[the_cat_kittles]

i recently went on a little exploratory mission to see what the working explanation is for how the pores actually get blocked, and then swell. it sounds like the process, in super detail, is not well understood. from what i could gather, sebaceous glands get blocked, and the sebum they secrete starts to pool in the duct around the follicle, under the skin. the sebum creates an ideal environment for a bacteria called p acnes to flourish, which causes inflammation and redness. it seems that the rate of sebum production, and the composition of the sebum itself might have some effect on how likely the pore is to clog. and, of course, skin cleanliness is but one of many factors that seem to affect how often people get acne. as other people have noted, it sounds like "inflammation", a topic i know nothing about, seems to be at the root- basic idea seems to be that diet can cause inflammation which can then result in acne. im more curious about the actual point at which the pore becomes blocked, and why it happens, from a more mechanical way. i feel like a satisfactory answer to this question would address why some pores on someones face get clogged and others do not. im curious if anyone ever did a very detailed microscopic timelapse somehow. since i havent studied this field at all, its likely im not really asking the right questions, but if anyone reading this has anything interesting about this topic, id love to hear it.

[keyboardhitter]

I do not know why you're being downvoted. I feel your comment added to the discussion of the article

I also learned recently that sebum production -- and inflammation -- are both complex mechanisms. As with most regulatory systems I wouldn't be surprised if they were linked in some way. But obviously I don't want to claim this in some hand-wavy way. Can you share any reading material you found when exploring the topic?

I have recently started Spironolactone for various PCOS symptoms, including acne vulgaris, so it's of interest to me

[platinumrad]

Probably the formatting. I didn't downvote and found it interesting but had a bit of trouble reading the blob of text. I find that capitalization is really helpful when reading longer paragraphs, especially if many of the sentences themselves are compound.

[the_cat_kittles]

thanks. i was honestly surprised to be down-voted, maybe that explains it a bit.