Does Dirt Really Cause Acne?

e can't blame our parents for asking us to keep our faces clean if we want to reduce the occurrence of acne. You see, with the appearance of blackheads in the form of black spots on our faces, our parents must think that the dirt are deeply "stuck" on our faces. And to get rid of them, all we need to do is to wash them away and our acne will be gone for good.

I wish it would be THAT simple but unfortunately thing is a little more complicated than it seemed.

First, these black spots are actually made up of melanin; pigments that provide coloring to one's skin and not DIRT! When melanin in the sebum comes in contact with oxygen in the air, they turn to black color.

Second, acne formation takes place from underneath our skin. It means that the blockage of the follicles does not occur from top down. Therefore, washing all those dirt away won't reduce the breakout of acne on our face. If acne is on its way to break out from our skin, no amount of washing will halt the process. Moreover, over washing our faces will further irritate our skin and making your inflamed skin condition worse and redden.

Some of you might argue that washing will remove the excess sebum on your face but do you know that the sebum will come back within half an hour after you wash it? However, don't get the idea that you do not need to wash your face.

If your parents still say that dirt causes acne, ask them why do all the people who work in coal mines, construction sites or in the streets do not get their faces full with acne? And why do some of us who work in the offices or even doctors get acne? Surely those who work in the open will have their faces covered with dirt most of the time.

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Does Exercise Cause Acne?

AMost of us will think that sweat causes acne while a handful of us reason that through sweat cleansing process, the stored toxins such as dirt, sebum and dead skin trapped in the follicles will be removed.

Before we find out the truth, do you know why we sweat? Yes, we sweat because we want to cool down our heated up bodies. When the sweat evaporates, it will remove heat from our body and thus will be able to regulate our bodies temperature.

Guess you must know that sweat is released by the sweat glands and you must think that these are actually the blocked sebaceous glands where acne lesions such as blackheads, whiteheads and inflamatory spots originate. Well, if you think so, you really got it all wrong here. These sweat actually comes from the ecrrine glands that are located deeply in the skin and cover almost our entire bodies. Do you notice the amount of sweat you get on your forehead, palms and soles when you sweat? That's because there are lots of eccrine glands at those areas.

The sweat that we perspire not only contain water but also salt (sodium chloride), urea and other cellular and fatty wastes. Therefore, many of us would think that sweat will reduce one's acne breakout.

To really get a correct answer, we need to understand how acne occurs on our skin. In a healthy skin, sebum produced in the sebaceous glands will travel to the follicles ends (known as pores) on the skin surface via hair follicles and excreted to the surface. However, for acne sufferers, the excessive sebum, coupled with dead skin cells will block their pores and this creates a perfect environment for the P. acnes bacteria to thrive. The multiplying bacteria population on the blocked follicles will result in the swelling of the surrounding tissues and the first step in the formation of acne has taken place.

By now, you must have noticed that the toxins removed from the skin are not those from the blocked pores where acne originates but rather from the cells and capillaries located deeper in the skin. Therefore, it can be drawn that sweat does not lessen acne breakout but does it cause more acne?

Well, it does if you let the salty sweat on your skin as sweat provides a great environment for the P. acnes bacteria to grow rapidly.

One way to get around this problem is to apply some acne medications on one's skin especially on the back before exercise. Be careful when you apply a benzoyl peroxide based topical cream as benzoyl peroxide can bleach your clothing. Due to this problem, another alternative would be to shower immediately and use a benzoyl peroxide based cleanser such as Clean and Clear Continuous Control Acne Cleanser or salicylic acid cleansers.

Other steps include wear loose fitting attires and tie one's hair to keep them off the surface of the face.
Some people also figure that it is best to drink plain water rather than those sports "salty" drinks so that the sweat that is being exreted during exercise will be less salty and therefore provide a less than perfect environment for acne bacteria to multiply.

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Does Cosmetics Cause Acne?

Would you feel sceptical if I tell you that cosmetics does not cause acne ? In fact, cosmetics does not really cause acne cosmetica even though some of you might get some reactions that present themselves as inflammatory acne. The truth is this so called "inflammatory acne" is actually your skin reaction to the ingredients found in the cosmetics that makes your existing acne redder and more prominent.

So you can continue to use the cosmetics that you like without having any worry on them for worsening your acne condition. If you are still in doubt whether the current cosmetics that you are using are worsening your acne, stop using them for a couple of weeks and observe whether there is less acne lesions on your face.

Almost all cosmetic products that you find in the market nowadays will have the term noncomedogenic imprinted on its label. Noncomedogenic simply means that they are oil free or they won't clog your pores.

Put in another word, using noncomedogenic skin care products won't lead to any acne flare up on your face. So you can stop blaming those blackheads and whiteheads that pop up after using a new cosmetic. They are already there in your skin and in the process of rising to the top layer of your skin.

You can check whether your cosmetic contains lanolin, isopropyl myristate or D & C red dyes if you do get negative reaction on acne after using it. These three ingredients are believed by most dermatologists to cause acne.

Lanolin is actually oil originates from sheep skin while isopropyl myristate is an ingredient that makes the product go smoother on the skin. Other ingredient in the same classification as isopropyl myristate are isopropyl isostearate, butyl sterate and laureth 4. Surely you won't want to use D & C red dyes on your skin as it originates from coal tars.

Thick creams, blushers and make up foundation powders are the most acne causing class of cosmetic as the ingredients that are used in these cosmetic to replace oil is synthetic base and is more harmful than those excess sebum produced in our sebaceous glands.

Moisturizers can be another source of acne causing products as they do contain ingredients that make them slide on the skin smoothly and easily. You can see that the above moisturizers often contain searic acid, acetylated lanolin or cetyl alcohol.

Therefore, you should get those moisturizers that contain petrolatum or mineral oil in order to skip their acne causing effect on your face. I know the word oil here would terrify you but certain type of oil is good for our skin and have no provoking effect on our acne.

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Do Chocolate Or Greasy Foods Cause Acne?

We all like to eat chocolate and greasy foods, don't we? Bet your parents will say that these foods cause acne and advise you not to consume them. But do they really cause acne?

Luckily there is no scientific evidence that links acne and these foods up to today. But before you lay your hand on those yummy and delicious chocolate bars, consider this. If you note that every time after you consume those foods, you have an acne breakout, it is better to avoid them.

And to those of you who have practically no acne breakout after consuming these foods, moderation is still the best way to go in eating them. Anything that is consumed in abundance will be detrimental to your health in one way or another. The effect might not show up in your acne but definitely it will show up in your waistline.

Luckily the high amount of carbohydrates and fat in these greasy foods does not increase the production of sebum in the sebaceous glands in the skin and cause an acne breakout.

There are reports there dairy foods cause acne. Some people claimed that they have significant improvement in their acne after they eliminate or consumes limited amount of milk products in their diet. Studies indicated that girls have a more prominent effect of milk consumption on their acne compared to boys.

Why is there a linkage between milk or dairy consumption and acne? It might be due to the fact that the 75% to 90% of the milks and dairy products in the market are produced by cows, especially pregnant cows. The hormones in these milk and dairy products when consumed by us might cause some of us to experience an acne flare.

Therefore, should you decide to try a dairy free diet, do take a supplement of calcium and protein to keep you healthy. Surely you wouldn't want to risk contracting other diseases in your struggle to keep acne at bay.

Yet there are some people who find that lots of acne pop up on their face and skin after they consume seaweed and seafood. This is due to the reason that these seafood are rich in iodine. Iodine, if consumed in large quantity, does indeed cause acne.

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