Acne Myths Exposed
As with most conditions there is a lot of information distributed about acne and what causes it and that information is a mixture of both fact and fiction. So, let us look at a few of those things which are being circulated and see if we can work out the myth from the fact.
Diet
There is no direct connection between eating things like chocolate or greasy cheeseburgers or drinking too many soft drinks and developing spots. It is true however that what we eat plays an important role in all the body’s systems and therefore it does have a small 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 from the sebaceous glands which adds 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 measurable effect and it merely exacerbates existing acne but does not cause it.
Cleanliness
The odds of getting a spot increase when a pore becomes blocked and bacteria are trapped inside. What this means is that hygiene habits that work to close the skin’s pores can play a role. However this effect is only small and the dead skin cells and bacteria that become trapped and cannot work their way out of the pore are only influenced to a small degree by an absence of regular face washing.
But, once acne occurs good skin care is particularly important and mild cleansing two times a day with soap and water will help to treat acne and encourage healthy skin in general. Cleanliness is an excellent for several reasons although it helps most in treating acne by providing a good surface allowing medications to work most effectively.
Pimples are greatly influenced by excess production of sebum (skin oil) that is triggered in the main by hormones and abrasive cleansers which are applied roughly do not just clear away this excess oil but also weakens the the ability of the skin to cope with it.
Stress
As stress tends to weaken the body’s immune system and also influence its level of hormones it could be thought that stress should play a role in the onset of acne. However, there is no evidence that stress can cause acne, although there is some evidence to suggest that it may play a small role once acne has developed.
One problem with assessing the role played by stress is that people who suffer from chronic stress generally also suffer from other health problems which complicate things. Bear in mind too that we are talking here about clinical stress and not merely the worries that we all have as part of the ups and downs of day to day life.
Medication
Many individuals are tempted to increase the dosage of an over-the-counter medication in the belief that if a little medicine can do a bit of good then a lot of medication will do a lot of good. Regretably, this is not the case and it both wastes medication and could actually harm the skin. You should always stick to the instructions on any medicine and if any medicine does not show signs of working within a reasonable period of time 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 person will not necessarily work for someone else.
If you enjoy reading this post, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
