Stuff You Should Know - How Acne Works

Episode Date: September 20, 2011

Over the course of our lives, 80 percent of us will experience acne. Ultimately, acne comes down to one thing, a blockage in the sebaceous gland. Learn what makes a blackhead black, and everything else about zits, in this pus-filled episode of SYSK. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Flooring contractors agree. When looking for the best to care for hardwood floors, use Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner. The residue-free, fast drying solution is specially designed for hardwood floors, delivering the safe and effective clean you trust. Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner is available at most retailers where floor cleaning products are sold and on Amazon. Also available for your other hard surface floors like Stone, Tile, Laminate, Vinyl, and LVT. For cleaning tips and exclusive offers, visit Bona.com slash Bona Clean. The War on Drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call,

like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil acid work. Be sure to listen to The War on Drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready, are you? Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HouseStuffWorks.com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. That makes this Stuff You Should Know. That's right, doesn't it? It does. When we're in this room, one thing happens. Anger. I was going to say magic.

Oh, angry magic. Get out of the hat. I haven't seen that yet, the angry magician. No, that's a great idea. There you go. Angry comics. Yeah, there are plenty of them, and for good reason too. Do you remember a while back we were writing a lot of articles that seem to share a common theme, a skincare? Yeah. I remember that too. I didn't write too many of those. I wrote a lot of skincare articles. Yeah, I did. I learned that I'm fascinated by the skin. That's good. Yeah, it turned out to be very good. You don't want to take too many showers in a day. You don't want the water you use in your shower to be too hot. I learned these things definitively.

Right. Also, the skin on your lips is three layers thick, whereas the rest of the skin on your face is about 16 layers thick. Wow. And they're actually translucent, which is why your lips are reddish, because it's just the mucus membrane underneath. All right, showing through. Yep, look at that. Yeah, and you don't want to lick your lips too much because your saliva contains the digestive enzyme, which starts to break down the very thin and fragile skin on your lips. Yeah, I got chapped lips a lot. From licking them? Stop licking your lips. I'm constantly just, I have oral stuff, bite my nails, bite my cheeks, bite my lip, all that stuff, all that good fun, stressy stuff. But you don't smoke cigarettes, though. Good for

you. Yeah, I guess I'd chewed my face off instead of doing that. Yeah, it's a good-looking face. Thank you. Well, anyway, Chuck, I just wanted to say all that, to say that I will be very interested in what we're talking about today, which is acting. I'm glad you are. I am too, although I've never really got acne, so I'm a little less like enthused. It's so unfair. Look at this right here. Right now. Yeah, I have a big old whitehead running my nose. It won't go away. I was pressing it with my pinkies. I can pop a zit. I get them frequently. That's a tough spot, though. Josh is talking about the area right under the nostril. It's so pain-set. No man's language. The nose kind of prohibits excess like you want. Well, it's not just that. It's

very, very sensitive. I was pressing it and my eyes are watering and it still wouldn't pop, so I'll have to have you me do it. Yeah. Yeah, but I guess that's method podcasting. Uh-huh. Following in your footsteps, Chuck. So you want to talk about acne? First, I guess we should talk about the skin a little bit, right, in the process of how... Well, let's talk about the skin. Did you like Tom's description? I did, actually. I think most people know by now it's the largest organ, but Tom takes a step further in a very buffalo bill way. And he says that if you skinned an adult human, there would be enough material to make a 4 by 5 foot area rug of skin weighs 10 pounds. I'm glad he didn't say how many like, uh, skin suits or lampshades he would make,

because that'd be really creepy. Area rug was creepy enough, yeah. So yeah, 10 pounds of skin on an adult body. Right. And then most of the skin, there's three layers. There's the epidermis, the dermis, and the subcutaneous layer, right? And the subcutaneous layer. I think the dermis is the fattiest layer, and the subcutaneous layer is like the nastiest layer. It's like, um, just... Have you ever seen Hellraiser? Yeah. Remember the woman? She was coming back regenerating. She regenerated from like the inside out. So at one point, she's just like muscles in blood. Just above that is the subcutaneous layer. I think the epidermis is kind of gross too, though, because it's all dead. It is dead. This is one of the things that fascinates me about skin.

All the skin I'm looking at right now on your, like that I can see, dead. Dead. Dead is disco. Yeah. You know? Weird. Yeah. So Chuck, your skin grows like, uh, beneath that outer layer. Yeah. And it grows as keratinocytes, which are new skin cells. Yeah. And it just, your skin is a constant, uh, it's constant motion, pushing that dead skin up, up, and up, and out through the pores where they flake off into your bed, making your mattress heavier. Right. From like the moment it's born, when a cell divides, it starts making its way outward. Yeah. And it takes, what does it take about a month for a skin cell to be born and then make it out to the outer layer? It sounds about right. Right. To the tune of 40 to 60 million skin cells per day. Yeah. 40,000 a minute.

That's crazy. Are reaching the surface. Right. Um, and so they reach the surface and they don't just fall right off. Um, along the process, they die and they become cornified, um, which is, and become keratinocytes or corneocytes. Sorry. Um, and when they reach the surface, they, they provide a function for a while. They mix with sebum, which is the oil we produce that I really, really produce oily skin. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, some fats. What kind? Uh, lipids, Josh, linoleic acid. Okay. So they mix all together and they form waterproof skin that keeps out water. That's huge. Sebum is why we don't soak up water when we walk around in the rain. Exactly. And it keeps bacteria out, which is why the skin is your first organ of, um,

resistance for immunity. That's right. Um, so you've got all this process going on. Skin cells eventually do fall off and jump off and are sloughed off. And then, um, beneath all that, you have the subcutaneous layer and that's where the hair starts growing. Right. Yeah. That's where you're going to find your hair follicle, which looks sort of like just a little, uh, little tube with a little, uh, little rounder end. I would say it's, it looks like a sperm. A sperm going inward toward your jaw drop. Sure. Maybe. And that is where the hair begins to grow, uh, from the bottom up and it grows out of this follicle and collects on the way out, sebum. And, uh, which we said was oil. That's why, like, when you don't take a shower, your

hair is going to look all oily. Yeah. And actually men, I think, have more sebum than women. Yeah. And teenagers have lots of sebum. Yeah. It's almost equal for among the genders and teen, in teenagers. Yeah. Yeah. Cause that's why you get acne most often in adolescence, because we're taking you up through where acne starts, which is really sebum. Right. Well, the hair has a lot to do with it at least. The hair follicle is connected to a sebaceous gland, like you said, which is why your hair seems oily when it comes out. Um, and so you've got this whole, um, you have this whole, uh, house of cards, I guess, just waiting to screw up. Well, they're trying to squeeze through this little pore. Right. Together. Those dead skin cells,

that migration they make, the way they get out is through the pore, through the follicle, through the sebaceous gland. Right. That's right. So when you have a lot of them coming together at once, all these dead skin cells are trying to get through the same door. It's like, um, three stuages syndrome from the Simpsons. Remember Mr. Burns had everything. Yeah. But nothing could kill him because they couldn't all get through the door of his health. That's exactly right. So when you have too many skin cells, uh, things start getting blocked and things back up behind it and you've got trouble. Yeah. I mean, that's one way it can happen. And they don't know why that the body would overproduce skin cells, but hey, it happens.

Yeah. Do we need to know why? Exactly. Another thing that can happen, you can have too much sebum, uh, like we talk about in puberty. Yeah. In puberty is when that's going to happen, most likely, uh, bacteria, uh, specifically propionibacterium acnes, P acnes. That's, uh, found in acne lesions and in every type of acne that we're going to talk about, they're all lesions. Right. And, and, um, then inflammation, right? Yeah. The bacteria causes inflammation. When there's back up and there's bacteria, you're going to get inflammation. Yeah. Tom put it like these were different things that could happen and I'm, I'm sure they are, but it also seems to happen like a sequence of events. Kind of like all of them. You've got too many skin cells backing up, right?

So the sebum backs up behind it. Well, this bacteria loves to eat sebum, which causes an infection, which makes you inferred. Yeah. I saw it as a sequence of events too. All right. So, Chuck, there is a, uh, very long standing debate over what is worse, a white head or a black head. What's the difference between the two? Well, one is an open commido and one is a closed commido. Do you know what a commido is? I do. It's blockage. Okay. Do you know what the word is? Commidone is plural. What do you mean what the word is? The word is Latin for glutton. Oh, okay. Really? Yeah. And it was, uh, it's named after a worm, you know, when you like do pop is it? Uh-huh. And the, the stuff comes out and like, is like kind of a thin worm like

tube. Well, there was a, apparently a worm that looked very similar to that, that loved to feed a parasitic worm that loved to feed on humans that was considered particularly gluttonous. So the blockage came to be called the commido, which means glutton. Wow. Isn't that weird? And gross. Yeah. And true. Yeah. Pretty much everything about this. We're looking at acting on a sub dermal level. Yes, it's gross. It is kind of gross. Uh, so whiteheads, you might think like, I just woke up and there's a whitehead on my nose that just happened last night. Yeah. Not true. It could have been a couple of months in the making before you finally see it. Like you might, you know, Emily calls them underground construction when you can feel it

and you know, it's coming, but you can't see it or do anything about it yet. Yeah. That's infection. Essentially. Yeah. Underground construction. Yeah. At some point, your skin cells started backing up. They didn't make their way out of the poor and you're in trouble. So whiteheads, anyway, have an open commido, blackhead, I'm sorry, closed commido. Blackheads are open and the black that you're seeing is just melanin. It's just our skin pigment. Right. It's oxidized. It's not dirt. The reason it's black is because it's been exposed to air. Whereas with a closed commido, there is no exposure to air. So everything stays white just beneath the surface of the skin. And I had you, you stopped me in the hall earlier and said, you know, I can't tell the

difference between like a whitehead and a pustule. What I found, because I, you did find something. Well, the American Academy of Dermatology says that it's really confusing. It's like, don't feel bad. It is confusing. Thank you. They're all lesions, but I think a whitehead, what we typically see as a pimple in a zit is the pustule. Okay. Because in here it says, the AAD says a whitehead is typically a raised bump that's the same color as the rest of your skin. Whereas the zit is clearly has pus. The pus, but apparently that's not the hallmark of a whitehead. So I'm even more confused now. Yeah. Thank you, AAD. Thanks for nothing. Yeah. Cause I thought a whitehead meant it was the white, you know, pimpley zit looking thing.

Yeah. So I don't know. I don't think too. It says here that the same color as the rest of your skin. Okay. Well, let's go with that though. I mean, that the, though a whitehead is, just, it's just pressing your skin up. So it's a raised bump. Whereas if it looks white, if there's like a clearly a white part, what has happened is your, this, this whitehead or blackhead has collapsed under the skin and all that bacteria-ridden sebum is now causing an infection. Right. That's what a, a zit is. That's right. Also called a pustule. That's a pustule. There's also a papule and they are little small bumps, little firm small bumps. And they don't have any kind of white center. Right. But they do feel like sandpaper apparently if you rub your fingers

across them. Yeah. I get like little dry skin bumps in the back of my arm. I don't know if that's the same thing. No. No, that's not. I don't think so. Okay. No, that's, um, I mean, I'm sure it's got a name. What is that called? What's, what's really severe dry skin called? Eczema? Yeah. I'll bet it's a, it's a mild form of eczema. All right. Maybe I have eczema. There are nodules, which are larger and hard. It's, um, a nodule is the kind of thing where you mash it and you mash it and nothing ever happens. And then it comes back and comes back. Yeah. Because you're just breaking it down and it stays in there. Did I have one of those? That was, that was definitely a nodule, wasn't it? Yeah. Because I would, I would be like, off of my purse and then like,

it would go away or at first it would go. And then it would come back. That thing was there for a while. Yeah, man. It kept coming back and then it'd stay for a really long time and come back. And I was wearing like turtlenecks. I brought turtlenecks back inadvertently because of that thing. Flapping. And then superdive nodules, Josh, you may think are sister boils. Right. And they might look like that, but cysts have different traits. One of which is the ability to contain a trapped gas, which I thought was pretty interesting. That is nuts and pretty awesome. Yeah. So that means that's not a cyst. I'll bet that gas stinks to high heaven when it's finally released. Can you imagine? Yeah, I can. Baby acne. Yeah. What is it called? Mila?

Milia. Milia. Sorry. Mila's Denise. I think the point here was you can get acne from cradle to the grave. Yeah, sadly. Yeah. I mean, most people, Tom cited something like 80% of people get acne and we should say everything we just said was a form of acne vulgaris. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think we said that vulgaris is a Latin, I think for common. Yeah. Right. Most of us get it. Right. Eight out of 10 people get it at some point in their life. He said most people, it starts during puberty and ends after puberty for other people like me. It keeps going on here or there. And I mean like, I take care of my face, dude. I've got a regimen. I know. And it's still, I mean, I can imagine it would be much worse if I didn't take care of it. Or are you over regimen? Jessica Simpson

here. Are you over regimening? No, I know what I'm doing. Okay. I'm going to see a dermatologist soon. I need to find one, but I'm going to go see one just to make sure I'm doing everything right. Yeah. Yeah. That's not other steps I can take. But no, I mean, I know what I'm doing. Okay. Cause the only reason I say that is later in the article, they point out the over washing. And I remember that as a kid, I, I think I went through a brief period where I got like a zitter two in high school. And so I got out like the buff puff and the Neutrogena for the first time ever and just scrub the crap out of my face. You started bleeding. I started breaking out. And I was like, well, I don't get it. I'm watching my face and it's breaking out. But it,

all these years later, I have an explanation. Yeah. You're agitating your skin. Yeah. Yeah. I think I just have sensitive skin. Yeah. Yeah. But no, I don't use like soap or harsh stuff on my face. It's like, I take good care of it. So Amelia, back to the babies. Babies can get Amelia. It's around the eyes or nose, little white bumps. It's really common. If you're a new parent and your kid has this, don't worry about it. In fact, the doctor's probably going to tell you the same thing. Like, don't even do anything. It'll clear up on its own. Right. In most cases. And you can actually get that as an adult as well. Oh, really? Sometimes, yeah.

Amelia? It's far more common in infants. And I mean like newborns too. Right. The cause generally is that the skin cells are already dividing and dying off. But the sebaceous glands aren't developed enough to carry the skin cells to the surface. So basically when the doctor says just wait, it'll clear up on its own. He's saying, just wait, your baby will produce more sebaceous glands to handle this. Right. And that's that. Well, that's good news. It's great news. Pre-pubertole acne forms in children. This is basically when you're producing your androgens, your sex hormones before you should be. Yeah. Like from drinking milk.

Is that what it'll do it to? Probably. Bovine growth hormone would do it. Yeah. And that is, that is when it's pre-puberty and that's in younger children. And that's something you probably should go to a doctor about. Yeah. Because it's, I think they take it more as like a sign like, oh, okay. You've got this other stuff coming down the pike too. Like breasts and you're six, you know, that kind of thing. So it's just a big androgen dump in your body and your sebaceous glands go, oh, we're supposed to start working now. Right. I guess. You know, blocks. Timmy's only eight. Right. I said six. It doesn't happen that young? I don't know. I'm sure it could. Yeah. I would imagine the younger,

the more potentially problematic it is. That's the kid who ends up having the mustache when he's like in the third grade. The six-year-old boy with the breasts. And the mustache. What'd you call it, Timmy? Timmy. Actually, I have a friend named Timmy, but my other friend, Jim, you actually know Jim did have a mustache when he was like in the eighth grade. Oh yeah. It was pretty funny. Yeah. Swarthy Jim. Yes. The war on drugs impacts everyone, whether or not you take drugs. America's public enemy, number one, is drug abuse. This podcast is going to show you the truth behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be charged for conspiracy to distribute 2,200 pounds of marijuana. Yeah,

and they can do that without any drugs on the table. Without any drugs, of course, yes, they can do that. And I'm the prime example of that. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss y'all. The property is guilty. Exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. The cops. Are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call, like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil acid. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

People who don't know Bruce have to understand two things. One is he's built like something Michelangelo's card out of a piece of marble. True. This is true. And number two, he's the first person to show you that at every party at every dinner. Maybe take a shirt off. Shirt comes off like before dessert. I'm Bruce Bozzi. You may not know me yet, but you already know most of my launch dates by their first names and voices alone. That was George and Julia. But believe it or not, my podcast guests see me as more than just a piece of meat like my thoughtful friend Scarlett. Bruce Bozzi, I love you so much. And I love meeting minds with you. What we do on my new podcast, Table For Two, is what everyone does when they're

at lunch with an old friend. We tell stories. We definitely gossip. James Corden wound up kind of ripping off your set. There you go. And we always go deep. Listen to Table For Two on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. So what else, Chuck? Oh, there's Rosacea. This is the one that is pretty awful on Google images. Really? Yeah. Yeah, it can affect the nose. And, you know, it's everything from just redness of the nose to horribly misshapen bumpy nose. Okay, it can get really bad. Is that the nose where you see like divots missing from people's noses? Yeah, Rosacea. Yeah, I got you. It can't. It can get that bad. But it occurs in bouts, right? So you have, you can kind of tell that you're about to have a bout of Rosacea because

you find that you flush more easily. Yeah. And it's because your veins and the veins in your face are dilating more, more wider, I guess. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. It triggers acne. Well, it triggers acne vulgaris or a lot like acne vulgaris, they said. And then I also got the impression from Tom that it's problematic that in that people suspect that maybe you're like a raging alcoholic because your nose looks like that, like you have the gym blossoms. But it's really just Rosacea. Yeah. And if you look up pictures of it, it looks like a gym blossom or worse. I don't encourage anyone to type in like Pustules into Google images because it's like body parts come up that are, have these things on them and might not be something you

want to see. You know what I'm saying? Well, kind of body parts. Oh, they just, they had pictures of, of like, uh, just out of nowhere, just like feet penises with bumps on them. And I don't recommend it. Okay. Well, that's fair warning. If I've ever heard it, anybody who anybody who does go Google image, what, Rosacea Pustules, any of them really, then you've been warned by Chuck himself. You're a dummy if you do it or you're on your own at least. So those are generally the different types of acne, right? And their causes. But we missed at least one Chuck pizza, pizza causes acne. No, it doesn't. I know it doesn't. That was play acting. I know. Um, that is a, is a, and I actually did a little more research on this and diet and acne.

That's sort of been one of the old things they say is like greasy food and it'll lead to acne, but most doctors say that that's pretty much a myth. End of story. Yeah. Although this, this one thing I found says that theoretically there could be some impact like, uh, diet has a direct effect on your insulin level and that insulin is the master hormone and it has to do with hormone, you know, production in a way. So in theory, insulin spikes could affect acne and also things that you eat. It can affect it in a good way. If you eat positively, like veggies and fruits and seafood, uh, and potentially if you eat good foods that are rich in like omega three fats, like fish oil, it can be an anti-inflammatory. And so part of the problem is inflammation

in theory. It could help with that too. But you want to watch, um, like shellfish there. Oh, yeah. They're high in iodine because that apparently can inflame active vulgaris. Yeah. So here's, we say that it doesn't impact acne. We're saying it does. Right. Yeah. I just can't believe that what you eat doesn't have any impact on the function of your cells. That's what I think. It's got to have some impact. That's what I think. Genetics is another big one that is, I think, probably, um, it's overestimated the impact it has. Yes, the, the genes that you inherit from your parents and how they express, um, the proteins that tell your sebaceous glands to function in this way or that way or whatever. Right. It's going to have an effect, but not as much as, you know,

if your dad broke out a lot, you're not necessarily going to. Right. Or vice versa. Right. I don't know about my parents in acne. I don't either. It's not a conversation that you normally have with your parents. You know, more it's like, um, it was your dad bald. Right. Right. That's the big question. That's what I think you care about. Right. As men, uh, dirt is not, uh, gonna affect if you have a dirty face. I mean, it's not great for your skin probably, but pimples and zits happen from the inside out. So dirt on top of your epidermis isn't going to really affect that. Right. They say. And then, uh, makeup. This one, I don't know. I could see makeup definitely making you break out. Yeah. Yeah. The wrong kind. Quit using that kind. Well, there's different kinds. There's

a hypoallergenic, which means low allergenic. Right. There's a non-comedogenic, which supposedly says like, this won't make you break out. So possibly cheap makeup. Yeah. And if you have, yeah, if you have skin issues already, then you should probably be aware of the types of makeup that you're getting. Right. If you're a young lady or if you're a dude that's into that. Um, and leaving makeup on without removing it at the end of the day, that can definitely cause you to break out because you're going ahead and blocking the pores from the outside in it. Causing backups. Yeah. Stevie Nicks said that on, it might have been Oprah. Yeah, verbatim. I was quoting her. Really? No, she said they asked her why she always looks so great. And she said

that she's through all like even her drug days of being on tour. She never ever failed to take her makeup off at the end of the night. Stevie Nicks did drugs. Oh yeah. Back in the day. Big time. I know. So she said even if she was on a bender, she would still manage to take her makeup off. That is, that's pretty good. Yeah. Wow. She's the Bella Donna. So Chuck, let's say you want to get rid of the acne that you do have. Right. Yes, I'm good. There's really just two things that regular old acne vulgaris and not persistent, not a superative nodule type acne, but just plain old acne vulgaris can be treated with. One is benzoal peroxide and one is salicylic acid. Right? Yeah. And those are pretty much it. Almost all of the over the counter acne treatments

that you're going to find anywhere are going to have one or both of those. Probably just one. And anyone who's ever seen like an oxy commercial has heard the word benzoal peroxide, you know, big time. What were those pads? Were they oxy pads? Yeah. There was another company that had the pads. Seabreeze came in like, that was like an astringent. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, there were pads. I guess it was oxy. Oxy pads, I think. They'd come in like a little candlestick and you'd just be like, yeah, I'm taking care of my skin. And then you would look at it and say, look at all that stuff, at least they did on the commercial. Benzoal peroxide specifically kills the P-agnus bacteria and it'll dry out your face. Which can be bad. Yeah. A lot of people

think that moisture in your face is what breaks you out. Right. Your face being too dry can break you out as much if not more. Yeah. You want to keep your face moisturized. That's done on breakouts. Kid, you're not. Tea tree oil, Emily uses tea tree a lot to dry out a pimple. And that's a good natural way to do so. Cellicylic acid basically goes in and it's like liquid plumber for your pores. Like it just goes in and destroys everything that's in that blockage. Yeah. And there you go. It also takes off a healthy amount of the horny layer, which is the most external layer of your dead skin cells. The what layer? Horny layer. Really? Mm-hmm. Well, look at you. The other thing that you can do, I mean, those are medications you can take.

What you really want to do is to gently wash your face with soap and warm water. But again, you can't just use any soap. I mean, maybe you can. If you have like completely insensitive skin. Yeah. Then sure, maybe you can. And you'll find out pretty quick what kind of soaps you can and can't use. Well, most of the soap you get in the store is pretty crappy anyway. Right. Like you get what you pay for with soap, especially with face soap. Yeah. It's worth the extra few bucks. Agreed. Yeah. If you're exercising, you want to shower right afterward. You don't want to let sweat be on your skin for too long. Yeah. You got back knee. Your sebaceous, the reason back knee is so prevalent is because that that part of your body is lousy with sebaceous glands.

Or is it head or face, back and chest? I think so. Well, those are three areas. Yeah. Yeah. Because yeah. Zits, zits, zits. What about the butt? That's something entirely different. Those are just red bumps that no one knows what they are. Okay. They recommend loose clothing and they recommend chilling out, not being so stressed. Lighten up, man. Yeah. Be a type L personality. Which is L? The long allele on the SLC6A4 gene, which basically creates this protein that ferries serotonin out of the synapse. It basically turns it off, which is so that if you have the L allele, it makes you, you're a more laid back person because you have more of this transport protein. Yeah. If you have the S version of that gene, then you make less of the

transport, meaning the serotonin stays in the synapse longer, which makes you high stronger, kind of angry because it activates your amygdala. So type A personality type B is actually type S and type L. Sounds like somebody just wrote a blog post. Isn't that cool though? Yeah, that is cool. Yeah. I like to think I'm L, but I'm probably less L than I'd really want to admit. I don't know. Somebody posted a comment on Facebook when I put that blog post up and they're like, yeah, not everything can be explained so succinctly. But the point of the blog post was it's like, this one explains it succinctly. Yeah. You just remove the comment and what about your day? Yeah. I banned him from Facebook forever. What else can you do? Let's see, guide acne.

Check. And what can you do to treat it? You can take antibiotics, either oral or topical. All right. And topical meaning like their current event type antibiotics. What about a chemical peel? That works too. I would think that would not be a good thing if you were breaking out. It's a good idea if you're going to do that to, again, show up the extra money and go to a professional who can tell you now this is the chemical peel I've done on your face. This is what's safe. This is what your skin can handle. Right. And then, you know, here's a product that will do the same thing at home. So don't go to the place where they have the ad on the subway. John's upstairs chemical peel and chicken processing plant.

An espresso. Have you ever done a chemical peel? Really? Well, interesting. Yes. I've been known to get it. You come out like it is your face all red and stuff? No, it feels red, but it's more also like very refreshing. Like it's just so nice to just kind of rub the back of your fingers along your face afterward because your skin is just like what you're doing is just tearing that horny layer right off. Right. You're getting closer and closer to that new layer of skin cells. But it's still epidermis though, right? Yeah. Yeah. I think you'd be in big trouble if you store it down to the dermis. Like that's a third degree burn, I think. Right. Yeah. Apparently, birth control pills can help treat acne. Yeah. If you watch the ads for them, a lot of them will

say like, and prevents breakouts. Oh, really? An extra bonus. Yeah, because it probably cuts down on the androgens, which cuts down on the production of sebum, which cuts down on pimples. Yeah. I didn't know they had ads for birth control pills. Sure. Did they? Yeah. Am I just, am I living in the Amish country here? Why am I not seeing these? There is this one ad I saw several years ago. Yeah, it was really weird. First they had this version of it was like the cartoon version of this ad and then like that one went away and then they had a live action version of the same ad. Really? Same everything. Same everything, but for some reason they did a cartoon version, then they did a live action version. They released them

one after another, but they were supposedly in no way related. It was like, I think that company was like, just how much are you paying attention? Right. How much TV are you watching? Yeah. Yeah. And at the time I was watching a lot of TV, so I noticed. Wow. Yeah. What about lasers? You can get them lasered, right? Yeah. And I guess that's if you have, if it's really bad, then they can actually laser your sebaceous glands. They say not to squeeze them though, which I think is kind of laughable. What do you mean? Like not pop them yourselves? Yeah. They is Tom Sheave, pal. You can take that with a grain of salt. Yeah. I mean, show me someone who doesn't pop their own zits. Right. And it says in here to make an appointment with a dermatologist so they can pop your pimples.

Right. Really? Well, that's the only thing too when you get like a chemical peel or a facial or or a facial or whatever, the anesthetician will pop all the zits on your face. Really? And what's crazy is like when you do it right, it doesn't hurt. These gloves, I guess? Yeah. But I mean, like just the pressure they apply is minute and they're doing it like off to the sides of the zit. Right. You're like, that was it. It didn't hurt at all. Like I didn't cry at all. So it's kind of good to not necessarily go to the dermatologist. You could go do an anesthetician and they'll do the same, all the same things. You'll learn a bunch just by paying attention while they do it. Emily would never let me do that. Why? Because she loves to do it herself. Oh,

yeah. I mean, she could have been an anesthetic. She has that gene. Yeah. To where she just gets a lot of satisfaction out of making that white snake come out. Yeah. No, it's me. In fact, she's a little disappointed at my lack of pimple production in life. Yeah. She would love me. Yeah. Perfect match actually. Yeah. Yumi loves me. She does it. She does it a lot too. She's kind of hooked. Yeah. A lot of girls are into that for some reason. I'm glad to know Emily's not nuts and that that's a normal behavior. No, I know. For some reason too. I've never been a guy who's into that. Yeah. It's always girls for some reason and I don't understand. Maybe they're more into skin care or gross stuff coming out of your skin. Maybe so. Yeah. Well, that's it, right?

Yeah. 17 million people in America every day on a given day have a zit. Is that right? Yeah. I think more than that. There you go. All right. All right. Well, that's actually which one? Well, I mean, it's acne is the big word. Pimples. I just like saying pimple. Okay. I don't like saying pimple. I think it's a gross word. Do you like pustule? I prefer pustule over pimple. Or zit. I don't like zit either. Yeah. The war on drugs impacts everyone whether or not you take drugs. America's public enemy number one is drug abuse. This podcast is going to show you the truth behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be charged for conspiracy to distribute 2200 pounds of marijuana. Yeah. And they can do that without

any drugs on the table. Without any drugs, of course, yes, they can do that. And now I'm the prime example of that. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The property is guilty. Exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. The cops. Are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil acid. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. People who don't know Bruce have to understand two things. One is he's built like something

Michelangelo is carved out of a piece of marble. Truth. This is true. And number two, he's the first person to show you that at every party at every dinner. Maybe take a shirt off. Shirt comes off like before dessert. I'm Bruce Bozzi. You may not know me yet, but you already know most of my launch dates by their first names and voices alone. That was George and Julia. But believe it or not, my podcast guests see me as more than just a piece of meat like my thoughtful friend Scarlett. Bruce Bozzi, I love you so much. And I love meeting minds with you. What we do on my new podcast, Table for Two, is what everyone does when they're at lunch with an old friend. We tell stories. We definitely gossip. James Corden wound up kind of ripping off your set. There you go.

And we always go deep. Listen to Table for Two on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Yeah, we were featured in the comic strip zits, remember? Oh yeah. Yeah. That was very nice. Yeah. Yeah. And then you know what I need to find out? And I don't think they're blackheads. Emily calls them seeds because it's like a little watermelon seed almost. I know what you're talking about. Like a little white spike comes out. I wonder what that is. I didn't find that in here. I guarantee it's the same thing. You think? Yeah. All right. I think there's a very limited amount of acne. It just happens and it just kind of looks different or comes out in different ways or if it sits in there long enough, it hardens, becomes a seed. I know you're talking

about that. Yeah. Well, that's acne. If you want to learn more about it and see some cool cutaway illustrations of the skin. Yeah, that was a good part actually. Yeah. You can type in acne, A-C-N-E in the search bar at HowStuffWorks.com. And now friends, it's time for a list of your mail. If I told you to hold on one second, would you indulge me? Would you do me a kindness? Yes. Okay. Josh, we have an audiobook that has just been released called the Super Stuff Guide to Happiness available on iTunes. I know. You have to shell out $3.99 for it. We promise we think it's worth it. On iTunes, you just search Super Stuff Guide to Happiness, right? And it'll bring that one up. It'll bring up our first audiobook too, the Super Stuff Guide to the

Economy. You can get them both there. But check out the Super Stuff Guide to Happiness. It's awesome interviews, in-depth investigation of what is happiness, what makes us happy, how do we study happiness, great sound design. My niece starts the whole thing off with a nice quote from the Dalai Lama. It's just a great little whirlwind ride that you'll want to listen to over and over again. All for the price of a latte at your favorite coffee place. You're going to have to probably go through your couch cushions to come up with a difference to get the latte. This thing's so cheap. That's true. Yeah. So there's our plug and it's time now for Listener Mail. Josh, I'm going to call this email from an author that we actually referenced.

Okay. He listens to the show. Awesome. Min Galaba, Josh, Chuck and Jerry. Hope you're having a good day. About three weeks ago, I was flying from Minnesota to Yangon, Myanmar. Is that how you pronounce it? Yeah, it's Burma. Myanmar? But it's post-Hunta Burma. Wow. Look at you. I really had a pretty surreal moment involving your podcast. After downing as much free booze as I could, I was listening to episodes of your podcast, trying to fall asleep over the Pacific Ocean. Imagine my surprise when I was coming out of my nap to the end of How Shrunk and Heads Work. You were finishing the story of your dentist friend when Josh said you've also received Ajumma and Other Stories by Tyler Davis, which is a self-published book and pretty awesome.

Yeah. I couldn't believe it. Thanks so much for the shout out. Does this email from Tyler Davis? Yeah. Yeah, he sent it to us. Okay. It is good. Well, I've been meaning to write an email and thank you guys for a while. I've been busy settling in. The internet here isn't exactly the information super highway. It's more like an Amish buggy. I'm teaching English in an international high school and I've already taught my kids what Hinky means. I have no idea if that sounds... What does Hinky mean? How do you define that specifically? I would say Hinky means suspicious. Okay. See, I would say strange or unusual. Yeah. Okay. So it could be three. There's three definitions right there. That's right.

That's what Hinky means. Hinky is everything. It's like Smurf, huh? Yeah. What the cuss? I had time to write you today because I'm homesick from food poisoning, which reminds me you should do a podcast on whether or not you can poop your own skeleton. Gross. I feel awful. You and the rest of the gang and how stuff works. Keep me entertained, educated, and in high spirits. Thanks again, Tyler Davis. Yeah. Thank you, Tyler. Thanks for the books, too. You have yours. I think he sent us, too. Yeah. Adjuma and other stories. Yeah, yeah, I've got it. If you want, you can go on to the Stuff You Should Know Facebook page and post in Amazon link

or something like that to your book if you like. And also, I want to take this time to correct myself. We've got several corrections. A fail safe. Yeah. A fail safe is not something that you put that's designed into something to prevent it from failing, like one prong being bigger on a two prong plug. Yeah. It's, I guess, parts of the design that make it so when it does fail, it fails as safely as possible. Right. So there's a bunch of different systems maybe that are redundant that provide safety when it does fail. Right. Like one guy said, the lawn mower that you have to hold the thing to keep it going. Yes. Like if you have a heart attack and fall over, it will cease to run. Right. That's a fail safe. So you have failed, but you are safe from the mower.

Right, exactly. But you don't care because you're having a heart attack. Yeah. Yeah. But anything else? Bread butter side up? No. You know, I think the Mythbusters are great and I'm glad that they've had this incredible juggernaut run that they've had so far and continue to have. But I don't, I just don't yes, I don't think you can say, well, the Mythbusters proved it. Well, shut up. Yeah. I think you have to also include one, maybe two peer reviewed studies as well that show that this is right. Here's what I think and I was not able to articulate it. I think you spread the butter side up so it's sitting face up and when it falls off the,

you know, the stomach high counter, then it only has time to rotate half a turn and it will fall side down. If the counter were eight feet high, it might rotate fully and then it's butter side up. It has nothing to do with weight. I disagree. I disagree. I just don't see how it can have nothing to do with weight, especially if you have, if one side is clearly heavier than the other and the butter spread evenly across, then it's not going to turn back over. You, if it does turn back over, then there was more butter on one side that caused the bread to flip over again. It's just not, it just makes, it's common sense. You're going to battle this one.

I am. So that's why I didn't bring that one up. They're fail safe. I mean, when you're wrong, you're wrong, you know. All right, boy, that was good. Well, yeah, if you have any corrections, we don't want to hear about your acne. If you have any corrections for us or you just want to say hi, you can tweet to us anytime you like. That's why SK podcast is our Twitter handle. We're on Facebook, facebook.com slash stuff you should know, or you can go on any of the other Facebook stuff you should know sites that are fan driven. They're awesome too. Agreed. Or you can send us a regular old email at stuffpodcast at howstuffworks.com. Be sure to check out our new video podcast, Stuff From The Future. Join How Stuff Works staff as we explore them as promising and

perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you? The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil answer. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Where were you in 92? Bouncing your butt to Sir Mixolot? Wondering if you, like Billy Ray Cyrus, could pull off a moment? Now iHeart has a podcast all about it. I'm Jason Lanfie and on my new show, Where Were You in 92, we take a ride

through the major hits, one hit wonders and shocking scandals that shaped the wildest 12 months in music history. You know, the president came after me, everybody, I'm Warner was madness. Music was magic and I had completely burned that to the ground. I realized I'm the forbidden fruit. So listen and follow Where Were You in 92 on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.