The intimate connection between the skin and the sexual sphere is
also shown in pathological conditions of the skin, especially in
acne as well as simple pimples on the face. The sexual
development of puberty involves a development of hair in various
regions of the body which previously were hairless. As, however,
the sebaceous glands on the face and elsewhere are the vestiges
of former hairs and survive from a period when the whole body was
hairy, they also tend to experience in an abortive manner this
same impulse. Thus, we may say that, with the development of the
sexual organs at puberty, there is correlated excitement of the
whole pilo-sebaceous apparatus. In the regions where this
apparatus is vestigial, and notably in the face, this abortive
attempt of the hair-follicles and their sebaceous appendages to
produce hairs tends only to disorganization, and simple
_comedones_ or pustular acne pimples are liable to occur. As a
rule, acne appears about puberty and dies out slowly during
adolescence. While fairly common in young women, it is usually
much less severe, but tends to be exacerbated at the menstrual
periods; it is also apt to appear at the change of life.
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