Mythbusters: Acne

 
We’ve all been plagued by the dreaded acne sometime in our life and spotting that zit threatening to ruin your life can do crazy things to your head.Like spew ridiculous fantasies and myths (I know I have plenty of ‘em) .And although there are tons of myths that I would love to bust, I thought of busting the five most ludicrous acne myths. 

Myth #1 
“ Washing your face frequently will result in lesser breakouts”
Busted
The basic purpose of washing your face is to remove dirt and oil from the surface of the skin.Contrary to popular belief, pores are not blocked by dirt/oil or other impurities.So all the electronic facial cleansers can eat dirt since they do not help unclog your pores in anyway, rather they aggravate the skin and may result in more breakouts.Acne starts when the walls of a pore stick together deep within the skin, so you may wash your face all you want without affecting acne at all.Rather frequent washing and scrubbing can lead to dryness and irritation causing more breakouts.Wash your face with bare hands not more than twice a day.
Also limit the use of scrubs to twice a week, since the abrasive particles in the scrub can cause tiny tears in your skin, increasing the risk for bacterial infections, breakouts and even permanent scarring.

Myth #2  
“ Acne is caused by dirt ”
Busted
Not at all.Acne forms when genetic conditions along with hormones trigger a cycle of excess dead skin that combine with excess sebum secreted by body and clog pores.In fact dirt particles are way to big to fit in your pores, clog them and cause acne.If that were the case then miners, gardeners and other people who are constantly exposed to dirt would have a face full of zits.Keeping the skin clean is important but don’t over clean or you’ll end up drying out your skin even more. 

Myth #3  
“Popping pimples helps getting rid of them ”
Busted
No it does not.It might make it less noticeable for a while but it will worsen soon.When you squeeze a pimple, you are actually pushing dead skin, oil and bacteria further into the skin, resulting in redness, swelling and possibly scarring.Let the pimple run it’s natural course and it will calm down soon enough.You could try gently rubbing an ice cube over it to reduce inflammation.

Myth #4  
“Lathering acne medication over breakouts will clear them sooner ”
Busted
Maybe but you also end up drying out your skin since most acne medication contain agents that might be harming your skin more than they are healing.The three most common ingredients used in acne medication are:

SALICYLIC ACID: It dissolves the clogged dead skin, oil from the pores thereby preventing clogging.But it can be very drying and should be used in mild concentrations.
BENZOYL PEROXIDE: This is  the most active ingredient in any acne treatment since it’s an anti-bacterial ingredient that helps remove bacteria in the follicles. Side effects include dryness and scaling in some and redness and swelling in others.
ISOTRETINOIN: This ingredient reduces production of sebum, helps soothes inflammation in the form of pimples and can also help unblock the clogging of pores. However, use of this product can also result to side effects such as dryness and scaling of the skin.

Acne medication should always be used in moderation and it should never be massaged into skin, rather a really tiny amount should be directly applied on the affected area.

Myth #5  
“Tanning will help clear out your skin ”
Busted
On the contrary it may increase your chances of getting skin cancer.A tan might temporarily mask acne by making your skin red and thereby blending your skin tone with red acne marks, but constant exposure to skin might make your skin dry and irritated making it more susceptible to breakouts in the future not to mention premature aging and yeah CANCER.Always use a broad spectrum sunscreen with minimum SPF 15 whenever you are out in the sun for more than 15 minutes and if you are scared the sunscreen will break you out then use a good quality non comodegenic one.

Feel free to share the craziest acne myth that you have busted.I'm all ears.