Acne Magazine

In studies on the ever increasing incidence of adult acne, something that unfortunately us adults also have to deal with now, most fingers are pointed at hormones as the culprit, not cosmetics or other environmental or external factors.  As far as I’m concerned, you all know that stress and anxiety most definitely affects my skin, and that has never changed for me, even into adulthood. 

I also find that certain caffeinated beverages and foods can trigger a breakout, but that is almost assuredly related to the fact that caffeine makes me overly nervous and anxious, which still in effect is what leads to the acne breakout.  Many herbal acne supplements are supposed to help curb this fluctuation, as well as medical acne treatments that inhibit androgens from over producing.   

Some people have been quick to place the blame on cosmetics and other skin care products, or other environmental factors, but the truth is, most breakouts I’ve experienced from cosmetics or other allergens that cause reactions are very different breakouts from a real “acne vulgaris” breakout where pimples originate deep within the skin and have a definitively different patter than just the minor “rash” types of breakouts.  At least this has been my personal experience, so I can’t speak for everyone on this point of course. 

The interesting fact is that significantly more women than men suffer from adult acne, and the thought is that this is because of hormones, because women continue to see hormonal fluctuations throughout their life while men only have them basically in their youth, or teen years, all thanks to a little thing called the menstrual cycle which dictates our hormones for us.