Acne, Separating Fact from Fiction

If you think you are up against a bad situation, you could not be more right. That does not sound too good, does it? But in case you are convinced that your problem could not get any worse, you could not be more wrong. And that, strange as it may sound, could be the best news about acne.

How come, you might say? Well, it is really quite simple. Of course you are not going to be particularly happy if you have a breakout of acne, probably, quite distressed, in fact. But there really is not any reason to panic. There is one golden rule you must never forget. To tackle your acne problem, it is absolutely vital that you get your facts in order. Nothing could be worse than getting hold of the wrong information on acne and convincing yourself that it is right.

Get the right information about acne. So there you are, try to relax, take a deep breath and get to work! Turn a deaf ear to all that chatter around you and seek out reliable information that will help you to solve your acne problem. Think positive and remember acne is more common than you realize and there is plenty of help at hand.

Some of the common myths about acne would have you believe facts that could not be further from the truth. Let us take a look at a few of them and see how far we have been steered off course. You may be surprised at some of the stuff you can be taken in by, driven by distress! Here goes:

Acne is a teenage problem: You could say this is the worst of the lot, because this is a belief that has misled so many people and caught them unawares. Even so, once again, you should know that this is not true. You could say instead that the teenage years are stressful because of the number of physical and psychological changes that young people are faced with at this time.

The fact is that acne can affect people of all ages, even later in life. It is just more evident in teenagers because of all the bodily changes they go through.

Acne is aggravated by a greasy diet: You may have heard this said pretty often, but you will be happy to know it is not true. Perhaps if you spent long hours working at a fast food restaurant, exposure to grease for long periods could have an adverse effect on your skin and bring on an eruption of acne.

Acne is related to hygiene: Here again is another statement that is not strictly true. You could say that if you do not keep your skin clean, the acne problem you already have could get worse. But then, excessive cleansing is not necessarily the answer. If you were to use harsh cleansers on your skin, you would irritate it and this could bring about an attack of acne.

Acne affects girls more often than boys: If you ever believed that, you are making a big mistake. In fact, if anything, it is the reverse that is true. This is because of the prevalence of the hormone androgen in boys, which makes their skin greasier and more susceptible to outbreaks of acne.

Acne is caused by stress: This is another statement that just is not true. Stress merely results in the secretion of certain hormones, which may make your acne problem more acute.

Acne is made worse by long hair: The only way you could argue the truth of this statement is in cases where long hair is not kept clean. There is no other connection between long hair and acne.

Acne is contagious: This statement again is equally untrue.

Well, hopefully, a number of your doubts and fears about acne have been laid to rest. So relax and accept your acne as normal. As long as you do not do anything bizarre, your acne problem will be no worse than most. Follow a healthy lifestyle, eat a balanced diet and drink plenty of water and you should be just fine!