Separate The Fiction From The Facts About Acne
As with most conditions there is a lot of information distributed about acne and its causes and that information tends to be a mixture of both fact and fiction. So, let us take a look at some of those things that are being circulated and see if we can sort out the fact from the fiction.
Food
First of all there is no direct connection between eating such things as chocolate or greasy hamburgers or drinking too many soft drinks and getting pimples. It is true however that diet plays a role in all the body's systems and so it does have a small part in whether acne is more or less likely.
For instance, eating greasy foods does not directly turn into rising oil production in the sebaceous glands that contributes to acne, although foods that do increase oil production would have an effect. However, iodized salt is as yet the only food substance that has been shown to have any substantial effect and it merely exacerbates acne but does not cause it.
Hygiene
The odds of developing a pimple increase when a pore becomes plugged and bacteria are trapped inside. What this means is that hygiene habits that work to close the skin's pores can play a role. But this effect is only very small and the dead skin cells and bacteria that get trapped and are unable to work their way out of the pore are only influenced to a minor degree by insufficient regular face washing.
Nonetheless, once acne arrives good skin care is particularly important and mild cleansing twice a day with soap and water will help in treating acne and promoting 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 allowing medications to work most effectively.
Acne is strongly influenced by excess production of sebum (skin oil) which is triggered primarily by hormones and abrasive cleansers which are applied roughly do not merely clear away any 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 hormone levels it could be thought that stress should play a role in the onset of acne. However, there is no evidence to suggest that stress causes acne, although there is some evidence to suggest that it may play a small role after acne has developed.
One of the problems in assessing the role played by stress is that people who are suffering from chronic stress also also suffer from other health problems that can complicate the picture. Remember too that we are talking here about clinical stress and not simply the worries which we all experience as part of the ups and downs of day to day living.
Medication
A lot of people are tempted to raise the dosage of an over-the-counter medication believing that if a little medicine can do a little good a lot of medicine will do a lot of good. Unfortunately, this is not the case and it is both a waste of medication and can actually harm the skin. Always follow the instructions on any acne medication and if an over-the-counter medicine is not showing signs of working within two or three weeks then you should talk to your dermatologist.
