Acne...It's more than that

These past few months, I've been having acne breakouts again. And it's just frustrating. I'm already in my mid-twenties but I feel like I'm still stuck in the adolescence stage - hormones are at rage and pimples are popping here and there! Whenever my period is near, I get acne breakouts and when the next period comes again, I breakout again. Even though the acne from the first period hasn't healed yet, I have to face a new set of pimples again.

I've had acne since I was thirteen years old. Now, it's already been a decade (plus two years) but I still have it. Acne, some might say, "Oh, it's just a pimple." but it's more than that. It not only makes a person unpretty, it also robs him/her of confidence - confidence in one's self, confidence in dealing with other people, and confidence in facing life.

Acne, if you compare it to some serious diseases out there, it's just nothing but remember that acne has a deep impact on a person's emotional and psychological well-being. Thus, it's important to have some knowledge about it: What are the causes of acne? How can we prevent and treat it?

I decided to start making some series of entries about acne and skin care. I am not an expert but I am one of the millions who have and is still suffering from acne. This is going to be like a documentation of my experiences and struggles with acne and choices I have to make to overcome it.

To start off, I'll be sharing some thoughts and information about acne.

How does an acne develop? 

Growth of bacteria in skin

Based on reading different articles in the net, here's how it happens: Imbalance in the hormone levels (especially during the menstrual period where estrogen level becomes low and androgen level becomes high) leads to the stimulation of sebaceous glands. Oil/Sebum production increases and pores become clogged, which is a good environment for the growth of bacteria (well, more like overgrowth of bacteria). This results to inflammation and irritation and whiteheads and blackheads and pustules (pus-filled lesions).

Acne is a multifactorial 'pheonomenon'. 

Heredity and environmental factors (pollution, stress, diet, cosmetics, etc.) play a major role. So in other words, Your lifestyle greatly affects the occurence of your acne.

My case, I know it's genetics. Both of my parents suffered from acne so my chances of having acne-prone skin is really high. Hormones, ugh, they just can't be tamed. Add to that other factors - stress, not having enough sleep, and an unbalanced diet (or more appriately, unhealthy diet).

Okay, so what should we then? 

Live healthy

Simple, Live a healthy life! But honestly, living a healthy life is easier said than done. Right? I don't want to write every step in living a healthy life because even as a child, we already know what they are. Our parents and our teachers always remind us to: 

• Eat healthy and nutritious foods (Remember Go, Grow, Glow?)
• Drink plenty of water
• Have enough sleep
• Exercise

The problem is, we just find it hard to put them into practice. That's the sad truth but hey, it's not yet too late! We can all start living a healthy life!

Is there a cure for acne?

At this age and technology, there are a lot of ways on how we can treat acne. Topical medicines, antibiotics, pills, peeling, laser, etc. Or we can even go to a dermatologist. But sad to say, there's no perfect medicine which can cure it right away, 100%, and offers a promise that you will never EVER get even a single pimple in your whole life. But then again, we should not be pessimistic about it.

We can still win this battle with acne. We just have to deal with it in a holistic way - a healthy lifestyle combined with a safe acne medication!