“HAVE you been bitten?”, an older lady asks me, gesturing to my spotty temple. It isn’t the primary time this has occurred. Usually, I go together with it to save lots of enquirers the embarrassment, however right this moment I’ve had sufficient. “It’s zits,” I inform her. Clearly uncomfortable, she reassures me it makes me look youthful, presumably based mostly on the notion that solely youngsters have zits. Maybe a passer-by on the street sees my pimples and pegs me at a youthful 17, reasonably than my precise 32 years. There’s a silver lining.

Pimples impacts more than 640 million people worldwide to a point, usually arising throughout puberty. As a teen with blemish-free pores and skin, I assumed I had escaped the hazard zone comparatively unscathed – since I didn’t have zits throughout my adolescence, absolutely my grownup years had been secure? My breakouts, nonetheless, took maintain in my mid-20s, and I’m not alone. It seems zits can strike at any age.

Hormones undoubtedly play a component, however they’re removed from the one offender: food regimen, life-style and genetics have been implicated too. There may be one offender, nonetheless, whose contribution to zits has lengthy been suspected, however has proved tough to pin down. I’m speaking about our microbiome – microbes that reside in our intestine, on our pores and skin and in our hair follicles.

Now, a flurry of latest proof and a leap within the know-how that lets us research this microscopic group have led to a shift in our understanding of zits. For the primary time, we will really see what is occurring on our pores and skin throughout a breakout, and these insights are providing up…