NEWS: Evolutionary Reasons for Acne: \"You\'re Too Young\"

CULTURE: Evolutionary Reasons for Acne: "You're Too Young"

Dr. Terence Kealey from the University of Buckingham may have found a reason how and why acne develops. She found that that two distinct chemicals are present during puberty that creates two different types of acne: one gives the standard whitehead or blackhead, the other chemical ruins your life by giving you a pustule that makes people not want to have sex with you.

Dr. Kealey believes that because we are the only animal to have acne, it may be an evolutionary adaptation that tells others to not have sex with you as you are too young to have babies.

Or you could get acne because God hates you, no one loves you, and you eat too much chocolate.

That was a very interesting article. I figured excessive acne was due to the simple overproduction of oil on the skin during puberty, but I didn't know WHY the oil kicked up.

It's funny that we all worried about it so much, even though about 80% of our peers had the same problem.

So, i'm *still* too young?

I offer as anecdotal support for Dr. Kealey's theory, my teenage years...

Past tense?

Ditto on the sadness that for you, it's past tense.

i will never sleep again.

this doesnt really seem to stack up for me considering all of the things you can do to prevent acne (ie: dietary changes) and how throughout life people who excercised and ate right even in their teen years have been by all accounts relatively acne free

Fuck people telling me to exercise and eat right. Tell me a god to sacrifice a goat to. Something I can actually do!

My mom's in her 50s and she still gets acne, is she not supposed to have sex yet?

You are not the only one

Oh, I still get it (and it really, really annoys) me, but it's not as bad as it was when I was 14. *shudder*

god just hates me.

See, that's not fair. In my family, we don't get acne until we're at least 18, and then it gets horribly, horribly bad.
If the theory mentioned above is correct, maybe it means I was in my peak reproductive years from age 9-17. Eeeeew.

no. this is clearly coming from someone who had an easy life as a teen. good for you. some acne, dermatologists are helpess against



edit: lost a vowel somewhere...

[Edited on Nov 14, 2004 by Turin]

I've never had bad skin, so I guess I've always been prime mating material... that or I haven't hit puberty yet

[Edited on Nov 14, 2004 by ______]

I'm sceptical about this. Seems like a very big leap based on the evidence. Alot of people get acne when they're already biologically able to have children. I'm not sure if his "social and language skills" argument holds water if you start to consider the lengths of time involved. We're talking tens of thousands of years at the very least. Were social skills really that important at that stage?

I think this link is tenuous at best

My mom's in her 40s and has the same problem. If she doesn't exfoliate and moisturize (sp?) twice a week, she ends up wearing more makeup than me.

Yeah, I agree. And then there's also the fact that both men and women get it.

Hahahah!! That's hilarious!!

Given that acne stops sex in the young, will the Christian right wing try to prevent treatment of the condition?

So you're saying that if a young girl doesn't have acne she's fair game? She' reday for kids? Ready for sex? We've got to get this through to Congress!

And you think, “God, I want to get off on some of these people. I better look my best.” And then Mother Nature says, “No, you will look the worst you’ve ever looked in your life!” *blows raspberry* - Eddie Izzard.

it is an interesting theory, no doubt about it. i still get it, i think God hates me. but the theory could hold true even if you get a few anomolies. personaly i think the good doctor is reaching. i get it worse in times of stress or when i consistantly eat crappy food. i get it on my back if i wear a shirt couple of times without washing it. or on my forehead from wearing a hat.