Breakouts 101

Acne is stressful at any age. Mild acne is usually topical, which makes it easier and faster to treat, whereas severe acne is almost always a bacterial infection from the inside. Which in turn can make it harder to treat. If your acne is mostly mild here are a few tips on reducing the appearance and/or eliminating your acne.

Wash your face before going to bed. A tea tree based wash works great for drying up the acne and removing any deep down dirt and oil that clogs pores.(Especially great for oily, acne prone skin) Salicylic Acid washes can be to extreme and over dry the skin.

Tie your hair at bedtime with a scarf. This will keep the dirt and oils from your hair off your pillow that can get on your face and eventually break you out.

Change your pillow case at least once a week. (Consider your sheets as well) Even though you can't see it, there is a considerable amount of build up from your pores on your pillow. Yuk!

Keep your hands away from your face. Think about everything you touch between hand washings. The door handle. Money. Food. Remote control. Now think about all the other people that have touched those things before you. Do you really want all that on your face? I didn't think so.

And lastly try to clean your phone with rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball daily to remove dirt and oils that can also touch your face and break you out.

If your acne is severe your dermatologist can recomend an oral treatment to add to this routine.