How Does It Feel to Be Ugly?
If you suffer from acne, you know that it’s downright impossible to feel good about yourself. When you don’t look your best, you certainly don’t feel your best! Not only is acne embarrassing, it can be – and in many cases IS – debilitating!
One of the quickest ways to improve your self-esteem and self-worth is to improve your appearance. Everywhere you look, someone is offering a solution for acne. The question is will any of these treatments work for you? Not only may some of the products out there waste your time and money, they may actually make an already embarrassing condition worse.
Acne is hard enough to fix without the pustules, nodules and cysts getting worse as a result of a popular ‘remedies’ passed on either by word-of-mouth through well-intentioned but ill-informed people but also through greedy and unscrupulous marketers rather than a certified dermatologist.
Before taking any more risks with your appearance, it is worth taking a bit of time to look at the most popular and prevalent acne myths. Armed with better information, it is easier to sort fact from fiction thus saving you from making your skin condition worse rather than better.
List of Top 6 Acne Lies and Myths in 2021
Lie #1 – Poor Hygiene = Acne
One of the biggest myths is that acne is a condition caused by poor hygiene. Emphatically, it is NOT! Acne sufferers are not dirty, they are simply unfortunate. The truth is, too much cleanliness can make acne much worse. Constant cleaning and fussing can further promote the irritation rather than reduce it.
Of course, good hygiene can reduce the chance of open acne sores becoming more infected than they are already. Therefore cleanliness remains an important consideration. However acne sufferers should resist the temptation to repeatedly treat trouble spots.
Lie #2 – Acne is a ‘Teen’ Thing
Teenagers aren’t the only ones who suffer from acne. Acne affects a diverse range of people from babies, pregnant women and other adults too. No matter what the sufferer’s age, acne is a most distressing problem.
Lie #3 – Pop Pimples and They Will Go Away
Picking at your pimples, popping and squeezing them, will not speed up the healing process. In fact the opposite is true; the open sore that is left is even more vulnerable to bacteria and infection. The best advice is don’t do it! Keeping this in mind should help you to refrain from picking at spots when you have an acne outbreak.
However, it is not true that left alone the acne will go away by itself. The ugly truth about this debilitating condition is that it recurs and worsens unless proper effective treatment is sought to battle the infections that invariably set in. Continue to seek the appropriate treatment for your acne.
Lie #4 – Bad Diet = Acne
There are no scientific studies that conclusively prove a connection between diet and acne. And there is no one particular food group has been proven to cause this condition or make it worse. Then again, everyone’s individual physiology is different. It is worth keeping a food diary and/or acne diary to see if there is a link between your food and a worsening(or improving) in your acne.
Lie #5 – Stress = Acne
Stress itself does not cause acne. However the hormone cortisol, which is released in stressful situations, can certainly make and existing acne condition much worse. Hormones appear to play a key part in acne and some anti-depressant medications or ‘mood-levellers’ list acne as a possible side effect of the drug.
Lie #6 – Get Rid of Pimples? Get a Tan!
Another myth supports the use of sun lamps and tanning beds to treat acne. While it is true that some dermatologists may prescribe UV treatment for skin conditions, this is different from using commercially available equipment. A tan may well make the acne pustules and cysts less noticeable. It may also give sufferers that ‘feel good’ factor they might otherwise lack. Still, tanning has not been proven to be an effective treatment for acne.
It is impossible to cover every myth about acne in this short article. Only a few of the most prevalent tales have been covered here – there are many more. The best advice is to make sure you get your acne help from a reliable, knowledgeable source to avoid being taken in by all the current acne myths.
The thing is, there IS an acne solution out there that is right for you. Even if you think you’ve already exhausted every possible option you could be just one more step away from having the clear, attractive skin you deserve.