Like any condition or disease there are an abundance of acne facts and myths that need to be sorted out in order to avoid worsening your condition. People have long thought that the condition occurs because of poor hygiene, when in fact, the cause is overproduction of oil from the sebaceous glands that clog the poor along with dead cells and bacteria. Regardless of how meticulous your personal hygiene is, if this occurs, you will likely have a breakout.

Due to this belief, people may vigorously scrub their faces, thinking the cleaner their face is, the fewer breakouts they will have. Unfortunately, this is a situation where acne facts and myths need to be separated. Scrubbing too much can irritate the skin and dry it out, causing more breakouts. Likewise using an alcohol based toner is also a bad idea for blemish-prone skin. It can strip your skin of natural oils, over-drying and irritating it, which can trigger more oil secretion.

Spot treatment is another topic that people need to be set straight on when discussing acne facts and myths. Treating individual spots or pimples is not an effective treatment. Prevention is the best medicine. By treating the entire area where you get breakouts everyday, even if you don’t have any visible blemishes you can prevent future breakouts.

A few more topics for the acne facts and myths agenda include the ideas that popping pimples helps them go away, that acne is gone when the pimples are gone, and that stronger medication is better for persistent breakouts. The truth is that popping pimples can make them persist longer and more likely to cause a scar; when a pimple is gone, you must still treat your skin to prevent it from returning; and using too much medication may cause over-drying and more blemishes.

In addition, when considering acne facts and myths, we must remember that neither tanning, nor toothpaste is a cure anymore than chocolate or greasy foods are causes. Tanning dries your skin and may temporarily improve the appearance of your skin, but in the long run it will over-dry, and cause your skin to produce excess oil, exacerbating your problem. Toothpaste, may dry out a blemish, however it may also irritate broken out skin. It is certainly not a substitute for proper treatment. And, although some people have foods that will trigger a breakout, there is no evidence that chocolate, greasy foods, or any other food causes this disease.

Being able to separate the facts from myths will help you better manage your condition, and help you avoid doing things to make it worse.