It is not diet, fat, clothing, soaps, and all of that, its genetics. Some people are prone to acne, others are not.
Yes these other things (diet, sweating, hygiene, what you wear, etc) can have an impact on the severity of the breakouts, but the real cause is sebum and the blockage of pores.
Adult acne is caused by
sebum, an oil produced by the skin’s
sebaceous glands. Sebum clogs pores and becomes the petridish where various bacteria gather and mate and have fantastic lives - well fantastic for bacteria. Think Bacteria condominiums.
Hormones may be one cause. hormone imbalance between testosterone and estrogen can lead to greater production of sebum. Some foods may actually lead to more sebum being made, but often the real cause is that the food causes changes in PH (skin and sweat) which leads to clogging of pores more readily.
A lot of people note a moderate to vast change in the amount of acne they get when they are on a regimen of antibiotics for other things. Usually a reduction. This is the antibiotic reaching the pockets of bacteria in their sebum condos. If you have noticed that there is a reducing in the number of pimples when you are on antibiotics you need to tell your doctor. There is a stronger course of oral and topically applied antibiotics that can greatly reduce the number of pimples (by murdering all of those happy condo owners) . This is only a temporary fix and only deals with the infection, the real underlying cause is the creation of sebum and the blocked pores from it.
Unblocking pores can be as easy as sauna/steam and cool shower. Causing the pores to open and close, open enough to drain out some of that sebum. Of course this only works if the clogs haven't solidified, thus you may have to take daily saunas and cool showers to aid in the flow of oils out of the pores.
Steam is actually the best, not only causes pores to open but also softens skin and causes the body to produce sweat and other interesting oils and stuff which is actually good for the skin. Cool is to close the pores once you have extruded the 'gunk'.
Another issue is that the skin is inflamed and irritated. Topically applied ointments, witch hazel, alcohol based gels and liquids irritate the skin even more. While they do kill out some of the bacteria, and prevent secondary infections, they can do as much harm as the acne itself.
You might want to try oatmeal baths to sooth the skin. Oatmeal has been used for perhaps thousands of years to sooth skin. While you could cook some up and let it cool then make a plaster out of oatmeal and wear it for 15 minutes to an hour. The reality is that the active ingredients can be coaxed out by simply finely chopping the regular (not instant) oatmeal rolled oats flakes. 2 cups of oatmeal dust added to a bath and a 15-30 minute soak each day followed by a cool/tepid rinse should result in less irritation of the skin.
Now days there are oatmeal shampoos and oatmeal soaps. These are not typically used as regular soap, in that you soap up and rinse. You soap up, turn off the shower, stand there singing a few songs, turn on the shower and rinse quickly but not 100% fully. Yeah you will need to sing for at least 5 minutes.
If you choose to soak, then shower with soap and water and shampoo first, rinse, fill the tub with fresh water and oatmeal, then soak. Then rinse with cool/tepid water for a bit without rubbing or following up with a soap or detergent.
Wear 100% cotton t-shirts. You have to read labels, most t-shirts, especially the ones with a bit of elastic spring to them, are cotton polyester blend. Find 100% cotton ones. They exist, what do you think Orthodox, Mosaic Law followers wear?
The shirt should not be snug, not tight, but loose. IF you sweat in those areas at work, then take 1-2 more t-shirts to work and change them every few hours. The idea here is to remove the sweat and oil from your skin as it leaks out (human bodies leak stuff all the time, really kinda disgusting if you think about it).
At home, take off the shirt and leave it off for a few hours a day. Ideally (if you can) do a shower, then an oatmeal soak, followed by a tepid rinse, then go around shirtless and let the air hit the skin. Thus no sitting in your leather computer chair with your back pressed up against the leather. Lean forward.
Mind none of this cures the underlying problem (sebum production and blocked pored). These are ways to treat the symptoms and hopefully manage the acne.
Ultimately you may want to seriously consider the drastic measures such as laser therapy.
If you want to try antibiotics. Then I suggest you find Amoxcillan (
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000837/) 500 mg every twelve hours (try to stick to the 12 hours as closely as possible) for ten days. READ the WARNINGS.
If you can't afford a doctor and can't afford human Amoxicillin, then go through a veterinary supply site. I have used fish Amoxicillin, 500 MG capsule/tabs. I get 100 of them for less than $30.00. The same thing in a 'human labeled bottle) can cost 80-120 dollars. Really its the same thing, the exact same thing.
This is what I have used to treat infections in myself in the past:
http://www.calvetsupply.com/product/Amox...ntibiotics
Mind its human grade only LABELED for fish tank use.
Aside from gills and an urge you swim you will perfectly fine - :biggrin: :tongue: a small joke.
Of course read the precautions on the Amoxicillin site, if you have allergies/sensitivities to penicillin and the others listed there DO NOT use Fish-mox
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