For teenagers acne is a curse, for an adult it’s an unwanted surprise. Some experts believe you can blame the genes (yes, your parents) because it’s inherited.
Others blame puberty hormones. During adolescence, hormone changes will enlarge the oil glands and encourage them to produce more oil. This increase in oil will generate more skin cells that stick to each other, resulting in clogged pores.
In adults it can be that thick, oily makeup that you are using that blocks the pores. Stress, and premenstrual will also change the hormones level leading to the same problem. Certain drugs could also induce acne as a side effect.
Apart from those reasons, your food could also be the culprit. Proof? Canadian Inuit, prior to 1950 had no incidence of acne (yes, what a great life). Later, when modern foods were introduced to their diets, acne became common.
What Should You Do ?
1) Leave it alone
Many people will rub, press or squeeze their pimples. Don’t! When you do this, you risk spreading the bacteria to other areas.
2) Don’t rest your chin on your hands
Please try to not constantly touch the face. This causes trauma to the acne. When this happen it could go berserk, just like human under pressure.
3) Watch your food
For some people coffee, ice cream, nuts or greasy food (pronounced as: fast food) would not do much harm to the face. For others it may encourage acne. So, watch what you eat. Juices and vegetables are recommended. Milk and other dairy products should be reduced. Please forgo anything with a lot of sugar in it. Yes! Coke and other soft drinks could make your acne worse.
4) Watch out for oily products
Boys should see if their oily hair cream is a culprit. Girls should concentrate more on their makeup, moisturizers and other skin care products. If these products are oil based, it would just make the problem worse. Use water based products instead.
5) Home remedies?
Lemon juice diluted in water can be applied externally because of its antiseptic quality. Tea Tree oil can also be applied directly to infected pores or used as soap. Try grapefruit juices too.
6) Wash your face, properly.
Use a mild soap. Wash once or twice a day and rub lightly with your fingertips and warm water. Do not use anything rough on the pimples, your skin is already irritated by the acne.
7) Drink a lot of water
Drink enough water. Most people believe it should be 6 to 8 glasses. At Oohoi we think it does not matter. Some people have to take more because of the climate, others may take less. Just follow your body. The rule is to drink when you feel thirsty. That is the nature's way of telling you that you need more drink. It's that simple. Also, given the fact that our tap water is not so great, with all the unwanted chemicals in it, fresh fruit juices are definitely better.
8) Hot showers anyone?
Do you regularly take hot showers? Stop for a while and observe the difference. The habit of hot showers could upset skin function and leads to poor blood circulation and congestion. Some experts believe as simple as it may seem, hot showers could make the problem serious.
9) Check your hair
Make sure your scalp is free of dandruff. If the hairs are oily and you have scalp problem, treat those along with acne. Try to make sure your hair do not touch your skin because instead of only being annoying it could also make your acne worse. Dandruff is a skin problem that is closely related with acne.
10) Finally, see your doctor
When acne gets to the point that it bothers you a lot, go and see a doctor. The effect of acne for teenagers is so severe some don’t even want to go out of their house. So if that is the case, seek help from a doctor.
