Acne vulgaris: a disease of Western civilization (2002)
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Acne vulgaris: a disease of Western civilization (2002)
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Re: Acne vulgaris: a disease of Western civilization (2002)
#2I used to get bad acne as a teenager. I remember thinking it was some kind of cruel joke that I’d look in the mirror on Sunday night and see a fresh spot emerging, just as the others had cleared up, just as the school week was about to begin. Looking back, I think I understand what was happening. On Fridays I’d always eat a lot of sweets. They were banned in the household except for Fridays, and so we’d gorge on confectionary and fizzy drinks. Then, like clockwork, I’d break out in spots a couple of days later. So the culprit would seem to be refined sugar or some other common ingredient, taken in high concentration.
I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out at the time.
Re: Acne vulgaris: a disease of Western civilization (2002)
#3Going paleo did a trick for me. Looking back, a was eating such amounts of shitty food, that I am very fortunate to end up being pretty healthy at all
Re: Acne vulgaris: a disease of Western civilization (2002)
#4I used to get bad acne as a teenager. I remember thinking it was some kind of cruel joke that I’d look in the mirror on Sunday night and see a fresh spot emerging, just as the others had cleared up, just as the school week was about to begin. Looking back, I think I understand what was happening. On Fridays I’d always eat a lot of sweets. They were banned in the household except for Fridays, and so we’d gorge on conf…
Don't beat yourself up over it. There's a lot of shit going on at that age to correlate, even with a level head, which you are not generally possessing at that period of life.
Re: Acne vulgaris: a disease of Western civilization (2002)
#5I used to get bad acne as a teenager. I remember thinking it was some kind of cruel joke that I’d look in the mirror on Sunday night and see a fresh spot emerging, just as the others had cleared up, just as the school week was about to begin. Looking back, I think I understand what was happening. On Fridays I’d always eat a lot of sweets. They were banned in the household except for Fridays, and so we’d gorge on conf…
It's interesting since I read a lot that food consumption doesn't affect acne. I used to have relatively bad acne as a teenager as well, but I don't think I consumed a lot of sugars.
As a grown up I grew out of it, but for some strange reason it came back (age 26-27) and I couldn't get rid of it for a year. I ate healthy foods, used face scrub every day, also did weight lifting exercises, but none of those things seemed to help. However at one point I picked up jumping rope, which I did almost daily for 20-30 minutes. After that I stopped having acne. I assume sweating is the core reason that cured (or I should say, prevent) my acne as an adult. Funnily enough I stopped jumping rope for a week or two and I already see some pimples coming back, guess I'm not allowed to stop anymore!
Re: Acne vulgaris: a disease of Western civilization (2002)
#6I used to get bad acne as a teenager. I remember thinking it was some kind of cruel joke that I’d look in the mirror on Sunday night and see a fresh spot emerging, just as the others had cleared up, just as the school week was about to begin. Looking back, I think I understand what was happening. On Fridays I’d always eat a lot of sweets. They were banned in the household except for Fridays, and so we’d gorge on conf…
Sugar and dairy products may be one of the problems. Lack of exercise could be one as well. There's some research on this, although some reviews seems to indicate that the evidence isn't 100% clear.
I think the other piece of puzzle, where there's a dire need of research, is on the microbiome of the skin. Having a healthy culture of good bacteria on your skin may be important. That's why washing with soap can cause as much damage as it helps -- if you overdo it, you don't just kill the bad bacterias, you kill the good ones too.
I've experimented a bit with Mother Dirt.. I can't say it's a cure for anything, but it does seem to help.
https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/29601613 https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/21916275 https://academic.oup.com/fampra/article/22/1/62/440463
Re: Acne vulgaris: a disease of Western civilization (2002)
#7I read lots of research papers about acne and I tried many things including diets, removing dairy, removing sweets, changing pillow sheet daily, many kinds of anti acne treatments.
The only thing that worked was roaccutane. After the treatment it slowly comes back so I beat it permanently with low-dosing (a 10 or 20mg pill every now and then)
I realize there must be a reason deep down that caused it. Typically dermatologists first try to give a cleansing treatment with some kind of scrub cream (will solve it if hygiene was the issue). Then they try anti biotics (if bacteria is the issue) then finally use the nuclear option with roaccutane which works with practically every one (but relapse can happen)
Re: Acne vulgaris: a disease of Western civilization (2002)
#8I read lots of research papers about acne and I tried many things including diets, removing dairy, removing sweets, changing pillow sheet daily, many kinds of anti acne treatments. The only thing that worked was roaccutane. After the treatment it slowly comes back so I beat it permanently with low-dosing (a 10 or 20mg pill every now and then) I realize there must be a reason deep down that caused it. Typically dermat…
It's not permanent but once you are over with it the age of acne has "gone through" (though yeah some pop up eventually)
Re: Acne vulgaris: a disease of Western civilization (2002)
#9I used to get bad acne as a teenager. I remember thinking it was some kind of cruel joke that I’d look in the mirror on Sunday night and see a fresh spot emerging, just as the others had cleared up, just as the school week was about to begin. Looking back, I think I understand what was happening. On Fridays I’d always eat a lot of sweets. They were banned in the household except for Fridays, and so we’d gorge on conf…
Sugar and dairy products may be one of the problems. Lack of exercise could be one as well. There's some research on this, although some reviews seems to indicate that the evidence isn't 100% clear. I think the other piece of puzzle, where there's a dire need of research, is on the microbiome of the skin. Having a healthy culture of good bacteria on your skin may be important. That's why washing with soap can cause a…
That's a really interesting idea. Come to think of it, I've spent a lot of time on extended camping and hiking trips and cant come up with a memory or picture when my skin wasn't at its best then.
Also: that microbiome could be include yeasts, which also naturally live on the skin.
Re: Acne vulgaris: a disease of Western civilization (2002)
#10I read lots of research papers about acne and I tried many things including diets, removing dairy, removing sweets, changing pillow sheet daily, many kinds of anti acne treatments. The only thing that worked was roaccutane. After the treatment it slowly comes back so I beat it permanently with low-dosing (a 10 or 20mg pill every now and then) I realize there must be a reason deep down that caused it. Typically dermat…
It's not permanent but once you are over with it the age of acne has "gone through" (though yeah some pop up eventually)
How long it takes? I'm 30 now and I would have breakouts if I didn't apply benzoyl peroxide twice a day.