There are some skin conditions that practically everyone on earth will experience at one point or another, and of these the most common is acne.
Breakouts of acne happen for countless reasons and will affect people in very different ways.
Some of the causes of breakouts are far more common than others, such as hormonal imbalances that are exceptionally common during puberty.
Other causes are a little more unexpected, so if you are commonly going to an acne treatment clinic to get your breakouts sorted, it may be worth seeing if one of these is the culprit.
Refined Carbohydrates
Whilst for the most part your diet does not affect whether you will have breakouts in spots outside of allergies, there is one aspect of some common foods that can make acne breakouts worse.
Refined carbohydrates such as those found in white bread and sugar cause an increase in blood sugar, which ranks them high on the GI (glycaemic index).
Recent studies suggest that it creates an inflammatory environment which makes the effects of acne worse than it otherwise would be.
Cutting back on refined carbohydrates and sugar can help, replacing it with wholemeal bread and quinoa.
Dry Skin
Given how we primarily associate acne and spots with oily skin, this can be quite a surprise.
However, dry skin can cause microtears and cracks in the skin, which is not only painful but also allows bacteria to enter the skin, causing blockages and breakouts.
Moisturising and gentle exfoliants can help to reduce the effects of dry skin and by extension restore the skin’s protective layer.
Mobile Phones
This will not affect everyone, but if you are prone to tapping at your mobile phone and then
holding it to your ear to answer calls, you might be transferring the bacteria on your fingertips to your face by proxy.
If you use headphones this might be less of an issue, but the best step is to just wipe the screen down with some kind of screen-friendly antibacterial treatment.
Joining The Jet Set
The body is exceptionally good at adapting to new environments, but it usually takes a bit of time for your skin to get acclimatised.
If you travel a lot, especially if you travel from particularly humid climates to particularly dry climates, or from frozen tundras to hot deserts, you might cause your skin to break out more as it struggles to adjust.
Washing your face with bottled water or micellar water can help her, as can avoiding the kind of harsh soaps commonly given to guests at hotels.
Hair Removal
In one of many unfortunate moments of skincare irony, whilst hair removal is commonly done as a way to smooth the skin and reduce the risk of breakouts, many methods of removing the hair can cause not only a better chance of breakouts but increase the likelihood of more painful ones.
Obvious culprits include waxes, shaving and using tweezers, but some topical products can clog skin pores as well.
Cleaning the hairy area before you start can help, as can using a hydrocortisone cream product on the area before you start going at it.
