When there is so much information in the world on acne, sometimes it’s difficult to know when and where to begin. I’ve had a lot of appointments with patients where I’ve asked them to talk to me about the skin care they are using, makeup they are applying, hair care in the shower and otherwise, oral care, and what they are the consuming in terms of food, drink, inhalants, medications, supplements, etc. To have someone look at me like a deer in headlights after one of these appointments is very normal. I once had a girl tell me she was afraid to use anything now because she thought everything she had purchased before was supposed to be natural, organic, and good for her skin, and it turned out it was the opposite.
It's not the goal to overwhelm you with this information – the hope is to empower you. I’ve worked in western medicine dermatology practices since 2018. When all of this came to light for me at the end of 2023, I was first frustrated that I had spent so many years of my life dealing with my own acne in harsh ways, and secondly felt like I had failed my patients; how many had I put on antibiotics, spironolactone, and Accutane before realizing the fix could be as simple as removing pore cloggers in their beauty care?
Now of course, it’s not always as simple as that, but it’s an excellent place to start. First things first, use the pore clogging ingredient check list on this website to determine if any of your skin care, makeup, hair care, oral care, or body care is causing breakouts. For the ones that do, set them to the side. For the ones that don’t, by all means, continue to use them.
Stick to a simple routine. In the morning, I encourage patients to cleanse with water first, and then follow with a sunscreen. In the evening, I recommend a double cleanse, such as a micellar water followed by a gentle cleanser, and then a moisturizer. I do recommend a gentle physical exfoliation cleanser 3-5x a week to start, which can be in place of your second cleanser.
After you’ve calmed down the skin without any aggressive acne products for. A few weeks, you can start adding more skin care products to your routine. I like a vitamin c serum in the morning before sunscreen, and a chemical exfoliating product in the evening before moisturizer. Again, build slowly. Start with either the vitamin c or the chemical exfoliator, make sure you can tolerate it daily, and then add the second product.
I think the diet can be very overwhelming for people. I read a book by naturopathic physician Dr. Nigma Talib called Younger Skin Starts in the Gut in June 2020. At this time, my acne was in full flare after moving from Hawaii to Oregon. I was consumed with the state my skin. But when I read the book, I couldn’t imagine having implemented all of her recommendations. Fast forward to 2024, and I’m reading it for the second time, having already implemented most of her recommendations, and being excited to consider the rest. This time around, I had started so slowly, (over the course of months) that it felt normal for me to be dairy, gluten, egg, alcohol, processed food, and sugar free*.
Similar to skin care, when I discuss with my patients’ their diet, I never encourage people to throw any foods away. Instead, I encourage them to finish whatever perishables are in their fridge, place nonperishables away in a pantry, and slowly replace them with “acne-safe” options. Whole foods are delicious, and once you get into a habit of preparing, cooking, and enjoying this diet, you’ll realize you don’t miss the boxed macaroni and cheese sitting at the back of your pantry as much as you thought you would.
I also don’t love the idea of food-shaming or fear-mongering when it comes to acne. I recommend elimination diets. Where we take things away or 4-6 weeks, and then slowly introduce them back in, one at a time. For me, I quickly realized that eggs and dairy played a role in my acne, because when I consumed them after having removed them for a time, I developed acne within days. Now this feels like something I can control.
*I put an asterisk next to free because I am a firm believer that I cannot be or do any one thing 100% of the time. Fitness trainer and CSB athletic brand founder Rachel Dillon posts many things about her life on her Instagram, including “what I eat in a day” posts. She wrote one day about receiving a lot of hate from followers because she had eaten pizza, and among other things, she responded with this: “remember the best lifestyle is the one you can actually stick to. 80% whole foods and 20% soul foods work FOR ME.”
I love this. I will never be 100% dairy, gluten, egg, alcohol, processed food, and sugar free. I will consume some of these foods from time to time. But I love the way I feel when I don’t consume them. I love the way my skin looks when I stick to a whole food diet. It can take some time to see and feel these changes. It’s like anything in life; it takes a minute to see results from the gym or build a new habit. But once you do see the improvement, its fuel to keep going.
תגובות