Sebum is produced by the sebaceous glands in the skin. The Latin meaning of sebum is fat. Sebum comes out of the glands in the skin and coats the hair follicles. You find that your hair becomes oily if you leave it unwashed for few days, isn’t it? Traveling through the hair, sebum reaches the surface of the skin. There it mixes with other lipids, sweat and protects the skin.
Sebum itself is odorless but its bacterial disintegration produces odor. That is why if you keep your skin clean of bacteria with anti-bacterial soaps regularly, you can reduce body odor to a great extent.
How sebum is produced?
Sebum is produced by sebaceous glands. These glands are found on most parts of the body. Except few, most sebaceous glands open into a hair follicle. The distribution of sebaceous glands is different in body. They are found most on the forehead chin. and middle portion of the back.
What does sebum do?
Sebum forms part of oil that coats the skin. Sweat, lipids and environmental dirt are other ingredients of the oil on the skin. This oil protects skin from bacterial infection. It also reduces the natural water loss from the skin.
Sebum production:
Sebum production decreases with age. In women, it reduces substantially after menopause. Adult females produce less sebum than men. Sebum production increases suddenly at the time of puberty.
Sebum and acne-
Sebum is one of the main causes of Acne. That is why most of us have acne outbreaks during our puberty. This sebum gets infected by bacteria P.acnes and forms acne. If we reduce sebum, we can control the acne. Sebum production can be controlled by various medicines- mainly Vitamin A derivatives and Birth Control Pills.
Myths about Sebum and skin oil-
Some people believe that drying excess sebum with blotting oils will reduce sebum production. Some believe that if you use products designed to control oil production that will increase sebum production. Both are wrong conclusions. Drying excess oil will only remove surface oil. And using oil control products will not increase sebum production.
This article is only for informative purposes. This article is not intended to be a medical advise and it is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult your doctor for your medical concerns. Please follow any tip given in this article only after consulting your doctor. The author is not liable for any outcome or damage resulting from information obtained from this article.
For more information about how to have good skin that looks young and blemish free , please visit- http://www.acnedoctor.us/ . This site is dedicated to make you look good. For keeping yourself looking good find out more about the acne that causes damage to our skin. To treat acne scars please visit acnedoctor.us
by CD MOHATTA
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