19 replies to this topic

[Idioteque]

I believe the majority of my acne problem is down to genetics and inheritance.

Both my parents had acne and my brother had severe acne when he was 14. I am now 18 and suffering from moderate acne.

The only thing that cleared my brother up was accutane. He like me, tried lots of medications until his acne got so bad he made a trip to the doctors and was put on accutane. His acne cleared within 6 months.

I am now begining to wonder if the only thing that can cure me is accutane. Are there fundemntal similarities between siblings when it comes to what will cure their acne? Thanks

[databased]

I believe the majority of my acne problem is down to genetics and inheritance.

Both my parents had acne and my brother had severe acne when he was 14. I am now 18 and suffering from moderate acne.

I believe living in Kansas is genetic. Both my parents lived in Kansas, and both me and my brother lived in Kansas. I don't live in Kansas right now, but it took a lot of effort to get out, and who knows how long it will be before I'm living in Kansas again -- you can only fight genetics so much and for so long.

Trying to infer the genetic basis of symptoms from your immediate family (assuming you weren't all split up at birth and sent to live in completely different environments) is just not logical. The overwhelming epidemiological evidence is that acne is not genetic. Eskimos got acne when they started living like Europeans, not when they started reproducing with Europeans. Etc.

Are there fundemntal similarities between siblings when it comes to what will cure their acne?

That's a good question, since it would be nice to know if a siblings success with Accutane raises the odds that you won't be one of the unfortunates who gets repeated relapses with Accutane. The closest thing I could find was a case report of two siblings who both had bad reactions to Accutane.

[heehee3]

ur genes does not cause acne as they don change so if they cause acne u'll get acne when ur born...

[c'est la vigne]

ur genes does not cause acne as they don change so if they cause acne u'll get acne when ur born...

Our bodies don't work in exactly the same way from the time we're born to the time we die. Genetics can play different roles at different stages in our lives.

[heehee3]

ur genes does not cause acne as they don change so if they cause acne u'll get acne when ur born...

Our bodies don't work in exactly the same way from the time we're born to the time we die. Genetics can play different roles at different stages in our lives.

no i told u, your genes DOES NOT CHANGE at whatever age u are

[c'est la vigne]

ur genes does not cause acne as they don change so if they cause acne u'll get acne when ur born...

Our bodies don't work in exactly the same way from the time we're born to the time we die. Genetics can play different roles at different stages in our lives.

no i told u, your genes DOES NOT CHANGE at whatever age u are

But your body does.

For example, a person may be genetically predisposed to going gray at a young age. That doesn't mean that they're going to go gray as soon as they're born. But they may go gray in their teens or twenties.

In the same token, a person may be genetically predisposed to getting acne. That doesn't mean that they're going to start breaking out as babies. But it may mean that they may have acne as a teenager or adult.

[databased]

no i told u, your genes DOES NOT CHANGE at whatever age u are

You say that as though you think it has some reliable implication in the real world. How about a little Gene 101:

A gene is a recipe for manufacturing a protein. The end. Full stop. That's all a gene is.

I have an enormous number of recipes in my cookbooks. They are just recipes. They do not control what I actually cook. Some recipes I use all the time, some I use once in a while, and some I never use at all.

Compare a cell taken from one of your front teeth to a cell taken from your blood. Do they have the same DNA? Almost certainly. How come they look and behave completely differently?

The way a gene (recipe) gets used is actually much more like cooking a soup than like a computer. The right chemicals must drift over to the right part of the DNA and weakly attach to the right gene, then they have to manage to drift over to the place where proteins are made. It's a real imprecise mess.

All sorts of things outside of DNA decide which genes (recipes) are going to get used (or ignored completely!) and how often. Do you think your genes determined your hair color? Actually, the copper content in your diet helped determine your hair color. You can alter your gene's behavior (and who really cares what genes you have -- it's what they do that matters!) by just reaching over and turning up the thermostat 10 degrees.

In fact, so many damn things affect how your genes actually behave, that it's a whole field of study, called epigenetics. Dean Ornish has shown that diet, exercise and behavior can cause some of the same genetic changes (changes in how genes behave) relevant to prostate cancer that are being targeted by highly expensive drug efforts.

So, it's a perfectly useless statement to say that your genes do not change with age. Who cares? Your genes' behavior certainly does change with age, and is also affected by all manner of other things, many of which are under your control.

Furthermore, genes can affect behavior that affects disease. Do you have a gene that makes you like fructose more than other people? If it were true that fructose is implicated in acne, then would you then claim that your genes caused the acne? This is exactly the situation in lung cancer, where there is some speculation that a gene correlated with lung cancer may operate by making it easier for you to get addicted to nicotine. Does that gene then cause lung cancer? Well, that's a matter of semantics. Isn't it a little more important to note that the cure is the same either way: don't start smoking.

[heehee3]

ok im defeated......

[dykim90]

genes may not change but the environment does play a role in the way your genes work. some may be stimulated while some stay dormant. that is if you believe in darwinism. muhaha

[Elliphannte]

Databased nailed your logical fallacy. However, I thought I should add that while I have severe acne, my sister has only ever had very mild spots. Likewise, she suffers from eczema yet I don't.

genes may not change but the environment does play a role in the way your genes work. some may be stimulated while some stay dormant. that is if you believe in darwinism. muhaha

Actually, you are talking about Neo-Lamarckism.

[tv_viewer]

My sister had a bad break out last year and used topical retionals and it cleared up. Once I started breaking out I asked my derm to prescribe it to me too since it worked for well for her and it made my skin worse.

[craigeroo]

i have friends that are twin brothers, one had really bad skin until he went on accutane and i've never seen the other with so much as a spot.

Edited by craigeroo, 16 January 2010 - 08:31 PM.

[uncle buck]

I had acne for about 6 years, my little brother never had a spot. He did gain weight though, and I never could despite how much I ate.

[silverangelx]

i definitely think genetics and acne are related.

My mother's entire side of her family never had acne. - not her mom, her dad, or siblings. My cousins on that side do not have acne. (one cousin who washes his skin with a very harsh soap and eats a bunch of sugar, dairy, etc. he has perfect skin)
My father's side - his mom did, his mom's sister did, he did, his siblings did, I have it, my brother has it, etc.

Edited by silverangelx, 17 January 2010 - 01:21 PM.

[RcknDisturbed1]

When we were younger my brother had really bad acne. He stopped using facewash and just used natural soap and water and his acne went away right away. Unfortunately I don't have the same luck...

So I think it really depends on the makeup of your skin. But in your case you are both guys so maybe siblings of different sex aren't as close.

[Julius Jones]

ur genes does not cause acne as they don change so if they cause acne u'll get acne when ur born...

Our bodies don't work in exactly the same way from the time we're born to the time we die. Genetics can play different roles at different stages in our lives.

So I guess the same goes for infants walking? lol

Meant to quote the idiot who said acne isn't genetic

[radikal]

ur genes does not cause acne as they don change so if they cause acne u'll get acne when ur born...

Fascinating example of the power of logic! Let me give you one better, from Sir Bevedere:

"A witch is a female who burns. Witches burn - because they're made of wood. Wood floats. What else floats on water? A duck; if something has the same weight as a duck it must float. A duck and scales are fetched. The girl and the duck balance perfectly."

Also search for "neonatal acne", "acne infantum", "acne neonatorum".

[03GT]

ur genes does not cause acne as they don change so if they cause acne u'll get acne when ur born...

Gene expression and even your genome does change throughout your life, it's call ed epigenetics.

[ghostofme]

Okay then, we can gather two things here about Acne.

1. It's caused by genetics because if it was diet then everyone eating western food would have acne.

2. It's caused by diet because everyone who has acne would have relatives with acne.

The truth is, it's probably a little of both. If you are genetically predisposed to acne yet never eat certain foods then your genes may not express acne, yet you'll still be a carrier and have a chance to pass it to your children.

Two people can be carriers of the array of genes that cause acne but never express it (not ever have a zit.) They can then have two children one of which might have sever acne due to epigenetic causes which could be an infinite variable and the other might never have a zit. However, both children can still be carriers of the disease and then it gets passed to their children, and the cycle continues.

So, either you eliminate the genetic disorder through science or artificial selection (adopt if you have acne)

Or sort out and fix the infinite variables that cause gene expression of acne and stop them. (I thinking we'd start at diet)

I don't know what is easier but if you don't address either issue then acne and all other genetic disease will forever exist and become more and more prevalent. It's the ugly truth nobody wan't to talk about.

Read up on how and why genetic disorders are on the decline, I suggest doing you're own research. Also, Ghost in the Genes is a good place it start.

Ghost In our Genes - available on topdocumentaryfilms dot com

Edited by ghostofme, 18 March 2011 - 09:47 AM.

[radikal]

Okay then, we can gather two things here about Acne.

1. It's caused by genetics because if it was diet then everyone eating western food would have acne.

True

2. It's caused by diet because everyone who has acne would have relatives with acne.

The truth is, it's probably a little of both. If you are genetically predisposed to acne yet never eat certain foods then your genes may not express acne, yet you'll still be a carrier and have a chance to pass it to your children.

Not true. It's a dominant trait, not a recessive one (mostly;,a Chinese study from 2003 or so has shown 89% correlation as a dominant trait). It doesn't skip generations. If one of the parents have it, then offspring has a 50% of getting it. If both have it then all offspring will have the disease.
Food is secondary or even tertiary in gene expression wrt acne; not to say it doesn't matter at all, just very little. And certainly has no impact on the genes you pass on (i.e. you still pass on crap genes with all the paleo diets of the world).

Two people can be carriers of the array of genes that cause acne but never express it (not ever have a zit.) They can then have two children one of which might have sever acne due to epigenetic causes which could be an infinite variable and the other might never have a zit. However, both children can still be carriers of the disease and then it gets passed to their children, and the cycle continues.

no, it's not recessive. What can happen (and perhaps obscures the trait) is that one parent may have a very mild form expressed but still passes on crap genes, which do express fully in offspring. So it may look like ma and pa didn't have acne, but on closer inspection at least one of them did.

So, either you eliminate the genetic disorder through science or artificial selection (adopt if you have acne)

science is not there yet. You're thinking designer retroviruses, genetic testing, or both.

Or sort out and fix the infinite variables that cause gene expression of acne and stop them. (I thinking we'd start at diet)

that will at most alleviate the gene expression in one's own body. You still pass on crappy genes.

I don't know what is easier but if you don't address either issue then acne and all other genetic disease will forever exist and become more and more prevalent.

they will continue to exist but not become rampantly more prevalent. There is sexual selection at play, which statistically keeps the populations in check.