Separate The Facts From The Fiction When Talking About Acne

Posted by acnetips

There is a great deal of information available about acne and its causes and this information tends to be a mix of both fiction and fact. So, let us take a look at a few of the things that are being circulated and see if we can divide the fact from the myth.

Diet

First of all there is no direct link between eating things like greasy hamburgers and chocolate or drinking excessive soft drinks and getting spots. What is true is that diet plays a role in the way the body functions and so it does have a small role to play in whether getting acne is less or more likely.

For example, greasy foods do not directly turn into rising oil production in the sebaceous glands which contributes to acne, but foods which do increase oil production would have an effect. However, iodized salt is as yet the only food substance that has been demonstrated to have any real effect and it merely exacerbates existing acne but does not cause it.

Hygiene

The odds of developing a pimple are increased when a pore gets plugged and bacteria get trapped inside. What this means is that hygiene habits that tend to close the pores can play a role. But this effect is only minimal and the dead skin cells and bacteria which get trapped and are unable to make their way out of the pore to the surface are only influenced to a small degree by an absence of regular face washing.

Nonetheless, once acne arrives good skin care is particularly important and mild cleansing twice each day with soap and water can help to treat acne and encourage healthy skin in general. Good hygiene is an excellent for a number of reasons although it is most helpful in treating acne because it provides a good surface for medications to work most efficiently.

Acne spots are greatly influenced by excess skin oil (sebum) production which is triggered primarily by hormones and harsh cleansers applied roughly do not merely clear away this excess oil but also weakens the skin’s ability to handle it.

Stress

As stress has a tendency to weaken the body’s immune system and influence its hormone levels it might be thought that stress would play a part in the onset of acne. However, there is no evidence to suggest that stress results in acne, although there is evidence to show that it could play a small role after acne has arrived.

One of the difficulties in assessing the role of stress is that people who are suffering from chronic stress normally also suffer from additional health problems that complicate the picture. Remember too that we are talking here about clinical stress and not merely the worries which we all experience as part of the ups and downs of everyday living.

Medications

Many individuals are tempted to raise the dosage of over-the-counter medications believing that if a little medicine does a bit of good a lot of medicine will do a lot of good. Unfortunately, this is not so and it both wastes medicine and can actually damage the skin. Always follow the instructions on any medication and if an over-the-counter medication is not showing signs of working within two or three weeks then it is a good idea to consult a dermatologist.

It is also worthy of note that there is no such thing as the best acne medicine. We are all different and a medication that proves to be the best acne medication for one person will not necessarily do the trick for someone else.

Tags: Acne, acne myths, curing acne, pimples, spots, treating acne, zits