ChemMatters: The Chemistry of Acne

Here is some good news for you: you can blame the sounds and odors that come from your body on bacteria. Yup -- those little critters are the ones responsible for a lot of what goes on inside our bodies. People can be uptight about all these bodily sights and smells, but understanding the science behind what may appear gross may make these things a little less gross.

So without further ado, check out the latest episodes of ChemMatters on the chemistry behind bad breath and acne.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• acne
• teenagers
• zits
• chemistry
• education
• Epidermis
• Sebum
• Whiteheads
• Blackheads
• Benzoyl Peroxide
• Peroxide
• Radicals
• Oxygen

[zoeyip]

@GothicPotato2 so true! I once used Benzoyl Peroxide to treat my acne problem! but it ended up horribly.... I had allergy and my face was just so itchy! Benzoyl perodxide is just not a good cure of acnes..too many side effects.

[GothicPotato2]

It should also be noted how very bad it is to have radicals just floating around in the body.

Sure the free electron attracts and binds to another free electron on the target bacteria, thus changing the conformational folding of said bacteria and - apparently in this case - destroying the bacteria or blocking important binding sites. But these radicals are non-discriminatory, so they interact when anything they can.

[GothicPotato2]

Umm there were some errors in this video.

It's not that the bacteria can't survive in the presence of oxygen, it's that under aerobic conditions they are benign. When the environment switches to an anaerobic state, that's when the bacteria start causing problems.

[maxgud]

Cool video, but why is the blue guy providing the antibacterial cream in a trench coat, fedora hat and sunglasses?