If you have had, or are suffering with Acne; and have gone down the route of anti-biotics and topical creams from your GP but are still struggling with your skin, you may want to read on.
Unfortunately, Acne is not as simple to treat as most other skin conditions. There are a number of factors that need to be taken into account when treating.
Firstly, I would always recommend a diagnosis by a GP. Sometime anti-biotics are the quickest option, but these are in no way the only option available.
Acne is a term widely used for breakouts, inflammation or spots. Generally it starts at puberty (in both male and females) from an increase in hormones such as testosterone and androgens. Sufferers can often see a re-occurrence throughout their life.
As those suffering with Acne often have an increase in oil, common sense suggests you remove (strip) the oil and bacteria to alleviate the problem with exfoliation or very strong face washes. The problem is, we actually need a certain amount of oil in the skin. If the skin is stripped of it, it will often over compensate and produce more.
There are 3 main factors that can cause a breakout – stress, diet and products; and 4 main causes - excess dead skin cells, over production of oil / sebum, hormones and bacteria.
It can be one of, or a mixture of the above that can cause a breakout. To help you on your way to a clearer skin, here are my tips.
1. Don’t use a granular exfoliation. Although you may feel tempted to scrub, this can cause irritation to the already inflamed skin and will damage the skin barrier. Using AHAs or BHAs (alpha hydroxy acid or beta hydroxy acid) will be much more gentle to the skin barrier whilst helping to smooth and stop a build up of excess dead skin cells.
2. Fighting and balancing the bacteria in the skin will prevent further infection. Avoid face wipes as these can turn the skin alkaline, which is a breeding ground for bacteria leading to further breakouts. Ensure your cleanser is PH balancing. The skin should be between 4.5-5.5. A gentle Latic acid peel treatment like environ skincare ‘cool peel’ is a fantastic way to sterilize the skin gently.
3. Acne caused by internal triggers such as hormones can’t be treated successfully by a topical product alone. In additional to pharmaceutical treatments like anti-biotics, natural supplementation like the Advanced Nutrition Programmes Skin Accumax have been proven to help stop the internal response.
4. Avoid additional oil production by using a gentle cleanser that will not strip your skin and use a topical Vitamin A product to help regulate the production of oil. Vitamin A will also help to minimise scars and help the breakouts heal.
5. Look at your diet. Sugar, dairy and an unhealthy gut can encourage breakouts and cause an inflammatory response in the skin. Try cutting out cows milk, high refined sugar produce and fizzy drinks. If you want to find out if your acne is trigged by certain foods, take a food intolerance test. I would recommend increasing your daily water in-take and take a daily probiotic.
I hope this helps.
As ever, if you have any specific questions please email me Rachel@racheleve.co.uk
Thanks for reading, Rachel Eve x