Re: What is in Sebum oil that is produced by the glands at the skin?

Sharon, thank you for your question.

Sebum contains a lot of materials. It contains dead skin cells, oils, keratin, and a ton of proteins. There has been some talk that keratin could in some way be bacteriocidal in the past, but that talk has pretty much been dismissed. However, we do know that there are certain proteins in the sebum that promotes bacterial growth. These proteins form a scaffold that promotes the growth of certain bacteria – especially the ones responsible for acne. Sebum can also clog the hair follicles – this results in the formation of comedones – follicular plugs. P. acnes, the bacterium responsible for acne formation, likes to grow in these comedones. A person may then exhibit an immune response against the P. acnes , which results in the acne!

So, most health professionals are not in the camp of sebum having antibacterial properties per se. Instead, we are leaning more towards competition between P. acnes and other bacteria, and that the sebum promotes the growth of P. acnes .

An interesting online article from WebMD is linked here. It deals with acne problems in adults, and a new treatment for it.

Hope this answers your questions!

Thanks again for your question!