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Health and Fitness > Acne > Acne Myths Exploded
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Article rating : 0.00, 0 votes. Author : Donald Saunders
As with many conditions there is a lot of information out there about acne and what causes it and that information is a mixture of both fiction and fact. Thus, let us look at some of those things that are being circulated and see if we can divide the myth from the fact.
Food
There is no direct connection between eating such things as greasy cheeseburgers and chocolate or drinking excessive soft drinks and getting pimples. What is true is that food plays an important role in the way the body functions and therefore it does have a minor part in whether acne is less or more likely.
For instance, eating greasy foods does not directly convert into rising oil production in the sebaceous glands that adds to acne, although foods that do contribute to an increase in oil production would of course have an effect. However, iodized salt is as yet the only food that has been shown to have any measurable effect and it just worsens existing acne but does not cause it.
Hygiene
The chances of getting an acne spot rise when a pore becomes plugged and bacteria are trapped inside. This means that hygiene habits that tend 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 become trapped and are unable to work their way out of the pore to the surface are influenced only to a minor degree by insufficient regular face washing.
But, after acne arrives then good skin hygiene is particularly 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 although it helps most in treating acne because it provides a good surface allowing medications to do their work most efficiently.
Acne is greatly influenced by excess production of skin oil (sebum) which is triggered in the main by hormones and harsh cleansers applied roughly do not only clear away this excess oil but also affects the the ability of the skin to deal with it.
Stress
Because 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 part in the onset of acne. However, there is no clear evidence to suggest that stress can cause acne, but there is evidence to suggest that it may play a minor role after acne has developed.
One of the difficulties with assessing the role played by stress is that people who are suffering from chronic stress normally also suffer from other health problems which can complicate the picture. Bear in mind too that here we are talking about clinical stress and not just the worries that we all experience as part of the ups and downs of everyday living.
Medicines
A lot of us are tempted to increase the dosage of an over-the-counter medication believing that if a little medicine can do a bit of good then a lot will do a lot of good. Regrettably, this is not so and it is both a waste of medicine and might actually damage the skin. Always follow the instructions on any medicine and if an over-the-counter medicine does not show signs of working within two or three weeks then you should consult a dermatologist.
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