Skin Care Expert, Renée Rouleau Shares 11 Causes for Acne Blemishes

As a skin care expert and celebrity esthetician for over 20 years, I hear comments often. My teenage years are long gone. Why do I still get blemishes? Due to hormonal fluctuation carried over from your teenage years, it’s not uncommon to get acne breakouts into your 20’s. But as you move from your late 20’s to beyond, you would think that your days of breaking out are behind you.  As many of you know, this is NOT the case.

Since the breakouts are few and far between, it’s normal to question why you’ll have perfectly clear skin for weeks and then one day a blemish will form. Is it from stress? Is it from not washing your face? Is it diet related? PMS? The answer is not an easy one but  if you still get occasional acne blemishes, ask yourself these questions:

-Cause for acne blemishes #1…

Do you touch your face a lot?
This may come as a surprise, but subconsciously touching your face all day makes it quickly become the dirtiest part of your body.  While it’s important to wash your skin every night, it’s much better to try to prevent your hands from touching your face unnecessarily.

Skin Tip: Keep your hands occupied. Get any kind of toy or gadget that you can play with in your hands at times when you are most likely to be touching your skin. This will help tremendously. Check out my No Picking! Twisty Toy. This is great and fun to fidget with to keep your hands busy.

Read: Are You Guilty of Picking at Your Skin?

-Cause for acne blemishes #2

Have you been eating more dairy than normal lately?
When you develop cystic breakouts (those hard, painful, underground blemishes that linger for weeks) on the chin, jaw line and neck area, it might be a sign that you’re getting more dairy in your diet than your body can tolerate. Your skin acts as an excretory system to get rid of things that your body is not in agreement with, so when you get too much dairy, it is by nature harder to digest and can come out in the form of cystic blemishes in the lower area of the face.

Skin Tip: The best way to determine if your acne cysts are directly related to your intake of dairy is to completely cut dairy out of your diet for two weeks. If you don’t develop any new cysts and you normally would have by now, then this might solve your problem! It doesn’t mean that you cannot eat any dairy at all.  Slowly introduce dairy back into your diet, and the point you start breaking out again is your body’s tolerance level.  Our Anti-Cyst Treatment works very well as a spot treatment for cystic acne, or, read your three options for reducing cystic acne. (Read Get control of cystic acne—before it scars your skin.)

Which skin care products are right for you? See our nine skin types and get products recommended.

-Cause for acne blemishes #3

Have you been under tremendous stress?
Aside from my experience confirming this is true, the Stanford University School of Medicine conducted one such study in 2002. It was a small study that involved students suffering from acne. The college professors involved in the study conclusively proved that the exam stress worsened acne in these students. According to researchers, their findings indicated “Subjects who had the greatest increases in stress during examination periods also had the greatest exacerbation in acne severity”.
Stress not only affects acne flare-up.  In general, it worsens the overall skin condition. It induces the adrenal glands into overproduction of cortisol, a steroid, which in turn makes sebaceous glands produce more oil and make skin extra oily. Thus the reason why in stressful periods, people experiencing an increase in acne get more inflamed, puss-filled papules than simple whiteheads or blackheads.

Skin Tip:
The easiest solution to reducing stress is to get 7-8 hours of sleep every night. (Read: 10 Nighttime Skin Care Tips)

-Cause for acne blemishes #4

Do you not wash your skin at night?
Oil on the skin makes for a breeding ground of bacteria, and bacteria will cause blemishes. Sleeping with not only your makeup on, but also the addition of oil, dirt and debris that has built up on the skin during the day, can absolutely trigger new blemishes.

Skin Tip:
The #1 reason why someone won’t wash his or her face at night is out of exhaustion. I certainly understand the discipline and effort it requires to perform your nighttime skin care routine, especially when you’re exhausted. But, you really must do it. It’s that simple.

Read five reasons to wash your face before you go to bed

-Cause for acne blemishes #5

Have you started using new skin care products?
When your skin is introduced to new products, sometimes you might get some initial blemish purging, especially if the products are giving your skin more exfoliation than normal. If it continues on more than two weeks, then they may not be a good fit for your skin.

Skin Tip:
When introducing new products to your skin, it’s always recommended to use one product for 3-4 days before adding in a second one. If your skin is reacting negatively, you’ll be able to determine which product you should discontinue.  Get products recommended for your skin type by choosing one of our nine skin types.

Read: Tips for introducing your skin to new products.

-Cause for acne blemishes #6

Are you about to start your menstrual cycle?
Many women can experience a surge of blemishes at the start of their monthly cycle. This is completely normal, but can be very frustrating.

Skin Tip: Taking Vitamin B-6 daily one week prior to your cycle will help regulate hormonal imbalances, which can lead to breakout. Calcium-magnesium supplements can also help when taken during this time. It’s also advisable to use an antibacterial cleanser such as our AHA/BHA Cleansing Gel during the time when you know that you’ll get blemishes.

-Cause for acne blemishes #7

Are you peri-menopausal or going through menopause?
Hormones are chemical messengers, created by our bodies to regulate everything from metabolism to cell growth to reproductive cycles and mood. When they fluctuate, they can trigger weight gain, depression, sleeplessness and fatigue in addition to adult acne and breakouts. A common sign for hormonal imbalances is when your monthly cycle is inconsistent and sporadic, or has recently stopped.

Skin Tip: It’s advised to check with your physician to see if they have any recommendations to treat the imbalance internally.

-Cause for acne blemishes #8

Have you flown on a plane recently in the last three days?
I can attest to this one. Flying on an airplane absolutely throws my skin out of whack. The cabins of airplanes have extremely low humidity, which cause the skin to get extremely dehydrated (lack of water). The dry air looks for moisture where it can get it and that means robbing it right from your skin! The dehydrated cells cause a buildup, which can trap oil underneath the skin resulting in post-flight breakouts.

Skin Tip:
Read skin care tips for airplane travelers.

-Cause for acne blemishes #9

Have the weather temperatures been fluctuating from day to day?
When the season is changing and the weather is warm one day and cold the next, it can wreak havoc on the skin, leaving it confused, unbalanced, and prone to blemishes.

Skin Tip:
This is a time to adjust your skin care routine slightly, not go for a major overhaul. Many people feel like they need to switch their entire routine to acne products, but that’s over-compensating and will only leave your skin dried out and irritated. A great way to address the sudden breakouts is to temporarily switch to products using Salicylic Acid like our AHA/BHA Cleansing Gel.

Read more about how changes in weather can affect the skin.

-Cause for acne blemishes #10

Have you started taking a new medication?
Every drug will affect the body differently, but generally speaking, medications and drug use can cause stress on the nervous system, which elevates hormones (adrenals). This will contribute to the wear and tear of connective tissue resulting in flaccid, loose, sagging skin as well as increased blemishes.

Skin Tip:
Consult with your physician.

-Cause for acne blemishes #11

Have you recently introduced the use of the Clarisonic brush?
Electric brushes such as the Clarisonic can be too stimulating on the skin for some people, resulting in breakouts. For many, the exfoliation benefit it provides can actually help lessen breakouts, but I know for me personally, it caused my skin to get more blemishes.

Skin Tip:
If you suspect it may be causing you more blemishes, try discontinuing the brush or use it less often to see if blemishes lessen. Read: Skin care expert, Renée Rouleau reviews the Clarisonic brush.

So there you have it. Eleven possible causes for acne breakouts, pimples and blemishes. There are more than eleven causes, but these are the most common.

See our collection of spot treatments for blemishes.

Do you have whiteheads, blackheads, pustules, milia or cysts? All blemishes are not equal. Read the different types of breakouts and how to treat them accordingly.

Which skin care products are right for you? See our nine skin types and get products recommended.

For expert skin advice, check out Skin Source–the A-Z guide on all things skin. Also sign up here for our skin tip e-newsletter, follow Renée Rouleau on Twitter and like our Facebook page. You’ll be your own skin care expert in no time!

Content Copyright © 2012, Renée Rouleau, Inc

PERMISSION TO REPRINT: You may use any items from this article in your print, blog, magazine or electronic newsletter. But in order to do so, you must include the following paragraph including a link to www.ReneeRouleau.com.

Information courtesy of www.ReneeRouleau.com, a website with skin care tips, products based on nine skin types and advice from skin care expert and celebrity esthetician, Renée Rouleau.