What Most People Don’t Realize

Most over-the-counter acne medications contain pore-clogging ingredients that actually make acne worse instead of better. If you take the time like we did and read the ingredient lists on the back of common acne products, you would realize that many of them contain pore-cloggers.

In this post, we’ll be reviewing some of the most popular over-the-counter acne products and detailing exactly why they don’t work. The truth is, many big corporate acne product companies want consumers to believe that they will solve a problem for acne sufferers, when in reality, they only make them worse.

The True Causes of Acne

You may have heard that acne is caused by bacteria. Germs and microbes infect the pores and that is what causes acne. Or that acne is caused by not keeping the area clean enough.

The reality is, acne is not the simple. If acne were as simple as a bacterial infection, everyone could just take antibiotics, keep the area dry and sterile, and their skin would clear up eventually. If acne were caused by not cleansing the skin enough, then all anyone would have to do would be buy more aggressive cleansers and use then more than twice a day. The problem is that acne is far more complex than that.

Acne is hereditary and hormonal. It can’t be made to go away just by using strong disinfectants, medications, or aggressive cleansers. These solutions to acne usually just end up giving the acne sufferer painfully dry skin, or worse.

The acne-causing genes make it so pores overproduce oil, dead skin cells, and sebum. These genes are also especially susceptible to androgens and hormones, which create a high turnover rate of these cells. When cells are overproducing and there’s a high turnover rate, the pores become so clogged that breakouts are inevitable.

When you realize that the cause of acne is pores that are just too clogged, it makes perfect sense that products that contain pore-cloggers simply won’t do the job. Acne is caused by pores becoming congested and inflamed with oil and dead skin cells. Adding more oil and pore clogging ingredients in a recipe for disaster and further acne problems.

Popular Products that Cause Breakouts

Not every product line or acne treatment available believes that pore-cloggers are an issue. Many OTC or mail order products don’t buy into the theory that acne is caused by clogged pores, therefore, they contain ingredients that clog pores and cause more inflamed acne.

Over-the-counter treatments are popular because, while some of them do contain acne fighting elements such as salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide, unfortunately, these do little to prevent pores becoming clogged deep down under the skin.

Here are some popular acne products that contain pore cloggers:

Cetaphil
Includes sodium laureth sulfate in its formula, which causes breakouts.

Clearasil
Myristic acid and lauric acid are also pore cloggers and will do more harm than good when it comes to clearing skin.

ProActiv
Contains ethylhexyl palmitate is a pore clogger.

Clean and Clear
Has algae extract, which is a pore clogging ingredient. According to reviews voted “most helpful” on their online retail store, the product did nothing for customers but break them out even more.

Best Practice

Before using any acne product, it is always a good idea to consult the ingredient list (actives and inactives) to find out if there are any pore cloggers. Don’t buy into the idea that just because a product seems popular means that it is effective. Oftentimes, it is the opposite

The best method for clearing acne is realizing that it’s a journey that takes time and patience. Having someone guide you through the struggle is what we suggest because treating acne is not easy. But clearing acne is possible, with the right products and the right system.

Taking care of your skin doesn’t have to start with blind trial and error. If you are reading this, you are on the right path.

Click here to read more and find out why Skintherapy is the best solution for clearing acne

Many people who suffer from face acne may also, unfortunately, suffer from acne on their body. Although they are not mutually exclusive, often if you find yourself with one, you might also find yourself dealing with another.

Similar to face acne, body acne cannot be “cured” but can only be treated. And best of all, the effects can be lessened with a few careful precautions and some means of dedicated treatment.

So before you reach for the prescriptions or miracle cures, take a look at the list below at potential irritants and best-known treatments for body acne.

1. Friction

When it comes to acne on your back, chest, and shoulders, friction could be the culprit. Particularly in places where a strap for a backpack or purse rubs against your skin. Another thing you want to avoid is tight clothing. Not only is there a lot of friction when clothes are too tight, but they also don’t allow your skin to breathe. Sweat and dirt can easily become trapped in the pores and cause nasty breakouts.

2. Laundry Detergent

One big thing you can do to lessen breakouts
has to do with how well rinsed your laundry is. Detergent can be a pretty big factor in acne flare-ups. A way to avoid this irritant is to rinse your clothes twice in the washer before placing them in the dryer, or just simply use less detergent. Fragrance-free detergents are the best at helping your skin stay clear, and another good thing to do is change bedsheets and pillowcases at least once a week.

3. Clean shirts

If you’re anything like most people, you might not think twice about throwing a shirt you’ve worn once back onto a hanger in the closet to be worn again. But this exact thing might just be the reason you’ve been having such a hard time calming all the bacne (and various other forms of body acne.)

Try wearing a new shirt every day and even changing into a clean shirt at night before you go to bed, especially if you use treatments and products on your skin that you don’t want to spread all over your bed sheets. While we’re on the topic of changing shirts, do you workout? Because if so, driving home in sweaty clothes probably isn’t doing your skin any favors. Try wiping your body off with some pads soaked in toner at the gym and then changing into a clean shirt after your workout to avoid all that sweat staying on your skin any longer than necessary. And ladies, if you haven’t in awhile, don’t forget to wash your bras.

4. Hair Products

It’s a fact that some hair products have ingredients that can be great for hair but can be comedogenic for the rest of your body (especially your back) once they start running down.To avoid this, buy hair products that don’t have pore cloggers in them and pin your hair up in the shower so conditioned hair is not rubbing on your skin, basically just adding more oil to your pores. Make sure your body wash is acne safe and noncomedogenic and save washing your body for the end of your shower.

5. Exercise

The basic rule of thumb is that if you have body acne, you want to avoid excessive amounts of sweat sitting on your skin too long. This tip is definitely not meant to deter you from working out as long and as hard as you please, just bear in mind that the longer sweat stays on your skin, the more likely you are to break out. It’s important to get the sweat off immediately. A shower isn’t always an option, but having toner pads to wipe off excess perspiration helps a ton.

All of these are great things to keep in mind when considering how best to deal with embarrassing body acne, but nothing is going to help more than some good noncomedogenic products and a set treatment plan.

Right now, during the first week of December 2017, we will be launching our Body Acne Starter Kit! We’re excited to have this opportunity to help our readers and followers gain more control over their stubborn body acne with nonpore clogging products. Included in the body acne kit will be the following:

1-8 oz bottle of our BPO wash
2-1 oz bottles of 10% acne cream
2-1 oz bottles of our Exfoliating Serum #3
1-1.7 oz bottle of our Moisture Cream
1-2.5 oz bottle of our Sun Guard SPF
The first 50 kits sold will also get FREE toner!

The Body Acne Kit also includes step by step directions on how to use the products and lifestyle guidelines to help you get on the path to clear skin. To find more info on this promotion and other acnegrams, follow us on Instagram at @utahacneclinic. If you are looking for a way to speed up the process of clearing your unwanted acne, schedule an appointment at our clinic located in Northern Utah. We will set you up with a deep cleaning and extractions to get your skin more clear and beautiful than you ever thought possible.

If you have acne and have ever smoked or had a habit of smoking, there are some interesting facts that you should know. By this point, you’ve probably heard everything there is to know about the ill-effects that smoking tobacco has on your body, but what about the effects it has on your acne?

On top of that, what about the effects of smoking other substances, like marijuana? Today, we’ll be sharing some insight on what those effects are and how they relate to your breakouts.

Tobacco

In 2001, the first official study of the correlation between smoking and acne was done by Dr. Torsten Schafer at the University of Munich. Before that, the theory that smoking could affect acne wasn’t really paid all that much attention.

What Dr. Schafer found was that 1) acne is most prevalent in smokers and 2) there is an unmistakable relationship between the number of cigarettes smoked and the severity of the acne.

One of the chemical reactions in a person’s body is that of stress. Some may even smoke to alleviate said stress. But smoking increases oxidative stress and does one other interesting thing to the human body: increases testosterone.

Smokers have as much as 15% higher testosterone in their bodies. Testosterone increases the production of sebum in the skin, which creates an overproduction of dead skin cells, clogging up pores and causing breakouts.

Marijuana

According to an article by the Huffington Post in 2013, marijuana has some of the same chemical reactions in the body as tobacco. The most notable being that it causes a significant increase in testosterone, and therefore sebum production in the skin. For marijuana smokers, the percentage of testosterone was in the range of 3-5%, which is a significantly smaller percentage than that of the average tobacco user but still may cause breakouts.

Another factor relating to acne when it comes to smoking marijuana is that it may cause you to reach for sugary snacks. There is definitely a link between acne and high glycemic index foods, so that is something to keep in mind.

Also, be aware of the laws in your country/state when using this substance.

Vaping

There hasn’t been a lot of long-term research done on vaping in general, but as it stands now, for people who were heavy smokers before vaping, there seems to be a significant decrease in breakouts. Whereas for people who never smoked before, vaping sometimes aggravates acne.

Vaping does cause chemical reactions in the body, of course, and any change in lifestyle might cause some disturbances in your skin, but all in all, the jury is still out on how vaping affects acne.

While smoking tobacco is one of the worst things you can do for your acne, switching to a vape can help decrease breakouts. When it comes to marijuana, be wise of local laws and bear in mind that for most, it still causes acne to flare up.

Most use smoking as a means to alleviate stress, and while it may have some short-term upsides, the downsides outweigh them by a landslide. Consider quitting smoking for all of the health benefits--including healing your acne.

Many people worry that drinking coffee will trigger a breakout. You’ll find all sorts of information out there about what coffee does to the body and skin, but here is some information to think about when it comes to that nice, steamy cup of coffee some of us love and can’t live without.

Coffee contains one of the highest sources of antioxidants for North Americans, along with strawberries, blackberries, and cranberries. Antioxidants are good at protecting lipids against oxidative stress, which is correlated to acne. For those who drink coffee regularly, it can even dampen the responsiveness of the enzyme that is responsible for activating cortisol (the “stress hormone”) in the bloodstream.

Not only does coffee relieve stress, it also promotes a longer life. In a study done by Iowa Women’s Health, they found that 1 to 3 cups of black coffee per day corresponded to a 24% reduction in heart-related death or illness and a 33% reduction in death related to any condition based on inflammation.

Coffee has been reviled by some, and others may not even like it, but that doesn’t change the scientific proof. Despite suggestions made by some internet sources, acne isn’t aggravated by coffee. If anything, black coffee promotes better insulin levels in the blood, which is good news for acne sufferers, and bolsters longer life spans.

(Note: Keep in mind that these studies are based on cups of home-brewed coffee (black with no creamer) and they do not include major chain coffee sizes, which contain 5x the caffeine content per cup.)

So keep enjoying that hot cup of goodness if you like, my friends. Coffee is here to benefit you!

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