P COS: When it’s more than acne

How does PCOS lead to inflammatory acne and what is the approach towards its treatment like? Shriyal Sethumadhavan seeks answers for this modern age lifestyle concern.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a condition where small cysts are formed in the ovaries, further resulting into hormonal imbalance in the body.

Normally, pituitary hormones reduce the hormones in the ovaries, which are estrogen and progesterone, and keeps a balance between these hormones and testosterone. But in PCOS, abnormal signals come from the pituitary, which result into reduced estrogen progesterone hormone production. Thereby, the level of testosterone and androgens or male hormones,x increases. Now this testosterone eventually results into excessive acne because the primary role of androgen is to stimulate the oil secretion in the sebaceous glands beneath the skin. The oil production increases, it eventually moves towards the skin blocking the pores, resulting into blackheads and whiteheads. Also, because of the oil production under the influence of the hormones, there is secondary growth of the P acne bacteria within the acne ducts, the sebaceous ducts lying beneath the skin, resulting into inflamed red acne known as the papules pustules acne.

At times, the hormonal imbalance is so much that it can even result into burst of nodular cystic or the severe form acne vulgaris, further leading to scarring.