During puberty, many young people will see changes in their skin. These changes are because of testosterone (T) and other hormones that the body begins to make during puberty.
Many children have clean and smooth skin – this is because their skin cells are young and have not yet matured. When the skin receives T, some of those skin cells (called ‘sebaceous glands’) mature and start producing oil. Once the skin has matured with T, it will stay that way.
- If your body doesn’t have much T or cannot react to T, your skin cells probably won’t produce much oil and you may only have a few pimples or spots.
- If your body can partially react to T and has a lot of it, your skin cells may mature a little bit, produce some oil, and some pimples/spots.
- If your body can fully react to T and has a lot of it, your skin cells will most likely fully mature produce oil, and pimples/spots.
Things to remember:
“Everyone has (at least a little) T, even if you don’t have gonads”
“T is made by gonads but also by these things called adrenal glands (they sit on top of your kidneys). Even if you don’t have gonads, your body will produce a little T from the adrenal glands! But remember, not everybody can react to it. This explains why girls with ovaries have acne/pimples and some changes caused by T, too.”
“Throughout the day our skin can get dirty from dirt in the air, and can burn from the sun (even on a cloudy day).”
“It is important to bathe and take good care of our skin by putting on sunscreen.”