Inflammation: The buzzword everyone uses... but here's what it actually means

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“Inflammation” gets blamed for everything: breakouts, bloating, redness, “flare-ups,” you name it.

But most explanations online are overly simplified or completely wrong.

Here’s the biochemical truth:

Inflammation isn’t automatically bad. In fact, your skin needs it to function. It only becomes a problem when the wrong pathways stay switched on for too long.

Let’s break it down properly.

Acute Inflammation: Your body’s built-in repair system

This type of inflammation is short, sharp, and essential. Biochemically, it involves:

• increased blood flow

• immune cells rushing to the area

• cytokines and growth factors repairing tissue

• temporary redness/warmth as part of the healing process.

This response helps your skin:

• clear a breakout

• repair barrier damage

• response to irritation

• regenerate new cells.

Without acute inflammation, nothing would heal. So you’re not supposed to “stop inflammation” every time you see a spot. This is the inflammation that’s doing its job.

Chronic Inflammation: When the alarm system doesn’t switch off

This is where the real problems begin.

Chronic inflammation happens when biochemical pathways, or certain cytokines, stay activated longer than they should. This creates low-grade, ongoing irritation that you can’t always see, but you’ll feel it in your skin through:

• breakouts that keep returning

• redness that never fully settles

• slow healing

• sensitivity to products

• clogged pores that become inflamed easily

• pigmentation that lingers

• “mystery” flare-ups.

In acne, chronic inflammation disrupts how your pores and sebum behaves, and how your immune cells respond, which is why breakouts become persistent.

Where the Internet gets it wrong

Most advice online assumes: “Inflammation = bad. Reduce it.”

But trying to shut down inflammation without understanding which pathways are active can actually worsen things.

Examples:

• Ice rollers on every breakout can delay healing.

• Overusing “calming” products can weaken your barrier.

• Random anti-inflammatory supplements can disrupt normal pathways.

• Cutting out multiple foods doesn’t fix biochemical triggers.

The goal is not to eliminate inflammation, it’s to restore your body’s natural regulation systems so inflammation switches on when needed and off when appropriate.

So What’s the Real Link Between Inflammation & Acne?

Acne isn’t just clogged pores. It’s an inflammatory condition involving:

• immune cell activation

• oxidative stress

• changes in microbiome balance

• hormonal signalling

• impaired barrier function.

When inflammation is dysregulated, even small triggers such as, stress, certain foods, the wrong product, can push your skin into a flare.

This is why surface-level treatments only work temporarily.

Inflammation isn’t the villain. It’s a biochemical process designed to protect you. The real issue is when your inflammatory pathways become dysregulated, and that requires deeper investigation, not guesswork.

Once inflammation is properly understood and brought back into balance, your skin becomes clearer, calmer, and far more resilient long-term.

Written by Shweta Patel

Medical Biochemist | Founder of Derm360º

Shweta helps people struggling with chronic acne uncover the root biochemical causes behind their skin challenges. Through advanced hormone and gut testing, functional nutrition, and barrier restoration, her evidence-based approach delivers lasting, clear-skin results.

📩 Ready to look deeper than your blood test results? Book your consultation at www.derm360.co.uk or contact hello@derm360.co.uk