: We’re talking billions and billions of cells, nerve endings, blood vessels and more.
The good news is your skin does react to a lot of things the same way. Hygiene, medications, your lifestyle (including stress levels), how you shave, what cosmetics you use, your skin care regimen, exercise and more all have a significant impact on how healthy the whole of your skin will be.
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