The Fiction And Facts About Acne

As is the case with with most conditions there is a lot of information available about acne and what causes it and that information tends to be a mixture of both fact and fiction. Thus, let us take a look at some of those things that are being said and see if we can sort out the fact from the fiction.

Diet

First of all there is no direct link between eating such things as chocolate or greasy hamburgers or drinking too many soft drinks and developing acne. What is true is that what we eat plays a role in the way the body functions and thus it does have a small role to play in whether acne is less or more likely.

For instance, greasy foods do not directly translate into rising oil production from the sebaceous glands that contributes to acne, although foods that do cause a rise in oil production would of course have an effect. However, iodized salt is the only food that has been shown to have any substantial effect and it simply worsens acne but does not cause it.

Cleanliness

The odds of developing an acne spot rise when a pore becomes blocked and bacteria get trapped inside. What this means is that hygiene habits that work to close the pores can play a role. But this effect is only very small and the dead skin cells and bacteria that get trapped and cannot make their way out of the pore to the surface are influenced only to a small degree by insufficient regular face washing.

Nevertheless, once acne arrives then good skin care is especially important and mild cleansing twice each day with soap and water can help in treating acne and encouraging healthy skin in general. Good hygiene is an excellent for several reasons although it helps most in treating acne because it provides a good surface for medications to work most effectively.

Spots 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 merely clear away this excess oil but also weakens the the ability of the skin to handle 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 part in the onset of acne. However, there is no evidence that stress causes acne, but there is evidence to show that it may play a small role after acne has developed.

One of the difficulties with assessing the role of stress is that people who suffer from chronic stress generally also suffer from other health problems that can complicate the picture. Do not forget too that here we are talking about clinical stress and not merely the worries that we all experience as part of the trials and tribulations of day to day living.

Medication

Many us are tempted to increase the dosage of an over-the-counter medication believing that if a little medicine can do a little good then a lot of medication will do a lot of good. Unhappily, this is not so and it is both a waste of medication and can actually harm the skin. Always stick to the instructions on any medication and if an over-the-counter medication does not show signs of working within two or three weeks then it is a good idea to seek the guidance of your dermatologist.

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