Anatomy of a Pimple

Pimples start out in teenage years and sometimes extend up to the adulthood. To understand pimples we must understand the structure of the skin. Skin consists of hypodermis, dermis and epidermis. The hypodermis is the foundation layer of the skin, it connects the skin with the connective tissue, muscle and fibers. This layer acts as the cushion and absorbs the trauma and impact from the outside, thereby helping the skin cope with daily life.

Dermis is the middle layer of the skin. it is here that  all the functions of the skin take place. It contains – receptors for heat and cold; collagen that keeps skin strong and together, hair follicles, sweat glands, sebaceous glands and important lymphatic and blood vessels. This is also the layer where pimples are formed.  The outermost layer on the skin is the epidermis that is seen on the outside.

The middle layer of the skin – the dermis has two types of pores and each pore has two types of glands. The sweat pores connected to the sweat glands; and hair follicle pores connected to the sebaceous glands. Sweat glands produce sweat and sebaceous glands produce an oily substance called sebum. Pimple is a condition, when too much of sebum gets produced and clogs the entire hair follicle pore. This along with acne causing bacteria in the hair follicle causes infection in the pore. The excess of sebum becomes food for the bacteria and the pimple starts to enlarge, and the infection spreads.

During this time, it is important pimple is not played with, else the scar can become something hard to deal with. Since acne develops in the middle layer, it is one of the reasons why acne is so difficult to mitigate. When there is a pimple, there is intense inflammation of the skin and loss of collagen. When the pimple is squeezed or tampered with, it leads to further injury and damage to the skin. In the meanwhile, bacteria and pus go down deep into the skin, resulting in more collagen loss meaning deeper scars on the face. Thus, it is important that suitable pimple remedies are chosen, keeping in mind they are tried and tested to keep the damage to the skin from pimples to the minimum.