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.

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.

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.

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?

Many people these days are looking for home remedies. If the worst of your acne is behind you, but you have been left with bad or even minor scarring, you probably want to get rid of those acne scars.

The mainstream dermatology solutions can be very harsh. Chemical peels remove a layer of your skin. If well done and if your skin is not too sensitive, a chemical peel can give lasting benefits. But for some people, something goes wrong and they are left with worse scarring than before.

Laser resurfacing uses light to remove or blur the signs of acne scars so that they are less noticeable. This can be a successful way to minimize scarring but it is expensive.

When it comes to home remedies, these are more effective on relatively light scarring. Natural remedies rely on the body’s own healing process to heal the scars. The actual remedies that we use are therefore intended to help the body to get back to its normal condition in which it can heal itself.

This is a gentler and often slower way of removing scars but it can be more effective in the long term. It involves considering how you will look and feel in 20 or 30 years time, not only right now.

Many natural remedies for acne scars rely on food products. The nutrients that they contain can nourish the skin and help it to regain its natural beauty. In this respect you can either take the nutrients internally or externally, or both.

Taking a long hard look at your diet is one of the best things that you can do for your skin. Cut out refined sugar. Do not cook with oil or eat fried foods, because cooked oils contain free radicals that will suck up all the good antioxidants you are taking in, and stop them getting to your skin.

Add into your diet all foods that are high in antioxidants. These include raw vegetables, salad and fresh fruits. Try eating ‘all raw’ for breakfast and lunch – for example, a big fruit smoothie for breakfast, fresh fruit for snacks, and a big salad with nuts and avocado for lunch. Do this for 6 months and you should see an improvement in your skin.

You can also use face packs made with sliced or blended vegetables that are high in antioxidants. Tomatoes and cucumber are a good combination. Cucumber is well known as a skin remedy as it tightens and tones the pores. Tomatoes have a very high antioxidant component. However, do not use tomato on your skin if you are allergic to it.

Fresh aloe vera juice can be a very effective way to treat acne scars. Aloe vera is a succulent plant that you can keep in a pot indoors. You will need a leaf about 2 inches wide. Remove it from the plant and peel it. Put the flesh in a blender and puree it. Then apply it as a face pack twice a day for at least 5 minutes each time. The puree will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, but take it out an hour before using it to let it revive to room temperature. This is great for scars and also for healing and preventing pimples.

Tea tree oil is an antibacterial that can help prevent scarring and clean the skin to give it the best chance of healing scars that are already present. Use this in addition to other acne scar home remedies.

Acne in pregnancy is very common. In fact, some women say that they know they are pregnant right away by the pimples! Like many other conditions of early pregnancy such as mood swings, it is caused by fluctuating hormone levels.

As soon as you get pregnant, your hormone levels change. The body begins to produce a lot more of certain hormones – the same hormones that cause acne in many teenagers at puberty by producing an excess of sebum and oils in the face. This means that even if you never had pimples as an adolescent, you may develop them now.

In fact, this is also the reason for that ‘glow’ that many newly pregnant women are said to develop. It’s simply the extra oil production moisturizing their skin.

You can be reassured that after the first trimester, hormone levels will change again and your acne will probably disappear or at least improve. But up until that time it can be distressing if it is severe. The appearance of acne can have a serious effect on the self-esteem of adults as well as teenagers, and you may be worried about scarring. So what are the treatment options?

Pregnancy Acne Treatment

Regular exercise will help to control your breakouts as it increases circulation of blood to the skin, carrying away toxins and impurities from the inside. Drinking plenty of water can have a similar effect.

Cleansing your face can help but do not use harsh soaps. If you strip the skin of all its oils, the glands will simply produce more and more, increasing the problem.

When it comes to medication, you must be very careful. Unfortunately some of the most effective oral acne remedies are unsuitable for pregnant women because they are believed to cause deformities in many babies. So make sure that your dermatologist knows you are pregnant.

Do not use any creams or lotions that contain Tretinoin for the same reason. Always read the label and consult a health professional if you are unsure about whether something is safe for you to use. Do not assume that something you may have used as a teenager will be effective or safe now that you are expecting a baby.

If you are already taking acne medication and then you find that you are pregnant, contact your doctor right away. There could be serious consequences if you continue to take certain medications for acne during pregnancy.

Acne is not caused by poor hygiene

REALITY: Dead skin cells, oxidized skin oil (sebum), dust and dirt particles clog pores and trigger acne. Some experts claim that you should wash your face as many as three times a day to prevent acne. However, vigorous rubbing and scrubbing only makes matters worse. All you need is to keep your pores clear from dirt mixed with sebum and dead skin cells. Twice-daily cleansing with a mild non-detergent cleanser is more than enough.

Chocolate and French fries don’t cause acne

REALITY: Our diet is directly linked to the state of our skin.

Science came up with explanation how food is likely to trigger acne and make it less curable. Foods that are rich in refined sugar cause spikes in blood sugar and stimulate production of sebum. Fatty diet changes the acidity of skin sebum making it more stiff and pore-clogging. Poor diet clogs up the colon and increases the toxicity of the body.

Acne is caused by stress

REALITY: Stress lowers the immunity and our body is less able to fight the inflammation during acne. Chronic stress puts thyroid and adrenal glands of our body under lots of work.

You will outgrow your acne

REALITY: Adult acne is on the rise, with as many as 60 per cent adults reporting skin eruptions on a regular basis. Up to 90 percent of teenagers develop some level of acne; about 30 percent seek medical treatment. But many women in their 30s and even 40s have acne just as severe as teenagers. Hormonal changes, greasy or oily cosmetics or hair products, certain drugs such as corticosteroids or high levels of humidity and sweating could contribute to adult acne, according Mayo Clinic Health Letter. And you must act on acne quickly, no matter what causes it. When left untreated, acne can result in permanent physical scars which are almost impossible to get rid of. Acne leads to low self-esteem, problems in social life, even slow career growth.

Only prescription medication can cure acne once and for all

REALITY: nutrition, vitamin and herbal supplementation work with body, not against it, to dramatically improve acne condition. All prescription medication for acne work to stop the production of sebum and thus make skin dry. However, while they solve the cosmetic problem, they also mess up the more serious organs in our bodies, such as liver and kidneys. Prescription acne medications are linked to depression, and severely dry skin resulting from acne pills is prone to premature aging. Is it really worth is?

Before taking hardcore measures, try improving your skin condition with careful diet, vitamins and safe herbal supplements that have much fewer side effects than acne pills. Regular cleansing of acne-prone skin with witch hazel can help, along with facial masks they can make from milk, tomatoes, oatmeal and other foods. But of course, in severe cases of acne you should seek medical advice.

One important method for keeping that outlook under control is to make reasonable efforts to combat the condition.

Not everyone can readily afford a professional dermatologist on an ongoing basis. But even one visit can provide tons of useful advice and a prescription for acne medication. That’s worth quite a lot. Even though there is a substantial amount of information available on the Internet today, it’s helpful to have someone experienced who can help interpret it.

The medicine itself is important, both to treat the disease and the psychological effects. As the patient lessens the number of lesions, and lengthens the period between outbreaks, the skin will clear. At the same time, even when acne is still present, knowing that one is doing everything possible to combat the condition promotes a better attitude.

Passivity in the face of acne creates a downward spiral. The person feels bad about having a skin disease. They look in the mirror and don’t want to face the day, which includes other people who will see them.

But passively accepting the situation only worsens it. It reinforces the mistaken belief that nothing can be done. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. If nothing is done, the condition doesn’t go away or at least lingers much longer, and more severely than need be. That provides false evidence that there’s nothing that can be done to make it go away.

Taking action tends to create a positive spiral. Severe acne won’t normally disappear in a day, even with the best treatment. But fighting it leads to greater confidence that it can be fought, especially when reality helps show it as the condition actually improves.

That attitude has another, perhaps greater, benefit. It builds up the inner resources that one can deal with the challenge. It helps create a mental outlook that focuses on achieving other values, not dwelling on one unfortunate – and usually short-lived – problem.

Over 85% of those between ages 12-24 will get acne at some time. It is usually mild and usually only lasts a couple of weeks or less, with proper treatment. Since it’s so common, one needn’t feel singled out. Since it occurs to nearly everyone at some point, it can be accepted as a normal, if regrettable, fact of life.

Facing that reality isn’t pleasant. But a realistic attitude that understands that bad things will happen, and that good things can be created, will help encourage us. Realizing that we don’t have to passively accept those bad things, but that despite our best efforts they may take time to solve, contributes to a positive outlook.

Professionals recommending a course of treatment will rank acne by Grade.

Grade I includes milder, non-inflamed types such as blackheads, whiteheads or milia. Grade II involves a larger number of these, and frequently includes papules or pustules that are mildly inflamed.

Grade II Acne. Papules are small lesions, a change or break in the skin, that is smaller than 5 mm – about the width of a thin cigarette. They’re in the form of a bump that rises above the surface. A pustule, by contrast, is pus-filled – a mixture of bacteria, white blood cells and dead skin cells.

Grade III is more severe. The papules or pustules will be red, larger and more numerous. Grade IV is the most severe level, and includes nodules and cysts. The inflammation is usually wide spread and includes more than just the face.

Acne vulgaris is the common form of mild acne. Any of the Grade I forms will fall under this heading. They can usually be treated with over the counter medications.

In more severe form acne can develop into a type known as acne congoblata. The name may sound amusing, but the condition is anything but. It’s characterized by heavy inflammation and deep abscesses. The result is often scarring and other forms of serious skin damage.

Inflamed nodules will form around comedones – a general term for blackheads, whiteheads and milia. They often grow until they spontaneously discharge pus. While they do, they’re painful. When they do, they’re unsightly. Keliod-type scars are commonly left behind.

Acne Fulminans

Another type is known as acne fulminans. Here, the nodules will often ulcerate, leading to a painful and recurrent form of acne. The person afflicted may even develop a fever or aching joints. Treatment with corticosteroids or NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) is usually called for. But these treat symptoms, not the underlying cause.

In still more severe forms, a person may develop nodulocystic acne. Cysts form (red bumps produced by severe inflammation), but they’re of an unusual type. Sometimes they become numerous and close enough together to form a larger inflamed area. When they form small tunnels under the skin, infection can spread more readily. A treatment of antibiotics is called for, and isotretinoin (brand name: Accutane) is frequently employed.

Gram-negative folliculitis occurs when the follicles – the shaft in which hairs grow and sebum flows from the sebaceous glands – become infected. Bacteria grow inside and the body responds by dispatching white blood cells to fight the infection. The result is a deep eruption that calls for special treatment.

The type of bacteria that produces it may be resistant to normal antibiotics. In fact, the condition may have resulted from treatment of other types of acne treated with antibiotics.

Proper diagnosis of these forms of acne calls for a visit to a professional. A dermatologist’s care is warranted in these cases, as it may be in other forms of severe acne.

Acne Detox Method

The detox method has been gaining popularity in the past year because of the general responsiveness among patients who try it and the fact that it doesn’t involved any annoying lotions or horse pills. Instead, it focuses on cleansing the body of acne causing agents, the theory being that once they’re gone, given time, the acne will clear up as well.

This is largely a nutrition based treatment. In the past, doctors didn’t believe that there was much linking acne and the food you put into your body. In recent years, however, a direct correlation between major ingredients in the things that you eat and acne has been established. This has led to the bolstering in credibility given to detox based acne fixes in the past year.

Vitamins and Acne

Acne studies have recently shown that patients who had diets rich in vitamins A and E which are found in meats and nuts or seeds, respectively, had less severe overall cases because of the fortifying ingredients which nourish the skin. Conversely, carbohydrate rich diets were shown to spike blood glucose levels which sets off a chain reaction leading to more breakouts in the skin. Detox treatments involve cutting out and removing these “trigger” foods and in general this works for the majority of patients who try it, so long as after cleansing their systems they keep their consumption levels of these substances to a minimum.