Acne appears to be a disaster to many teenagers. To some, it is a nightmare to have acne that truly gives unfavourable effects. It lowers a person’s self esteem and confidents, making them feel embarrassed to their friends, partners, families or even anyone else.

We HATE acne!!!!!!!!

Arrgghh.....Pimples!!!

How Acne Forms?

The formation of acne is due to disorder of the pilosebaceous unit, which is made up of a hair follicle. Each of the hair follicle is connected to a sebaceous gland that secretes sebum. Sebum is essential to keep the skin moisturized. However, when unhealthy skin is clogged with dead skin, the sebum produced will not be able to secrete out from the skin pore and the sebum will be trapped in the pores. When this happens, a bacteria, known as Propionibacterium acnes infects the sebum and multiplies inside. The whiteness of an acne lesion is the pus formed by the dead white blood cells that fight the Propionibacterium acnes bacteria. Acne first develops into whitehead or blackhead, soon develops into pimples and finally worsen into cysts and nodules. If acne is not treated properly, the recovered acne will leave scars on the skin

Propionibacterium ACNE

Acne Treatment

I remembered once I was attracted to an advertisement. What makes me attracted is that the advertisement was promoting the new formulation of acne treatment cream and the main formula used is benzoyl peroxide. It was the OXY 5 advertisement. I was curious that how benzoyl peroxide plays its role to treat acne. Thus, I did some research and I decided to make it one of my posting for my chemistry assignment. ^^

Get to know Benzoyl Peroxide

Benzoyl peroxide is an organic compound that belongs to the organic peroxide family. The structure of benzoyl peroxide consists of two benzoyl group linked by aperoxide chain. It has the structural formulaof (C₆H₅CO)₂O_2. Benzoyl peroxide is also known as dibenzoyl peroxide.

Structure of Benzoyl Peroxide

Usage of benzoyl peroxide : It acts as polymerization initiators for ethylene, vinylacetate, acrylates and unsaturated polyesters. It is used as a catalyst in oxidation and sulfonation reactions. It is also used in bleaching, disinfectant, drying, and cleaning agent. Benzoyl peroxide also acts as an oxidizing agent.

Synthesis of benzoyl peroxide : Benzoyl peroxide is usually prepared by treating hydrogen peroxide and benzoyl chloride. Benzoyl peroxide was the first organic peroxide prepared by intentional synthesis. It was prepared by treating benzoyl chloride with barium peroxide.The equation of the reaction is:

2 C₆H₅C(O)Cl + BaO₂ → [C₆H₅C(O)]₂O₂ + BaCl₂

How benzoyl peroxide works in treating acne?

Due to the properties of benzoyl peroxide as an oxidizing agent, benzoyl peroxide works best in treating acne. The release of oxygen from benzoyl peroxide provides an important application to use as a treatment for acne. The released oxygen penetrates the skin layer and creates an oxygen rich(aerobic) environment in the skin. This condition is unfavourable for bacteria to live and the bacteria will eventually dies. The bacteria here is refer to the Propionibacterium acnes bacteria as mentioned earlier. The reduction on the number of bacteria reduces the occurrence of acne outbreaks. The ability of benzoyl peroxide to help rid of the follicle of excess dead skin makes it effective in acne treatment formulas. Clearing the pore on the skin will lessen the chance of pore blockages and eventually acne will reduces.

Fight!!!! Fight!!!

Bacteria are DEAD!

Benzoyl peroxide, which is also a bleaching agent may bleach fabrics and hairs. Therefore, make sure that the application of benzoyl peroxide cream is drybefore exposing skin surface to fabrics and hair.

Possible side effects of benzoyl peroxide:

• Dryness and flaking
• Redness and burning
• Skin rash
• Darkening or lightening of skin
  

(Note the instruction on the product before using to minimize the possibility of unwanted side effects)