The presence of blackheads and whiteheads on the skin is a common problem for those in their teens and up. Teenagers and people in their early twenties suffer most from them, but even those who are in their thirties and forties can still have them too, especially those with oily skin.
Both blackheads and whiteheads are forms of acne. We may have thought of acne as limited to those red, bumpy pustules, but that is not so. All forms of acne are considered disorders of the pilosebaceous units of the skin which are made up of the sebaceous glands, the hair follicle, and the hair strand itself. And like all acne, the problem with blackheads and whiteheads starts deep down the sebaceous glands, or oil glands.