The Many Factors That Influence Acne

Do you feel like you have tried everything to clear your acne, but nothing seems to help? There are many reasons why you may still be breaking out. Acne cannot be cured, it can only be managed with the correct lifestyle and products.

Below are some of the common reasons your skin may not be clearing.

Using Comedogenic Products
This includes hair care, makeup and skincare. There are many ingredients used in cosmetics that are comedogenic.  Unfortunately, just because a product is labelled, non-comedogenic does not always mean it is acne safe.  Some non-comedogenic ingredients may cause an acnegenic reaction in the skin. This is from irritation to the follicle.

Not Using The Right Skincare 

If you are not using products that are targeting your skin condition effectively your skin will not fully clear. There are hundreds of species of acne bacteria and not all products treat every type. As previously mentioned, not all products targeted to acne skins are necessarily non-comedogenic.

Not Treating The Entire Face
Spot treating can be helpful for those painful breakouts. However, if you only spot treat, you are not preventing future breakouts. To treat acne successfully you need to both prevent breakouts and treat existing ones.

Diet
Diet plays a huge role in our health and this is also true for the health of your skin. There are many foods that are known acne triggers. Dairy and sugar are two triggers that has been well-documented, but there are many more. Eliminating or reducing trigger foods in your diet will really help in the management and control of your acne.

Oral Supplements
Multi Vitamins are the most common supplements people take that include acne triggers. B6 and B12 along with others are known to aggravate acne.

Hormonal Imbalances
Many think hormonal acne can only be treated internally. This is not the case.  Topical treatment of hormonal acne plays a vital role in managing this skin condition and will also increase the overall effectiveness of internal treatments.

Over Exfoliation
Whilst the benefits of exfoliating the skin are well known, many people over exfoliate, and this damages the skin barrier. Over exfoliating causes irritation, triggering a cytokine responsible for acne.  

It Just Looks Like Acne
Unfortunately there are skin conditions that look like or mimic acne.  Malassezia (Pityrosporum) folliculitis or Fungal Acne is one of these mimickers.  It is caused by yeast growth and can look like normal acne, but it needs to be treated differently. Your acne will not clear if you are not using products that will treat your true skin condition. (It is a bit like choosing the right medication for a health condition.)

Allergies
Allergies from food are sometimes the cause of acne. If you have itchy acne, it may be due to allergies.