IGNORE THAT ACNE

When you woke up this morning, did you take a look in the mirror and react with mild - severe anguish at the flourishing Acne plantation on your face? Did you notice a map of evenly distributed baby pimples or one mammoth sized pimple covering the longitude and latitude of your face and extending to your chest and upper back? Well my dears, whichever case of acne you've got, allow me suggest one easy-yet-not-so-easy ACNE management advice: IGNORE THAT ACNE!!! While this tip may seem mundane, it is imperative that you understand that although Acne breakouts cannot always be avoided, you CAN control what happens once you get the breakout.

ACNE, colloquially referred to as pimples is the bane of almost everyone’s early teen-adult existence. Sometimes it is caused by blockage of oil glands on the face by bacteria or dead cells or both. A lot of ACNE treatments would work a whole lot better if less time were spent TOUCHING, PINCHING AND SCRATCHING the face. A breakdown of my reasons for this sterling advice should help.

1. TOUCHING: Always touching your face is a casual way of depositing sweat, bacteria and whatever else (mucus, saliva, faeces, fungi etc) which you may have acquired unto your palm during the course of your day. Think about it, you don't want that!

2. PINCHING: The popular act of bursting/ pinching your pimples is some parameters short of being a sin. It offers temporary relief, tempting the sufferer to remove the unsightly yellow pus and relieve the ache. However, the downside to pinching pimples is that:
a. You splash pus that's usually rich with bacteria across the rest of your face, effectively colonizing new territory for acne supporting bacteria and fertilizing existing pimples.
b. Scarring: pinched pimples tend to scar, causing seemingly permanent blackspots. Unless you frequently exfoliate, these dead skin cells only serve to prevent new-pretty skin cells from rising to the surface. A situation you’d best avoid if having good skin in your older years is at the fore front of your mind. 

3. SCRATCHING: Scratching acne, in my opinion, is one way to carry out a bad business transaction with your face. When you scratch your pimples, you transfer infected skin cells to your nail beds. Depending on your nail hygiene, the bacteria in these cells will grow in the warm slightly humid nail bed and will be returned back to your face when the scratching action is repeated. This serial transfer of bacteria (and everything else) ensures that pimples remain in constant play on your facial skin and that the quantity of bacterial colonies on your face is maintained or even increased.


In summary, Pharmacist Reny recommends the following regimen/ remedies for eradicating or at best controlling acne:


1. Know your skin type; dry, oily or combination skin. Most alcohol-based cleansers tend to dry the skin out and since scaly skin is not your aim, people with dry skin should best avoid such.

2. Pick one treatment tool. Your choice could be facial cleansers, acne creams, or exfoliating soaps/ washes. It has been my experience that using more than one ‘bullet’ to kill the pest does not allow you identify which bullet dealt the killing shot, neither is it a guarantee for expected results nor even economical. Using an avalanche of medications on your face is not the solution. Pick one method, try it out , and stick to it.

3. Use the selected regimen twice daily.

A: In the morning. Use before/during your bath if you select an exfoliating soap/wash)

Or after bathing (if you prefer to use cleansers or creams)

B: At night before bed (use as described in A above)


4. Most important of all and the focus of my article; during your every waking second of your working or vacationing or unemployed day, remember, IGNORE THAT ACNE!!!


N.b: Too much exfoliating ends up doing more harm than good. You're so busy scrubbing off dead cells you leave no chance for new skin cells to grow in peace. I would advise to exfoliate no more than 10 times in a month.