A Précis of Pathogenesis

Abstract

Acne has no single cause in the sense that tuberculosis or phenylketonuria has a specific cause. No one feature is present or absent that distinguishes the acne patient. Some degree of acne is universal in adolescence. Therefore, differences are merely quantitative, not qualitative. The adolescent population can be distributed on a continuum according to severity. Severity is the result of many intrinsic factors acting in concert. The sum of the individual strengths of these factors determines whether the individual will have acne minor or acne major. Each factor is an absolute prereqeuisite, lacking which the process sinks below clinical visibility. Extrinsic factors merely modify the expression of the disease.