Dealing with acne
But Judy, what does a 53-year-old woman know about acne? Plenty, my friend. It has been my constant companion for 40 years. I’ve been to many doctors, tried many treatments. They may have worked for a while, but then it was back to constant breakouts. And to make matters worse, in my late 40s, my skin starting sagging (still no wrinkles yet, though). I had one year in college when all the topical and oral medications were working as advertised, and I had beautiful skin. But the rest of the time . . . Both my pregnancies were times of increased breakouts, and the time between my first and second sons included constant breakouts. After the birth of my second son, my skin mostly cleared up, but it was oily and blotchy looking and my pores were large. And anytime I had an important function to attend - well, it wasn’t pretty. In my late 40s, the regular breakouts started again. I had started a stressful job, and my older skin appeared completely incapable of healing itself. The red marks from old breakouts were still clearly visible on my face four years later!
After I left my stressful job, I decided I did not want to let this condition get the best of me for the rest of my life. I had spent well over $100,000 in my lifetime on doctors, treatments, and products. So I decided to see if I could establish a successful course of action on my own. I read everything on the topic I could find – even wild and crazy theories in some of the pop up ads – and I tried many treatments that were not only unhelpful but harmful. I finally came up with a regime that not only controls my acne, but is also helping the large pores, scars, blotchiness, red marks, and general overall appearance of my skin, even at 53! It’s very encouraging. So for all you acne sufferers out there, I’ve recorded what finally helped my skin for the first time in my life – maybe these things can help you as well.
1. Most important: DIET. I know many dermatologists say what you eat has nothing to do with acne, but those dermatologists have never had acne. I KNOW what I eat affects my acne. Here’s a breakdown of what I try to eat and what I try to avoid.
a. Grains – I try to avoid products made with flour: actually any higher glycemic index food will cause breakouts. That includes pasta, bread, white rice, popcorn, cakes, cookies, … you get the idea. What I can eat includes whole grain brown rice, oats/oatmeal, rye, barley, quinoa, and wild rice.
b. Fats/oils – I make sure I eat fats every day. You can’t have good skin without them. I love avocados and nuts. I cook with olive oil and butter – butter for high heat cooking and olive oil for sautéing. If I don’t want an olive oil taste, I use extra light olive oil. Peanut oil and sesame oil are also good for cooking. And I use safflower or sunflower oil in non-cooked foods when I want a tasteless oil. (Never cook with oils high in polyunsaturates – the cooking process creates harmful byproducts.) NEVER eat anything with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. Also I avoid cottonseed and palm oils.
c. Sugars – sugar will cause breakouts no doubt. You really do need to get rid of sodas and other sugary drinks. Even diet sodas are not good for your skin. I limit my intake to one or two diet sodas a week. Non-fat candy also wreaks havoc on my endocrine system and results in breakouts. Make sure you completely avoid foods with high fructose anything, but any of the sweeteners (ends in ose: fructose, dextrose, sucrose) are best avoided.
d. Fruits/vegetables – These items help my skin in ways that seem almost miraculous. I try to eat raw leafy green vegetables every day. Actually, I purchase the boxes of organic baby mixed greens or something similar, and I eat one of those as a snack (no dressing) every day. I have cooked vegetables with at least one meal a day. Also, it’s recommended that you eat fruit with every meal, but I probably get them only twice a day. I do avoid bananas, since they’re high glycemic. But most fruits, because the sugars come with fiber, are very well handled by my system – they don’t cause that glucose spike that results in an insulin spike.
e. Proteins – I believe in eating small amounts of protein every day, usually two meals a day. You can’t build muscle without protein. And you can’t burn fat without muscle. I pick lean cuts of meat, but I eat all kinds of protein: fish, chicken, turkey, beef, pork, etc. I cut the fat off before cooking. I don’t have anything deep fried. And I try to avoid foods cooked at fast food restaurants. The iodine they use to clean the cooking surfaces will cause my skin to break out.
e. Water – this goes without saying. I drink at least 8 ounces of water when I first get up, and then make sure that I have at least four of the 16-oz bottles of water a day. I use Dasani. I know there are some objections to plastic bottles. But it’s such a handy way to carry water around with me, and to make sure I get enough during the day. (As a matter of fact, most of the time when you think you’re really hungry, you’re actually thirsty. If you drink a cup of water when you think you’re hungry, it will often take care of those hunger pangs.)
2. EXERCISE – getting up a sweat twice a week helps my skin greatly. I try to go to the gym two days a week and run/walk on the treadmill for 35 minutes. The increased blood flow to my skin immediately improves its appearance. I also walk four to five miles at least three days a week and work with a personal trainer on resistance training once a week.
3. CLEANSING – I wash my face twice a day. When I was younger (teens and 20s), I had to wash my face three times daily. I use clean fingertips with a gentle but firm rubbing motion – no sponges or washcloths - and I gently massage my face all over for about 1 minute each time. I was finally convinced to give up soap. Right now, I use the Murad cleanser in the morning and the Proactive cleanser in the evening. I apply a salicylic acid serum that contains antioxidants after each washing. And the Murad salicylic acid serum I use in the morning also contains retinol. I put a benzoyl peroxide product on my face at night 30 minutes after applying the salicylic acid product. I never use a moisturizer on my face. I never put a sunscreen product on my face. They invariably cause my skin to break out. I have never read a book or article written by a dermatologist that didn’t recommend using a moisturizer and sunscreen daily, but then my skin never improved under the care of a dermatologist, so I go with what works for me.
4. FACIAL EXERCISING – I started this regularly this April, and I don’t think anything else I’ve done has had such a beneficial effect on my skin. I use Carolyn’s Facial Fitness program since it can be done in 15 minutes a day. I only exercise my face right after I cleanse when I have clean face and hands. I used to try to avoid touching my skin with my hands, but I’ve come to see that appropriate handling of my skin helps it in ways that no medicine product can. (That doesn’t include picking at your skin, by the way.) The massaging action of my fingertips seems to be very therapeutic. Facial exercising builds up the muscle in the face, brings blood flow to the face, and helps in the creation of a healthier dermis (which eventually becomes a healthier epidermis). The exercises have not only helped the sagging skin on the lower half of my face and my neck, but in four months have gotten rid of almost all the white bumps on my face, reduced the redness around the nose area and on the chin, and reduced the size of my pores. There’s definitely controversy about facial exercising, but my experience has been completely positive with no down side.
5. MINERAL MAKEUP – I first purchased mineral makeup in 2005. I tried it, but it didn’t have the coverage I needed at the time, plus it created additional breakouts. (Any new product I use initially causes small breakouts, which resolve themselves within three weeks or so. Don’t fall for the myth that your skin is purging out toxins and will breakout for a certain period of time. I once stuck with something that was “purging” toxins for three months, and my face was a complete mess at the end of that time. The truth was the product was causing my face to breakout, and I needed to stop using it. However, any change in routine or products will cause some small increase in breakouts as your face adjusts to it, but that should end and the product should start causing improvement within a month.)
Now, I love my mineral makeup and wouldn’t leave home without it. It provides wonderful coverage, contains a natural sun block, and is easy to apply. The minerals are a natural antibacterial agent, so I don’t have to worry about replacing the products in three months. I believe this makeup has helped my skin tremendously during the last year.
6. SPOT TREATMENTS – when I feel a pimple coming on, I put a lump of ice in a ziplock sandwich bag, and I ice it at night before I go to sleep. If it feels like it’s going to be a large one, I’ll ice it for five minutes; a small one, maybe one or two minutes. Sometimes I’ll even ice the little whiteheads. Doing this seems to stop the pimple in its tracks. Sometimes for the seeming larger ones, I’ll apply a dab of clay mask product with sulfur after I ice it, and leave it on overnight.
I recently met up with an old boss (the one from the stressful job), and he commented three times on how healthy I looked. Now he’s a salesman and a skilled liar, but he never wasted time or energy complimenting me when I worked for him. So I concluded that he was making the remarks in spite of himself, and it made me glad that I had undertaken this project. I hope this blog gives you hope that you can have better skin, that it doesn’t have to cost a fortune, and that you find some good suggestions for your personal journey towards a healthier complexion.