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our bodies are amazing they know how to
take care of us and our skin knows how
to function but sometimes things can get
a little bit out of whack one example
where that happens is when a plug
develops on the skin which inevitably
traps bacteria and oil within the skin
and causes acne we've discussed the four
main building blocks of acne in a
separate video but today we are going to
specifically dive in to plugs why they
form in the skin and how you can prevent
them and therefore prevent breakouts
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this skin is really amazing isn't it
I hope it's so far you've been super
inspired and learning a lot to these
skin science episodes there's actually a
mini pop quiz right here if you want to
get super skin sciency with me but when
it does come to acne we have discussed
the main building blocks and the fact
that plugs are one of them now why does
the skin get plugged and clogged and
what can we actually do about it looking
back at episode 2 we know that the skin
is made up of so many beautiful
structures and layers and we remember
that the outer layer of the epidermis is
constantly sloughing off it's giving
away its little skin cells and they're
going free into the world until there's
an issue sometimes physical things can
actually block this from happening if
you wear really heavy makeup and don't
remove it at night or if you put on
creams or moisturizers that are too
heavy for you
even if you touch your face too much
your fingers can actually push skin
cells over causing these little pores to
clog and therefore not letting oil or
bacteria out and not letting air or
other nutrients in now even if you
remove your makeup properly even if
you're using the right skin care creams
for your face and even if you're not
touching your face or have your phone
stuck to it this can still happen now
why is that this is where genetics and
your body's biology really comes in we
know that our skin exfoliates naturally
but there's a lot of different factors
that go into that such as your age such
as your genetics and even such as what
time of year it is is it the summer
where it's a bit more humid out or is it
the winter where the weather and your
skin tend to be more dry the average
amount of time it takes for skin cells
to be generated in the basal layer and
pushed up all the way through and
fluffed off is 28 days but did you know
that for young children and teenagers
it's actually much faster it could be as
quick as 14 days and for more mature
skin or a woman who have gone through
menopause that could slow down to even
32 or 35 days why means there's a lot of
opportunity for this entire system to
change including the rate of cellular
turnover there's also this intracellular
glue remember how the oil the ceramides
and the lipids within our skin can keep
it glued together
the skin cells with a little bricks and
this other material is kind of the glue
or the mortar in between well if your
skin's mortar is too sticky it keeps all
of the cells close by meaning they don't
exploit it off as naturally that's why a
lot of chemical peels acids exfoliators
skin brushes and even lasers are really
popular for acne prone skin a lot of
these treatments although they very
differently are really just alternative
ways of exploiting the skin and for
people especially who have these
whiteheads it can be very very helpful
so now that we know why some of this
happens what can we do about it well we
have many different options whether it's
over-the-counter products that have
acids and gentle exfoliator --zz or
something like salicylic acid which
actually helps the skin break up that
glue so that it can exfoliate like it
naturally should there are prescription
treatments such as antibiotics or
medications prescribed by a doctor that
actually increase the rate of cellular
skin turnover or even prescription
retinoids or creams that penetrate
really deep into the skin and help to
both unclog and create a faster rate of
natural exfoliation
there are also lasers microdermabrasion
machines and even dermaplaning-- because
the truth in is while many of those can
be effective they can also be
overwhelming but that's why skin science
is here every single Saturday at 11 a.m.
you and I get together to discuss the
science of our skin I believe that we
all deserve to know how our skin works
what options are available to us so that
we can choose the best ways to
understand care for and treat our skin
go ahead and use your motor neurons to
tickle the like button if you enjoyed
and of course subscribe and hit the
notification bells that you don't miss
feature episodes when we do talk about
antibiotics or the chemistry of our
cosmetics so until next Saturday stay
curious
always remember to be beautiful and of
course stay hydrated I'll see you next
week on skin
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you
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