|
Other Resources | Order | About Us | FAQ | Prices | Contact Us | Product List
Acne Myths - Fact Or Fiction?
MYTH: Washing your face more often will help clear up acne
FACT: Acne is not caused by dirt. Even the most intense scrubbing does not clean deeply enough to remove the oil deep in your pores where acne is formed. Washing to often, especially scrubbing, can actually irritate your skin. Excess irritation will make acne worse. Use only bare hands to wash and only wash twice a day unless you play some sort of sport which requires the use of a face mask during the day. In that case, a third washing and application of medication may be appropriate. Sweat from exercise itself, however, does not aggravate acne and should not be met with excess washing.
MYTH: Masturbation or sex causes acne.
FACT: This antiquated notion harkens back to the sixteenth century when excess semen secretion was supposed to aggravate acne. Marriage was purported to be the cure. It has no scientific validity.
MYTH: Acne is related to diet.
FACT: After years of studies, no correlation between diet and acne has been found. We have known since the late 1960's that chocolate, even in extreme doses, has no affect on acne. Other forbidden foods, which all seem to coincidentally be delicious, like sugar, greasy foods, milk, and seafood, among others, also have not been shown to affect acne.* Some people absolutely insist that a certain food causes acne for them. In this case, doctors sometimes recommend that they avoid that food. The bottom line is that the abundant scientific evidence we now have shows that changing your diet will not affect your acne. Do not feel guilty about what you eat, at least with respect to acne.
MYTH: Stress causes acne.
FACT: This is not necessarily so. Although stress does often coincide with acne outbreaks, this is not true for every person, or in every situation. It may also be the result of external irritation, such as stress induced picking at the skin. Drugs that treat severe stress may have acne as a side effect, but stress itself does not mean you will encounter an acne outbreak. Since worrying about stress simply increases it, better to spend your time determining the right course of treatment rather than feeling guilt about stress.
MYTH: The sun is good for acne.
FACT: Getting out in the sun might make your skin look better but ONLY because the sun reddens your skin. Since your skin is redder overall, the redness of the blemishes is not as obvious. A sunburn or tan is actually very damaging to the skin. Although the sun has been shown to quicken the healing of existing acne lesions, it WILL create new blemishes in the future, thus perpetuating the disease. Getting more sun is only a fast fix which will worsen the acne problem in the weeks following exposure.
More Information About retin-a
|
|
|
