I have occasional acne and my face is usually dry despite my best efforts meanwhile the skin all over the rest of my body is smooth and almost never dry with minimal efforts. Im sure if I used my body wash and body lotion on my face, it would result in breakouts. Why is there such a big difference?
In: Biology
So, it’s the same and it’s different. Skin all over your body is essentially the same in that it’s all skin cells, pores, glands, etc. But its different in the sense that your skin is actually different thicknesses on different parts of your body. Your face skin is thinner than most of your body skin. Some parts of your face, like your eyelids and lips, are very, very thin and delicate. You also have more sebaceous filaments on your face ([these things](https://sunrisewellnessspa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/NOSE.jpg).) which help keep your face skin oilier than your body skin, in order to protect it (but sometimes that oil production goes haywire and contributes to acne). Faces are usually exfoliated more often and they also get the brunt of exposure to sun, wind, and dirt.
All that combined mean faces are *usually* more sensitive than body skin.
All acne happens when a pore is clogged, but it’s broadly caused by one (or more) of a few things. First, it can be hormonal – testosterone is an androgen that, in addition to other things, stimulates oil production. If youre female, this is usually noticeable as period-related breakouts. Stress-related acne is also caused by hormones. Hormonal acne can be anywhere, but tends to be along the jaw and around the chin and mouth. Acne can also be behavioral – touching your face, dirty pillowcases (or hair product getting on skin from your pillow), sweating, etc. Behavioural acne will often reoccur in one spot; it might be on one cheek from sleeping or your phone or it might be around your mouth from a reaction to toothpaste or it might be along your hairline from sweat sitting on your skin after a work out. Next, acne can be fungal – this is an underappreciated one, but acne isnt always caused by bacteria like we tend to thing. Fungal acne tends to be kind of itchy and responds very poorly to traditional acne treatments. Fortunately, it responds really quickly to inexpensive fungal acne treatments. Fungal acne is often on foreheads and up into hair lines.
And you probably would breakout from using body soap and lotion on your face, especially if you have sensitive skin. Because body products tend to be a lot harsher. There will likely be stronger detergents and fragrances in a body wash than in a face wash. Because the tougher body skin can better tolerate it. Body lotions will often be much heavier and have richer, comedogenic (ie, pore blocking) ingredients like heavy oils and butters, silicones, and humectants (things that creates a barrier and prevents moisture from evaporating from your skin).
Facial skin, called the stratum corneum, is one of the thinnest layers of skin on the body that receives the most UV rays as well as having the fewest skin cells on the body (besides the genitalia) but more than all of this the stratum corneum contains the highest amount sabaceuos glands on the body. Sabaceuos glands are responsible for producing sebum (oil) in the skin, with excess production of sebum acne occurs.
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