Diving Deeper into the Cause of Acne
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, approximately 85% of people in between the ages of 12 and 24 experience at least minor acne, with the skin condition affecting up to 50 million Americans annually. While it had been commonly believed that acne is caused by skin inflammation, researchers now believe they may have unearthed a previously unknown genetic cause that appears to make certain sufferers more predisposed to acne.
The study, recently published in Nature Communications according to IFLScience.com, looked at over 26,000 individuals, of which more than 5,600 had severe acne. “The team identified 15 regions of the genome linked to its development, with 12 not previously implicated in the condition. Many of these variants were found to influence hair follicle formation – an as-yet unknown risk factor for the disorder.”
“A number of the genetic variants point to interesting mechanisms that could be really good targets for new drugs or treatments that would really help patients,” Michael Simpson of King’s College Londonsaid. Current acne treatments are very limited and have a number of undesirable side effects.
Read more about the study here.
