Hi, I’m no expert in dermatology, I’ve been thinking about my face skin for the last 20 minutes: why is all the bad skin on the face?
As children all the skin is fine but from puberty all the way through life, we face acne, black heads, dry skin, oily skin, redness… Pretty much all on the face. Maybe a little on the upper back. My knees’ skin is fine, my butt’s skin’s fine too.
Why is our face special?
In: Biology
The sun. Your face is always exposed to the sun and the elements which is hard on our skin.
it’s genetic and different for everyone.
my face skin is fine, i get occasional blemishes in summer from rubbing in sun block. my lower back is much more prone to acne reactions from sweat and rubbing on garments during physical activity
*is confused in keratosis pilaris* you only have bad skin on your face?
You think so because you see everyone’s face, and some people have problem with their facial skin. You don’t see everyone’s butt, but some people have problems with theirs.
To my knowledge, skin on the face produces way, way more oils than the skin of the rest of body. This can contribute to issues with pores.
Dermatology resident here.
Depends on how you’re looking at it. In terms of aging, the act of creating facial expressions along with chronic sun exposure is what leads to wrinkles and certain types of blemishes. The face also has a high concentration of oil glands which proliferate during puberty. This makes the face a hotbed for acne, certain yeast infections, etc. That said, all of these conditions can and often do affect the body. Acne is frequently see on the chest and back. Acne’s close cousin (folliculitis) can also be seen in on the trunk and legs. Its other cousin, hidradenitis suppurative, occurs in the armpits, groin, and trunk. Middle aged and older adults who grew up without sunscreen often have badly photo damaged that affects both the body and face equally, and they often have the skin cancers to prove it. Having done thousands of skin checks, I can also tell you that benign blemishes and age spots are extremely common on the bodies of all individuals. Not to mention the thousands of skin conditions and diseases that can affect the skin anywhere. You’d be surprised at what you’d see if people were walking around without clothes.
Your face is the most exposed part of your skin, and it’s the part people look at the most so you’re the most aware of it. It gets the most sun-exposure and the most about of touching-which means it’s more likely to get wrinkly and acne-riddled than parts of your body that don’t get treated the same way.
But people have terrible skin all over their bodies. It depends on the person, their lives, and their genetics.
You have more hair follicles in your t zone than most other ports of your body. They can get clogged and cause pimples.
You have a higher density of oil producing glands on your face. Puberty and hormones through a lot of systems out of wack.
Your face is exposed to more of the environment than most other parts of your body. UV, pollen, dust, wind.
You touch your face more than your butt or knees or wherever, so more dirt, bacteria, and oils from your hands have opportunity to clog facial pores.
If you use any cosmetics or sunscreen or whatever, the face gets the brunt of them and they can case irritation or clogs.
Lots of reasons.
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