Why does teenage skin get oily during puberty?

Beneath the surface · Part two

In Part One of Beneath the surface, we explored the structure of the skin and how its different layers work together.

Now we turn to one of the first visible changes many young people notice during puberty: increased oiliness.

Skin that felt balanced during childhood may begin to look shiny, particularly across the forehead, nose and chin. Hair may also become oily more quickly.

These changes are not caused by poor hygiene. They begin beneath the surface, as hormones start influencing the sebaceous glands.

What are sebaceous glands?

Sebaceous glands are small oil-producing glands located in the dermis, the layer beneath the epidermis.

Most sebaceous glands are attached to hair follicles. The hair follicle and its associated sebaceous gland form the pilosebaceous unit, which is central to the development of acne.

Sebaceous glands are widely distributed across the body, with high concentrations on the face and scalp. Acne also develops frequently on the chest, shoulders and upper back, where pilosebaceous units are abundant.

The glands produce an oily substance called sebum, which travels through the follicular canal and reaches the skin’s surface.

Why does teenage skin get oily?

During childhood, sebaceous-gland activity is relatively low. It begins to increase as the body approaches puberty.

One early hormonal transition is adrenarche. During adrenarche, the adrenal glands increase their production of adrenal androgens, including dehydroepiandrosterone, known as DHEA, and its sulphate form, DHEAS.

These hormones can be converted within the skin into more active androgens. Androgens contribute to sebaceous-gland development and increased sebum production. Other hormones and local biological factors also influence the pilosebaceous unit, so the process is more complex than the action of one hormone alone (Deplewski and Rosenfield, 2000; Auchus, 2004).

The timing and degree of these changes differ between children. This helps explain why some children begin experiencing oily skin and small comedones earlier than others.

Sebum production does not begin all at once

The change from childhood skin to more oily adolescent skin develops gradually.

Mourelatos et al. (2007) followed children between the ages of 5.5 and 12 years and assessed their pubertal development, facial lesions, skin bacteria and sebum production.

The researchers found that sebum production did not begin all at once. A small number of follicles began secreting sebum first. The number of secreting follicles and the area of sebum on the skin increased with age and pubertal development.

Children who developed acne showed higher sebum output as they grew than children of the same age who did not develop acne (Mourelatos et al., 2007).

Increased sebum is linked to acne, but it is not the only factor involved. Acne develops through several interacting biological processes, and susceptibility varies from person to person.

What does sebum do?

Oily teenage skin does not imply dirty skin. Sebum is not dirt.

It is a substance produced naturally by the sebaceous glands. Its clearest function is to lubricate the skin and hair.

Sebum contains a complex mixture of lipids, including triglycerides, wax esters, squalene and free fatty acids. The quantity and composition of sebum differ between individuals and between areas of the face.

In a study involving 60 Nigerian adolescents and young adults, sebum secretion rates were higher in participants with acne than in age- and sex-matched participants without acne. The researchers also identified differences in the quantities and proportions of several sebum lipids between the two groups (Okoro et al., 2021). Because this was a relatively small study in a specific population, its findings should not be treated as applying identically to every young person.

Sebum has a normal biological role. Difficulties can arise when increased sebum interacts with other changes inside the hair follicle.

How increased sebum contributes to breakouts

Acne develops within the pilosebaceous unit.

Several processes contribute to its development:

• increased sebum production;

• changes in the way skin cells are produced and shed inside the follicle;

• changes involving the follicular microbiota; and

• inflammation.

These processes affect one another. Acne is therefore not simply a problem of oily or dirty skin.

Increased sebum can contribute to conditions within the follicle that favour the development of acne lesions, but sebum alone does not explain why one person develops acne and another does not (Williams, Dellavalle and Garner, 2012).

We will examine the formation of clogged follicles, whiteheads and blackheads in Part Three.

Why stronger cleansing does not stop oil production

When oily skin is mistaken for dirty skin, a young person may begin washing more frequently or using stronger products.

Cleansing can remove sweat, sunscreen, environmental debris and excess oil from the surface of the skin. It does not stop the hormonal and cellular signals influencing sebaceous glands within the dermis.

This is why oil can return after cleansing.

A cleanser that leaves the face feeling tight or uncomfortable has not switched off sebum production. It may simply have removed too much surface oil or irritated the outer layers of the skin.

Scrubbing the surface also cannot remove a blockage developing inside the follicle.

Oily skin still needs hydration

Sebum and skin hydration are not the same thing.

Sebum refers to oil produced by the sebaceous glands. Hydration refers to water held within the outer layers of the skin.

Visible surface oil therefore does not tell us whether the outer skin layers contain sufficient water or whether the skin barrier is comfortable and intact.

The aim of skincare should not be to remove every trace of sebum. A more appropriate approach is to remove excess surface oil without leaving the skin stripped or irritated.

A suitable routine should:

• cleanse effectively without excessive harshness;

• support hydration and the skin barrier;

• include suitable ingredients for blemish-prone skin;

• limit unnecessary irritation; and

• be simple enough to follow consistently.

Young skin is responding to a significant period of hormonal and biological change.

It does not need to be punished for behaving like young skin. It needs to be understood and supported.

In Part Three of Beneath the surface, we will look inside the hair follicle and explain how clogged follicles, whiteheads and blackheads develop.

References

Auchus, R.J. (2004) ‘Adrenarche: physiology, biochemistry and human disease’, Clinical Endocrinology, 60(3), pp. 288–296. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2265.2003.01858.x.

Deplewski, D. and Rosenfield, R.L. (2000) ‘Role of hormones in pilosebaceous unit development’, Endocrine Reviews, 21(4), pp. 363–392. doi: 10.1210/edrv.21.4.0404.

Mourelatos, K., Eady, E.A., Cunliffe, W.J., Clark, S.M. and Cove, J.H. (2007) ‘Temporal changes in sebum excretion and propionibacterial colonization in preadolescent children with and without acne’, British Journal of Dermatology, 156(1), pp. 22–31. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2006.07517.x.

Okoro, O.E., Adenle, A., Ludovici, M., Truglio, M., Marini, F. and Camera, E. (2021) ‘Lipidomics of facial sebum in the comparison between acne and non-acne adolescents with dark skin’, Scientific Reports, 11, article 16591. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-96043-x.

Williams, H.C., Dellavalle, R.P. and Garner, S. (2012) ‘Acne vulgaris’, The Lancet, 379(9813), pp. 361–372. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60321-8.

This article is intended for general educational purposes and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Persistent, painful or severe acne should be assessed by a doctor or dermatologist.