Best Acne Solutions

Acne Myths and Misconceptions

Since the medical knowledge about acne is still relatively small, many misconceptions and rumours about what causes acne exist:

Diet. Chocolate, chips, sugar, milk and seafood among others have not been shown to affect acne. This means that the scientific studies done to date did not find a big difference between acne in two groups of people, one group eating the food in question and one group avoiding it. However, in his book The Acne Prescription, radical dermatologist Nicholas Perricone argues that this is actually a myth itself, and recommends a specific diet high in fish and low in sugar.

Deficient personal hygiene. Acne is not caused by dirt. This misconception probably comes from the fact that acne basically involves skin infections. In fact the blockages that cause acne usually occur deep within the narrow follicle channel, where it is usually impossible to wash them away, from the cells and sebum created there by your body. The bacteria involved are exactly the same bacteria that everyone has on their skin. It is useful to clean your skin, but doing so will not prevent acne. Anything beyond very gentle cleansing can actually worsen existing lesions and even encourage new ones by damaging or overdrying skin.

Sex. Common myths state that either celibacy or masturbation cause acne. However, there is no scientific evidence that this is the case.