Acne is the problem of just teenagers, isn't it? Once a person survives the teenage years, they don't have to deal with the embarrassment of acne any longer, right? Well....not exactly.

The sad truth is that about 25% of men and about 50% of women will have acne at some time in their 20s, 30s or 40s.

Although there has never been a real cause established, it is believed that most adult acne is caused by the same thing that causes teenage acne...hormonal changes.

A doctor can sometimes prescribe hormonal treatments that will clear a case of adult acne right up.

As with teenage acne, adult acne is not caused by diet. Stress has been cited as one possible cause of adult acne but that assertion has never been verified.

Treating adult acne is a bit more difficult than treating teenage acne. Adults have the concern of drying out their skin that teenagers don't generally have to contend with.

Adults don't want pimples but they don't want wrinkles, either. A dermatologist should be consulted if the acne is long lasting or severe.

There are many treatments that are available to adults who suffer from acne. Most of the effective treatments are only available by prescription, however.

Adults should not use over-the-counter acne medications that are intended for the treatment of teenage acne.

These products tend to dry the skin and adults need to be concerned about wrinkling as well as acne.

A case of adult acne is not a happy occurrence to say the very least because those ugly bumps always seem to occur at the most inopportune times and while a teenager may be embarrassed by acne an adult is even more devastated.

Fortunately there are treatments and a dermatologist has a lot of weapons in his arsenal to fight adult acne.

There is no better cure for any ailment than prevention. Unfortunately, there just isn't any neat prevention formula or immunization program that can completely prevent acne.

Maybe someday there will be but until that wonderful day arrives there are still some things that all teenagers and young adults can do that will at the very least help to keep acne at bay.

Nobody really knows what causes acne. Most research indicates that it is caused by hormonal imbalance but there are other contributing factors and these are the factors that those who are at risk for acne can modify.

One contributing factor to acne is clogging of the pores in the skin. There are several measures that people can take to help prevent this clogging.

One thing that young women can do is to make sure that they clean make-up from their faces thoroughly before going to bed at night.

Additionally, young women need to clean make-up brushes completely using warm soapy water and cleaning brushes on a regular basis. Old make-up that can be contaminated needs to be tossed out.