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How to Get Rid of Acne: Stop Picking Your Skin!

There are few things that exacerbate acne more than picking the acne blemishes and the surrounding skin. It’s a classic catch-22: you pick your acne because it’s uncomfortable, or you believe that popping the pimples will help them heal faster. Then, new blemishes are caused by picking the old ones, leading you to pick at the new blemishes, and so on.

Picking your skin causes new blemishes for a few different reasons. First off, constantly touching your face introduces bacteria, dirt, and debris from your fingertips. Think about it; your hands touch, well, everything! The computer keyboard, greasy foods, dirty faucets, your shoes…the list goes on and on. (Just thinking about it makes me want to wash my hands!)

Secondly, releasing the oil and bacteria from a pimple causes it to travel elsewhere on the face, where it can clog a different pore and cause another blemish. In addition, when one pops a pimple, some of the pus actually travels deeper into the dermis, which can either resurface in the same area or cause a new pimple nearby.

Thirdly, picking at your skin can create a sore, which often looks worse than the actual pimple. Regular blemishes that are left to heal on their own are usually able to be camouflaged with concealer. However, an open sore can ooze, hurt, and bleed, and is redder and more difficult to hide using makeup. In addition, sores appear unhealthier than a basic blemish, which is an extremely common occurrence.

In addition to the blemish-causing effects of picking at acne-prone skin, picking should be avoided due to its ability to create scars. If there’s one thing you want to avoid, it’s acne scars! While acne scars can be diminished with an acne scar treatment, you’ll never be able to fully remove them. This means that even after your skin has cleared up, you’ll still have scars to remind you of your struggle with acne.

So, how do you put this acne tip into practice and break the habit of picking at your skin? Some of these suggestions may sound too simple to work, but they’re tried-and-true solutions that promise to help you achieve clearer, healthier skin.

1) Stop Looking In The Mirror
Sounds silly, right? It’s not! One of the main habits that lead to skin picking is over-obsessing in front of the mirror. Try avoiding staring at your skin in the mirror, reserving mirror time for applying makeup, doing your hair, and other primping needs. Throw out your magnifying mirror, too — these will only lead to imagined imperfections and, of course, picking!

2) Do Something With Your Hands
A lot of skin picking happens during times of idleness, like while one is in class or watching TV. When you’re able, practice a hand-occupying hobby, like Sudoku, knitting, or drawing. These hobbies will keep your hands too busy to pick at your skin, plus they’ll prove to be beneficial in other areas of your life! (For in-class solutions, try wearing jewelry that you can fiddle with until you break the picking habit.)

3) Apply Acne Treatment Products
If your blemishes are covered by a treatment for acne, you’ll be less likely to pick at them. It’s the same concept behind applying a bad-tasting product to your fingernails to keep from biting. If you know picking your blemishes will leave you with a now-wasted acne treatment under your nails, you won’t want to mess with them.

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Acne FAQs: Can Allergies Cause Acne?

We often talk about the hormonal causes of acne, but did you know that immune system responses can also trigger pimples and pustules? You’ve probably noticed that you breakout more easily when you’re sick, due in part to your immune system fighting the illness. Like a virus, food allergies and sensitivities can also cause the immune system to react. This, in turn, means that food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances can help cause acne breakouts.

Allergic reactions (like inflammation, rash, and more severe symptoms) occur when the body is unable to properly digest the food that you’re allergic to. This allows improperly digested food particles to enter into the bloodstream. Because these food particles aren’t broken down into the individual nutrients that your body expects, your brain will tell your immune system that the body has been invaded, just as it would in the case of bacteria or viral infection. This causes the entire body to experience inflammation, which can lead to a slew of other allergy symptoms.

Any food allergy can lead to inflammatory acne, but dairy, lectin, and gluten are the most common culprits. Let’s take a look at these common food allergens, where they’re found, and how they can be avoided.

Dairy
A dairy product is generally considered to be any food product containing cow’s milk. Occasionally, a dairy product will instead be made with goat’s, sheep’s, or buffalo’s milk, but the dominating raw ingredient of choice is cow’s milk.

Milk allergy, or lactose intolerance, is an extremely common allergy. In fact, many people believe that pasteurized and homogenized cow’s milk is simply indigestible by humans. This is due to the fact that the aforementioned processes destroy the milk’s natural enzymes which allow it to be comfortably digested. (This is supported by the fact that, barring an extreme milk allergy, lactose intolerant people can drink raw cow’s milk with no ill effects.)

Dairy products include everything from pure milk to cheese, yogurt and ice cream. There are a bevy of cow’s milk alternatives on the market, including soy, nut, and hemp milk, as well as cheese, yogurt, ice cream and more made with milk alternatives.

If you have a true milk allergy, or even particularly harsh lactose intolerance, you may want to consider using skin care products formulated without the use of dairy. Many skin care moisturizers, face cleansers, and even acne treatment products contain dairy due to its naturally exfoliating and moisturizing properties.

Lectin
Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins that are present in most plants and animals. They assist their home carrier in many immunological functions, as well as protein synthesis and delivery. However, when ingested by an outside source, lectins wreak havoc on the digestive system by attaching themselves to the walls of the intestines. This can cause intestinal damage, cellular death, compromised villi, leaky gut, and more. In addition, these damages cause the body to redirect important resources to the now-damaged gut, resulting in fewer nutrients that are able to be used by the body for its every day needs.

Although lectins are found in most foods, some foods contain only trace amounts, while others are filled to the brim. Rather than scare yourself out of eating ever again for fear of lectin-induced intestinal damage, try limiting your intake of some of the main offenders, including grains, soy, legumes, and tomatoes. Because lectins are so prevalent, removing them from your diet is literally impossible. However, knowing the highest lectin sources and limiting your overall intake will significantly improve your overall health, as well as your intolerance-related acne.

Gluten
Found mostly in grains, gluten is the composite of two proteins — gliadin and glutenin. Gluten sensitivity is a very common occurrence, though life-threatening allergy (known as celiac disease) is fairly rare. Sensitivity-induced reaction almost always takes the form of dermatitis, but other symptoms such as gastrointestinal issues are by no means unusual.

Gluten is found in many food products, including everything from bread to candy bars. While true gluten allergy is rare, many people are choosing to give up gluten, claiming improved health, clearer skin, and quality of life. This has led to a boom in gluten-free food products, making it easy to steer clear of the ingredient.

Acne induced by food allergies may be treated with traditional adult acne treatments; however, your condition will only be improved on the surface. In order to truly rid your skin of allergy-related acne, it is necessary to remove the offending foods from your diet, in addition to using acne treatments.