Separate The Fiction From The Facts About Acne
There is a lot of information distributed about acne and what causes it and that information tends to be a mix of both fact and fiction. So, let us look at a few of the things which are being said and see if we can work out the fact from the myth.
Diet
There is no direct connection between eating things like greasy hamburgers and chocolate or drinking too many soft drinks and getting pimples. What is true is that diet plays an important role in the way the body functions and so it does have a minor role to play in whether getting acne is more or less likely.
For instance, eating greasy foods does not directly translate into increased oil production in the sebaceous glands which contributes to acne, but foods which do contribute to an increase in oil production would of course have an effect. However, iodized salt is as yet the only food substance which has been demonstrated to have any substantial effect and it simply exacerbates acne but does not cause it.
Hygiene
The odds of developing an acne spot increase when a pore becomes blocked and bacteria get trapped inside. This means that hygiene habits that tend to close the skin’s pores can play a role. However this effect is only small and the dead skin cells and bacteria which get trapped and cannot work their way out of the pore are only influenced to a minor degree by an absence of regular face washing.
Nonetheless, once acne occurs then good skin hygiene is especially important and mild cleansing twice a day with soap and water will help in treating acne and encouraging healthy skin in general. Good hygiene is a good idea for a number of reasons but it helps most in treating acne because it provides a good surface allowing medications to do their work most efficiently.
Acne spots are strongly influenced by excess production of sebum (skin oil) which is triggered principally by hormones and abrasive cleansers which are applied roughly do not only clear away this excess oil but also damages the the ability of the skin to cope with it.
Stress
As stress has a tendency to weaken the body’s immune system and impact its level of hormones it might be thought that stress should play a role in the onset of acne. However, there is no evidence that stress can cause acne, but there is some evidence to suggest that it may play a minor role once acne has developed.
One of the problems in assessing the role of stress is that people who suffer from chronic stress also also suffer from other health problems that complicate things. Bear in mind too that here we are talking about clinical stress and not simply the worries which we all experience as part of the ups and downs of everyday living.
Medications
Many people are tempted to increase the dosage of an over-the-counter medication believing that if a little medication can do a little bit of good a lot of medicine will do a lot of good. Unfortunately, this is not the case and it both wastes medication and can actually harm the skin. You should always follow the instructions on any medicine and if any medication is not showing signs of working within two or three weeks then you should talk to 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 individual will not necessarily do the trick for somebody else.
