RapidAcneTreatment.com

In some patients only one particular food will make their acne worse. This has nothing to do with whether the food is a starch, sweet or fat. For example, they can­not eat chocolate without noticing a sizable increase in the number of papules and pustules the next day. It does not make any difference whether the chocolate is in ice cream, sauces, cake, soda, pudding, candy or cocoa; they get worse. In fact, since candy is so often chocolate fla­vored, it may be that “sweets” have been falsely blamed for making acne worse.

There are other foods which will flare up acne in some patients, such as pork, which includes ham and bacon, shellfish, nuts, sharp cheese, eggs, milk and malt. Some of these foods are important for you to have. You should not eliminate foods at the risk of depriving yourself of a well-balanced diet, unless you have been convinced be­yond any doubt that they make your acne worse.

In the region of the Great Lakes and in the states of the Northwest there is a deficiency of the important mineral iodine in the water and soil. We know that a lack of iodine in the body causes a disturbance of the thyroid gland. The thyroid is another one of the hor­mone-secreting glands. It regulates the speed or rate of our metabolism. If the thyroid isn’t going full force, it affects all the other internal glands.

To replace this lack of iodine in water and food, salt companies have added iodine to some table salt. You may have noticed the words “Iodized Salt” on the label. Using iodized salt in areas which are lacking in natural iodine is desirable. In the localities where ample natural iodine exists the use of iodized salt is not good. In people who are unusually sensitive to even small amounts of iodine it may aggravate acne. Incidentally, iodine is present in some cough medicines, asthma remedies and also in some vitamin mixtures.

Iodine is chemically related to a group of drugs called bromides. Some sedatives and other so-called “nerve med­icines” contain bromides. They are also in preparations which claim to give relief from headache, indigestion and “acid conditions.” Soda fountains and restaurants serve them. The use of bromides is so common today that many people are taking these drugs regularly without realizing that bromides have the same effect on acne as iodine.

The importance of infected teeth, tonsils and sinuses in the cause of acne has been exaggerated. Some derma­tologists, however, do feel strongly that such a source or “focus” of infection in the body makes acne worse, or at least keeps it going. Certainly it is not good to have the pus from infected tonsils draining into your system all the time. Your body has to keep fighting off these bac­teria and cannot rally enough resistance to the infection which accompanies acne.

There are some working conditions which have been found to make acne worse. On some jobs there are dust, heat and humidity to contend with and personal hygiene is poor. Some types of work require rough or woolen clothing, which can irritate the skin or rub bacteria into the follicle openings. Occupations which expose the skin to oil, wax and grease are not desirable for young men with acne. These chemicals affect the lining of the oil-gland ducts and cause pustules even in people who do not have acne. The same thing occurs to the duct openings in many women when they use cosmetics with a greasy base.

The question arises — what does your general health have to do with acne? Are you likely to have more colds or other infections than a person free from acne? Are your pep and energy below average? Dermatologists and many acne patients have noticed that their acne is worse in the winter and better in the summer. Perhaps this is because in the winter our resistance is lower than in the summer. In the winter we have more colds or flu and our vitality is lower. During the summer everyone seems to feel better. There is less sickness and we have more en­ergy.

The explanation of these observations may have some­thing to do with the greater amount of sunshine we are exposed to in the summer months. We do know that sun­light helps manufacture Vitamin D in our bodies and that this vitamin is very important to good health, Often the foods we eat in the summer are richer in vitamins and other essentials to good nutrition. It is suspected that during the winter many of us become slightly ane­mic, not enough to be serious, but just enough to make us always more or less fatigued. We feel, as the saying goes, “a little under par.” This may be due to the ab­sence from our diet of fresh fruits and some vegetables which are rich in iron and other minerals.

It is true that acne occurs mainly in active young people who are not suffering from any disease. Yet, what about the general level of health of most young people today? Do they receive adequate sleep and rest? Is the food they eat well balanced and nourishing? Does it con­tain enough energy value to make up for the energy spent during a day’s work and play? For most growing young men and women all too often the answers are “No.” In fact, it even makes me tired just to think of the daily routine of some young people. It is a mystery to me how one patient I knew kept going. Up early on a school day, he would run out the door tucking his shirt under his belt with one hand and clasping his books to his body with the other. If he thought he had an extra minute, he might stop in the kitchen for a piece of toast. This was not likely, unless he heard his mother’s voice pleading with him to please have some breakfast. Somehow, despite all the rushing, he barely managed to get to class just as it began. A busy morning of studies was interrupted by a feverishly gulped lunch consisting of foods which would go down with the greatest of ease. He would return to class until midafternoon and then go out to the football field. After two or three hours of strenuous scrimmage the rush would be on again to get home in time for dinner. This was eaten slightly more slowly under the critical eye of his father. Then he would try to do his homework just as the day’s strain began to affect his weary body. All this was a little too much for his brain, which soon lost the struggle with sleep. Despite pangs of conscience, the homework was usually put off until the next night with the hope that there would be more time then. This story must be so familiar to you that I am sure I do not have to tell you that the next night was not any different.

Each year doctors learn more about diseases, their causes and their cure. When your parents were children, scarlet fever was a serious sickness for a child to have and its cause was unknown. Today, the bacteria that cause it are known and a few pills will generally cure it. The same could be said about a great number of other diseases. However, there is still much to learn about medicine and acne is one of the conditions which con­tinues to challenge us even though more is known about it than ever before.

We usually think of a disease as being due to one cause. For example, it is general knowledge that mumps is due to a virus infection. In acne there is no such single cause. Rather there are several different factors at work, all of which combined produce the eruption which we call acne. Now let us see what is known about the cause of acne today.

Puberty was a point in your life which marked the end of childhood and the beginning of adolescence. It occurred when you were between the ages of twelve and fourteen. At this time a change occurred in the activity and function of your sexual glands. As a result, during the years that have followed, your body has gradually assumed a more mature appearance. These changes will continue slowly until you have reached adulthood. Dur­ing this period of growth in boys the prospect of a first shave appears near. The voice cannot make up its mind whether it is soprano or a manly baritone and hair ap­pears on the body. In girls a monthly period of men­struation starts and the old dresses, which were straight up and down, no longer fit because of the widening of the hips and the development of the breasts.

Every part of the body in some way feels the influ­ence of this glandular activity and the oil glands of the skin are no exception. To judge from the way they fever­ishly start manufacturing and pumping oil, it would seem as though they were trying to make up for then-years of sluggishness! There is nothing the body can do with this large amount of oil except carry it to the sur­face of the skin. This produces the oily appearance so typical of acne. It has already been explained that ex­cessive oil-gland activity plays an important part in the formation of acne lesions.

Medical science is trying to find out just what it is about the function of the sexual glands that causes this surge of oil. So far, there is not too much that is certain. We do know that it has something to do with the bal­ance between the different hormones that the sex glands produce in the body. This in turn is related to the func­tion of all the other glands in the body which produce hormones. All these glands are interdependent upon each other for the normal function and growth of the body. One cannot work without the other. When one is tem­porarily acting strangely, all the others may be affected. Medical knowledge is progressing rapidly and some day we will know the solution to this mystery.

There are other activities going on in the body which affect your acne. The way your tissues, including the skin, grow and maintain their health depends upon a complex series of reactions within the body. These vital reactions are called the metabolism of the body. The food you eat plays an important role in these reactions.

Over the years, many foods have been studied to de­termine how they affect acne in relation to your body metabolism. Some studies have seemed to show that starchy foods, such as potatoes and bread, have an un­favorable influence on acne. In the process of digestion starches are changed into sugar by the body. This sugar, like other foods after they have been broken down in the body, eventually ends up in the blood stream. It is trans­ported by the blood to every organ of the body as nour­ishment and fuel for the tissues. The skin gets its share of sugar in this manner. When the skin receives larger amounts than it can use, it has been claimed that the excess sugar interferes with the health of the skin. Con­sequently, starchy foods and sweets are considered by some to be one factor in at least the aggravation of acne lesions.

From this point of view, it would be understandable why “sweets,” which of course are mainly straight sugar, seem to aggravate some cases of acne. Such foods as pastries, syrups and jellies contain large amounts of sugar. Candies are almost pure sugar. The sugar from these foods has the same effect on the skin as the starchy foods. Perhaps you have observed that your eruption is worse after eating lots of sweets and starches.

Another group of foods which have been suspected of playing a part in causing acne are the fatty foods. Just why they seem to make some acne eruptions worse is not clearly understood. Some scientists who have studied this problem feel that when large amounts of fatty foods are eaten, the secretion of the oil glands is increased or slightly changed in nature. It has been observed by a few dermatologists that acne flares up in some patients when they eat large helpings of foods such as cream, butter, mayonnaise and fatty cuts of meat. Cooking food in large amounts of oil and grease will do the same thing. This is particularly true of fried foods such as fried po­tatoes and pork chops.

The unfavorable effect that starches and fats have on some patients with acne is primarily a matter of medical observation. It has by no means been proven beyond all doubt in the laboratory. However, sometimes physicians are slow to find the exact explanation for conditions which are common knowledge.

Perhaps you belong to this class and, like others, burn the candle at both ends. You work hard all day and fre­quently are busy for long hours at night. Your ability to keep going is due as much to your enthusiasm for what you’re doing as to the strength in your body. One might say that you are tired but do not know it. The amount of energy you burn up through such intense activity and continuous excitement is a drain on your general level of health. Living under such a physical strain may well contribute to the cause of your acne.

Eating on the run without taking the time to sit down and have a well-balanced meal of a variety of foods is certain to make your diet low in building materials. Be­sides that you would not be getting the essentials which supply the fuel for all the energy you use up. Among other things you would not be getting your vitamins. You have probably heard about vitamins and their im­portance to growth and health. They are necessary in order for the body to get the full value out of the foods you eat. Acne is not actually due to a deficiency of vita­mins, yet it is not at all uncommon to see improvement in the appearance of the skin when large doses of certain vitamins are added to the diet.

Vitamins are not only essential to one’s general health, they are also important to the health of the skin. When they are absent from a diet, the skin is affected in vari­ous ways. Dryness and roughening of the skin occur when Vitamin A is deficient. Vitamin B really consists of a whole subgroup of vitamins within itself. But since they are all found in the same foods, they are lumped together and called Vitamin B Complex. When one or all are missing from the diet, many changes in the skin may appear, such as cracking and crusting at the corners of the mouth. The tongue can become smooth, red and tender. The exposed parts of the skin, such as the back of the hand, may become darkened and scaly or the face and scalp may become oily and reddened. A good quan­tity of Vitamin B Complex in one’s diet is especially important to the skin. When Vitamin C is not a daily part of the diet, the gums become soft. Brushing your teeth is enough to make them bleed. You will learn about the foods which you should eat to get these vita­mins when we discuss what you can do to help your com­plexion.

The expression “athlete’s acne” is used by dermatolo­gists because acne is sometimes very severe in young men who are extremely active in sports. Physical condition­ing and training is an accepted part of an athlete’s life. You assume that athletes are perfect physical specimens who would never have acne. However, a well-trained athlete is like a race horse in the sense that every effort has been made to bring to perfection all his special capa­bilities. In doing this, great stress is put on the body as a whole, causing excessive fatigue, and this may explain the frequency of acne in athletes. I have noticed the same thing in women who are professional dancers. Hours of rehearsal topped by performances are as stren­uous physically as any basketball or football game.

Besides the physical strain on your body which has just been mentioned you are under another type of strain or, to use another word, tension. The development taking place in your growing body has already been discussed. But so far, no mention has been made of another type of change which is occurring. This is the change in your at­titude towards yourself and those about you. These changes are the ones which affect your emotional life.

Acne starts during a period in your life which is filled with new experiences. High school is one of the first of these. The longer hours of classes and attention to your studies require more effort and concentration than any­thing you have known before. Early business ventures with a long day’s work and greater responsibility are quite different from any former experience. Besides these adjustments which must be made there are changes tak­ing place in your relationships with your parents. No longer can you be completely dependent on your par­ents. You have to make your own decisions and solve many of your own problems. Or perhaps you feel that your parents cannot get used to the idea that you are no longer a child. Another new aspect of your life is the feelings you have towards members of the opposite sex. This is a big change, indeed, about which revolve many emotional problems.

It may well be that the emotional stress and strain which result from these new needs for adjustment are partly to blame for the overactivity of your oil glands. This should not be so hard to understand since there are many examples in everyday life which illustrate how your emotions cause various skin reactions. Everyone knows that after a bad fright one may blanch, break out in a cold sweat or get “goose pimples.” Certainly you have seen blushing occur after an embarrassing incident. You may have noticed even that your face becomes very oily towards the end of a busy day at work or during a period of emotional excitement. These commonplace observations show beyond doubt that emotions do affect the skin and they suggest that emotions may be one of the forces at work in causing acne.

Very often those who have acne observe that during periods of tension they are worse. Perhaps emotional ex­citement increases the blood supply to the skin and oil glands, causing them to become overactive. Perhaps the hormone balance is affected, tipping it even more out of balance. So far, we do not know the exact explana­tion.

Some acne eruptions should be called “after vacation” acne because of the way they break out when the sum­mer is over. Just recently a young high school girl told me that her skin was fine all summer. She returned to school in September and in two weeks her acne reap­peared. Perhaps there is some other explanation for what happened, but it is likely that the tensions of school life were responsible.

Recently a group of doctors made an interesting study on some acne patients which seems to throw some light on the connection between acne and emotional tension. First they learned as much as possible about the patient’s childhood and background. Then they made the patient angry by saying something to him that the doctors knew used to make him angry as a child. Before and right after this the oil on the skin was measured. It was found that the amount of oil on the skin was always greater after than before the patient had been made angry. This experiment suggests what many have observed and thought, namely that at least one emotion, anger, makes the oil glands overactive.