For most of us, there is no way around it – pimples are a fact of coming into adulthood. If that is not bad enough, they can even crop up after that adulthood without any warning and for no apparent reason. Since pimples are such an inalienable part of life, it would probably be a blessing if we could accept them and take them in stride. However, the accent of civilization throughout the ages has been toward cosmetic perfection – and that makes those pimples hard to take. Pimples are and will remain a human nemesis. So what exactly are they?

In the most fundamental terms, pimples are lesions that occur when the skin’s pores are obstructed or infected. Acne, in which the sebaceous glands and hair follicles get inflamed, will most certainly result in pimples. The sebum released though the pores, meant to lubricate the skin and maintain its elasticity, gets blocked and backs up to form the dreaded blister. This causes the formation of a comedone, which may turn into either blackheads or whiteheads.

Pimples can form for a variety of reasons. However, the mechanism involved in causing some pores to collapse and block drainage of natural oils while neighboring ones remain unaffected is not really understood. This phenomenon makes pimples a unique skin disorder, and medical texts from the beginnings of recorded history reflect mankind’s frantic hunt for effective solutions.

Teenagers who break out with pimples can take comfort from the established fact that the problem usually goes away after adolescence, though this is by no means guaranteed in all cases. It is a safe assumption that the highly unnatural lifestyles and equally unnatural environmental factors that are part of modern life have exacerbated the problem of pimples to a significant degree.