Acne: 5 Don'ts of Acne Treatment

Acne has plagued teenagers and adults during all of modern history. Until the last few decades suffering was the only option most people had.  We hear every day about what medicine you should use or what treatment to apply to your acne. 

Sometimes, doctors and parents take for granted that our patients and children know the don'ts of life, only to find out after it is too late that they don't...  Here are a few don'ts that will help decrease the average number of pimples you have on a daily basis.

1. Don't touch your face!
Your face is not dirty, but your hands are filthy! Popping, squeezing, poking and "draining" seems like the right thing to do to many people (especially moms for some reason). Thinking they can improve acne, many people will poke, pinch and squeeze their face until it is quite irritated. This will actually make your acne worse, not better, and can lead to increased scarring which is the worst possible outcome of acne.

Understanding the concept that your face is not dirty allows you to be content to wash your face very gently once or twice daily with a very mild, non-irritating soap such as Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser.
Your hands and fingers are covered with billions of bacteria which are more than happy to jump onto your face should you decide to touch it. Always wash your hands before you touch or wash your face.

2. Don't put that on your face!
If it stinks or burns, it does not belong on your face. For decades, teenagers have been handed some of the most noxious, smelly, painful potions to apply to their face with the promise of less acne if used faithfully. Some of these concoctions persist on pharmacy shelves to this day.

Anything that stings or burns the skin of the face by definition irritates it. Any irritation of the face will lead to increased inflammation, skin cell and oil production - all this leads to more acne.

3. Don't worry about your diet.
Nothing you eat really affects acne. We all need healthy diets filled with raw fruits and vegatables, but nothing you eat has ever been proven to worsen your acne. Chocalate, shrimp, greasy foods and potato chips have all been implicated for years, but medical science has not been able to prove that they increase acne.

Maybe if you ate an extra greasy piece of pepperoni pizza and then rubbed the grease from your hands vigorously into your facial pores it might make your acne worse, maybe. So if your grandmother tells you to stop eating shrimp or any other food, you should smile and nod respectfully and say, "Yes grandmother", and silently know that it does not matter.

4. Don't scrub your face!
Scrubbing is great for cleaning dirty pots and pans, and your car's front bumper, but scrubing your face only makes acne worse. Remember, your face is not dirty. When I was in high school a friend of mine thought scrubbing her face with her moms pot scrubber would surely remove some of her pimples. It took her face a month to recover; please resist the urge to scrub your face.

5. Don't spend a lot of money!
Many of the most expensive over the counter (non-prescription) products you see beautiful bump-free people advertising are merely modified formulations of benzoyl peroxide. This chemical does improve some peoples acne but it can be found is very cheap products at your local pharmacy.

If your acne requires anything more that your druggist recommends, you should talk to your doctor about prescription alternatives.

6. (A free Don't) Don't expect to be completely pimple free.
Acne is very slow to respond to even the best treatments and being bump-free should not be your goal. An eighty percent decrease in the number of pimples is considered a very good response and you should be happy with that.

I see people in their fifties and sixties in my office who still have the occasional pimple. So give your acne treatment at least 3-4 months to have it's full effect, and be happy if you only have a few small pimples after that.

Hope this helps!  If you have a friend or loved one suffering from Acne, please forward them a link to this article.  The more one knows about acne, the fewer the bumps!
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