It has been mentioned many times already and will always be the curse of the skin care specialists but the biggest problem that we all face is the damage that exposure to the sun can cause.

While it is necessary to get some sunlight for optimum health, over exposure to the harmful ultraviolet light, no matter how small will cause damage and age the skin.

Always apply SPF sunscreen to your skin when venturing outside unless you are happy to let your skin become wrinkled and damaged.

Another way to damage your skin, sometimes permanently, is to pick spots and inflammations with your fingers or other sharp objects.

One of the problems with picking at your face is the fact that we harbor so many opportunities for a transfer of bacteria with the dirt that lies under our fingertips and that is even for the cleanest of people.

Once you pick your face with your fingernails that bacteria can get transferred directly into the pores of the skin and can cause more inflammation and permanent scarring.

Even using a needle that you have sterilized can cause more problems than good as you damage the pores and set them up for trapping sebum and bacteria in the future.

If there are problems with trapped matter on your skin it is wise to get a trained professional to remove it so you don’t do any irreparable damage.

The other main areas of health that will affect the condition of your skin are excess stress, a lack of good nutrition and a lack of sufficient sleep.
These will all affect your overall health and that will be shown in the condition of your skin.

And one way to make your skin look very unhealthy and aged that is only second to overexposure to the sun, is smoking.

According to Professor Brian Berman of the University of Miami, a study conducted in a mostly female population of almost 3000 participants who followed the “South Beach Diet”, showed that acne improved in almost 80% of cases, usually within three months.

The success of the diet on acne symptoms allowed 91% of the participants to scale back their acne treatment, Professor Berman will tell the Australasian College of Dermatologists’ annual scientific meeting on the Gold Coast next month.

“The South Beach Diet may be an additional modality in the treatment of acne,” says Professor Berman   While recent scientific data supported the use of low-GI diets in acne treatment, it was previously not known what effect the SBD had on the condition, Professor Berman says.

The South Beach Diet was created in the 1980s as an alternative to unpopular low fat diets, and is based on replacing “bad carbs” and “bad fats” with “good” ones by emphasising vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean protein.

Many people don’t realize how many times throughout the day they touch their face with their hands.
If our hands were totally clean throughout the day this wouldn’t be so much of a problem but this isn’t reasonable.
We touch everything from shopping trolleys to car steering wheels that are never cleaned.
We touch items in the office or in the workplace that don’t get cleaned from one month to the next.

All these germs that we pick up on our hands throughout the day get transferred to our face whenever we touch it and from there they get into the pores of our skin and cause irritations, blackheads and similar skin problems.

Sometimes even the cleaners that we use on our face can cause problems, particularly with people who have sensitive skin where many products are too harsh.

Your skin should always be treated with care and handled delicately as constant demands on it will mean changes that are irreversible as you age.

With the face, where the skin is most sensitive on the majority of people you should take extra care and this might mean making simple changes that can have a dramatic effect over a lifetime.

Simply patting your skin to dry it, rather than rubbing it will a towel can reduce stretching, wrinkles and more when the combined actions of doing this are added up over a number of years.

If you find that you are getting breakouts on one side of your face or another, then you will need to consider what might be causing this.
Do you lean on your hand at work?
Do you answer the telephone from that side all the time?
When you answer these questions you might just find what is causing your problem and it could be as simple as having a dirty phone or dirty hand that you always lean on.

Until the current development of modern cleansers, the ones that we applied in the past left a residue after they were used.

Due to this residue that was left on the skin after cleansing people would use toners to remove the excess as a final step in the skin cleaning process.

The cleansers that are available on the market nowadays don’t leave this residue, thereby eliminating the need for toners.

This hasn’t stopped the popularity of toners with many women who consider them an essential element in their skin care regime.

There is a misconception with some people that toners will go a long way in the process of helping to firm and tighten the skin.
While they might have some affect in this area their main benefit these days is the ingredients that are in them.

Manufacturers have added more antioxidants into their products in recent years as more people are becoming aware of the benefits that are made possible with antioxidants.

Due to this, most of the good toners on the market now have increased levels of these antioxidants.

For this reason alone there is added benefit of using toners after cleansing as this will help to maintain a better skin condition.

While you cannot expect to get the same levels of antioxidants in a toner as you will find in face creams, any additional amounts that you use will all be added benefits for your skin condition so that will make it worthwhile.

There is also the psychological benefits that some toners will make you ‘feel’ better from having applied them as part of your face care process.
That alone can do wonders for your complexion.

Hormones and Sebum

It’s no accident that acne tends to be associated with teens. It strikes over 85% of us during those years. It’s at that stage of life when hormone levels rise sharply. Androgen levels increase in both males and females.

Among other effects, those stimulate the sebaceous glands that produce sebum, the natural oil found in hair follicles. The largest increases occur in the face, back and upper chest – right where acne tends to concentrate. The result can well be an outbreak of acne.

Increased oil or sebum isn’t generally a problem if it reaches the surface. It’s spread around, and often washed off with alcohol or soap and water by those who take good care of their skin. Still, blackheads may form as a result of the excess oil.

Worse, pores can close, causing them to become clogged with that excess oil. That encourages the growth of whiteheads. Also, the resulting pressure can cause follicles to rupture. The bacteria have a more ‘friendly’ environment in which to grow. At the same time, bacteria and the white blood cells that deal with it (normally without any problem) get trapped. The result is pus and inflammation. Acne.

Stress itself doesn’t produce acne, but it can make it worse by increasing hormones. It also contributes to weakening the immune system, thus leading a less effective defense against invading bacteria. But it’s not a major factor.

Drugs cause acne

Certain drugs can encourage the development of acne. Barbituates and tetracycline are known to be among the culprits. Anabolic steroids are widely recognized by professional dermatologists to be a major contributor among those who take them. Forgoing these, except for specific medical purposes, helps reduce the odds.

Heredity and acne

Genetics plays a role, as well. How large, is still not yet quantified. The area is one of active research, and therefore the exact mechanism isn’t detailed. But, statistics show that acne does tend to run in families. That may be partly due to diet or other common family circumstances. But it’s more a factor of inheritance.

Diet & Skin Care that cause acne

This is a much more minor cause than is commonly supposed. While certain foods are themselves greasy, that doesn’t translate directly into increased oil in the skin. Of course, poor eating habits often go hand in hand with poor skin care practices. And, any food that tends to increase the production of sebum (oil) or certain hormones will have an effect.

But no study suggests that the common culprits – soft drinks, chocolate and greasy cheeseburgers, among others – play a large role in producing acne.

Poor cleansing habits play some role, because bacteria that lie near the surface sometimes remain ‘unmolested’. Regular use of a good cleanser can help. Take care that the skin doesn’t become excessively dry, however. That causes other problems.

Also, heavy dirt or even makeup can contribute to a problem by blocking the pore, especially if they block oil ducts. But surface dirt itself isn’t responsible for acne. The dark head on blackheads is the result of exposure to air, not trapped dirt.

There’s little one can do about heredity, and passing through the teen years is a normal part of life. But good skin care, quick treatment at the onset of symptoms and other controllable choices will help keep acne at bay.

Hyperpigmentation occurs when there are pigment changes in the skin as can be seen when people get freckles on the face and spots on other parts of the body that are most likely to appear on the hands and the chest.

There are two main causes for hyperpigmentation with the most obvious one being over exposure and subsequent damage from the sun.
The face, hands and often the upper areas of the chest are generally those areas of the skin that get the most exposure to the sun and this is why you will see the incidence of hyperpigmentation in those places more often that other places on the body.

Even the sun streaming through the windscreen of the car you drive can be sufficient to cause these changes in the skin pigment.

Another main cause of hyperpigmentation is due to hormonal changes in the body.
The biggest causes of these hormonal changes in women are pregnancy and birth control pills.

Many people have the misconception that melasma, which is pigmentation caused by the sun, is simply age spots.

Certain skin bleaching agents can assist in reducing the impact of these spots but like most things associated with the condition of your skin, covering up in the sun is the best solution to ensure that you don’t get these spots in the first place.

If you do have hyperpigmentation then exposure to the sun will only make the condition worse.

While hyperpigmentation that has resulted from hormonal changes is a lot more difficult to cure than that caused by the sun, over time with the correct use of quality skin bleaching products the ‘spots’ can fade quite significantly.

Laser treatment is also an effective solution for assisting with the reduction of hyperpigmentation.

Maybe it is becasue it tastes so good, bnut chocolate and sugar are always blamed for acne and have been for years. Other foods that are blamed include allmost every junk food as well as alcohol and smoking. No foods have been proven to cause acne. But as we have seen many people have a really good diet and still get acne, doesn’t seem fair does it?

Overactive oil glands, non clean oily skin, heredity, and hormonal changes are what cause acne. Androgen production is at its highest during the teenage years, which stimulates sebaceous glands to enlarge and make more sebum. Outbreaks of pimples and blackheads can become a traumatic event for young boys and girls.

If however, upon eating something there is an outbreak of zits the next day, it is advisable to stay away from that food for a while. Much research suggests that foods do not cause acne, but it has not been proven as fact. If on eating the same food again after a few days the result is an outbreak, the chances are it is an allergic reaction rather than an outbreak of acne.

In recent studies, scientists have demonstrated the possibility of regulating hormones as a significant reduction element of acne, although this could have negative side effects.

Teenagers are not the only ones with acne. Women who are pregnant or in their 40s can have outbreaks, but by the time a person is 50 it usually has run its course. During the teenage years, boys are more susceptible to stronger breakouts than girls, but when they reach around 40, the women take the lead in numbers of flare-ups.

Chocolate has been blamed for many ailments including acne, tooth decay, obesity, and lacking of food value. It has also been known to have an anti-depressant effect, cause hypertension and even have an aphrodisiac effect.

We know that sugar is basically harmless with your acne problems unless, like everything else, it is over-consumed. Chocolate and sugar has been found not to cause nor aggravate outbreaks of acne. These results are backed up by further research that shows acne in no way is affected by chocolate.

These products have come a long way from the days when a person wearing fake tan could be spotted a mile away looking like a carrot with their orange skin.

There are two important areas when using fake tans that you need to consider.

The first one is to choose a coloring that is no more than two shades darker than your natural coloring.
To go any darker than that will look unnatural unless you prefer to look like George Hamilton and appear as though you have been baking under the sun for the best part of your life.

The tan needs to appear natural and if it is too dark it will be obvious that you are wearing a fake tan.

With many products you will need more than one application and where this is so, you should always wait for the tan to dry between applications before deciding whether to apply another layer.

Often the tan will dry slightly darker than anticipated so an additional layer might not be required.

Another area where you will need to be careful is in the application of the tanning products.

The skin needs to be clean before applying the tanning products and care needs to be taken to ensure that it is applied evenly to remain streak free.

The higher quality tanning products will generally be a lot easier to apply and there will be less chance of having unsightly streaks after application.

Artificial tanners allow you to wear lightly tinted or transparent foundations and powders.

You can also wear a lightly tinted moisturizer that will enhance the natural look of the artificial tan.

According to Galderma, the combination gel “treats both inflammatory and non-inflammatory lesions with no evidence of promoting antibiotic resistance, simplifying the management of mild-to-moderate acne.”

The approval followed a 517-patient phase II trial published last year in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology that found the gel reduced the median number of total acne lesions by more than 50% by the end of the 12-week study.

That was significantly better than monotherapy with either adapalene or benzoyl peroxide (median reduction in total lesion count 35.4% and 35.6%, respectively), said the company.

A long-term safety and efficacy study published last year in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology found that discontinuation of the medication because of adverse events was low, occurring in 2% of all patients.

Common adverse effects included redness, scaling, dryness, stinging, and burning. Skin irritation and contact dermatitis may also occur.

Excessive exposure to sunlight and topical products containing resorcinol, salicyclic acid, and sulfur should be avoided while using the drug, said the company.

Planning to get rid of your acne

Read this article through then sit down and think about whether you are prepared to make all or some of the changes that we describe. Write down exactly which changes you plan to make, how and when. Then talk it through with whoever cooks your food, if you don’t do that yourself.

Don’t skip this step! It is the most important. The main reason for people failing to cure or control their acne, after they know what they need to do, is that they did not plan.

Diet to get rid of your acne

Here you will cut down or cut out processed foods, sugar, fatty foods and dairy products.

First, cut out soda completely, either sugared or diet. Drink fruit juice or water instead. Water is great for your skin. Aim to drink 4 pints of water spread through the day.

Then start to make healthy choices in other areas of your diet. Avoid french fries and potato chips. Choose steamed vegetables instead of stir-fried. Eat fresh fruit for snacks. Nuts are fine too in small quantities. Cut out or cut down on refined sugar. Buy some gum that is 100% xylitol to deal with any sugar cravings and give your teeth a break.

Cut out dairy products completely if you are sensitive to them – many people are. Have yourself tested for dairy intolerance by a dermatologist or run a 2 week no-dairy test to check. If you are sensitive your skin may break out worse than ever in the first week during detox, but it should be much improved by the end of 2 weeks. Take a calcium supplement to ensure you don’t suffer from any deficiency.

Keeping It Clean to get rid of your acne

Although cleanliness is important in stopping acne from spreading, the main causes of acne are internal (diet and hormones). That’s why this step comes last.

- Change your pillowcase often – every day if possible. Or turn it one day, and replace it the next, so you never sleep on the same side two nights.

- Try not to touch your face without washing your hands first. Itches will soon go if you do not scratch.

- Massage the face gently with clean fingertips. This will stimulate the skin and help it to clean out pores.

- For men who have acne in the beard area, use clippers to shave instead of a razor to avoid aggravating the skin.

- Use natural cleansing products such as apple cider vinegar (check for allergies first).

These 3 simple steps have helped many people to get rid of acne naturally. Will you be the next?