Chocolate causes pimples and other acne myths busted

Despite being one of the most common inflammatory skin conditions in the world, acne is still very misunderstood.

The experts at Lamelle Research Laboratories have set the record straight on some common acne myths.

Myth 1: Only teenagers get acne

It would be great if acne was a problem you could simply outgrow, but this isn’t the case for everyone.

Four main triggers contribute to acne:

• Skin that doesn’t naturally exfoliate the way it should, leading to a build-up of dead skin cells that can clog the pores.
• An excess of oil that also gets trapped in pores, causing infection and inflammation.

These triggers can affect both adults and teens, but it’s true that teens are often most affected. This is due to their body’s creating more androgens during puberty, a hormone that can increase the production of oil.

Myth 2: Chocolate causes pimples

Chocoholics, you can breathe a sigh of relief.

The idea that your favourite chocolate bar could be the baddie behind your breakout has persisted for decades, so much so that multiple studies have been performed to find out.

The conclusion is now an extremely mixed bag, with some saying that yes, eating chocolate could worsen acne, and others saying it had no effect.

What we do know, however, is that some research has found a correlation between low zinc levels and acne. To be clear, this doesn’t mean that acne is a sign of a zinc deficiency, but it does mean that, if you have acne, you’re more likely to not be getting enough zinc.

Interestingly, the zinc-acne connection makes sense, because zinc helps regulate our immune cell response in a way that helps control inflammation, one of the big triggers for a breakout.

Myth 3: You can scrub your way to clear skin

Yes, a pimple is the result of a blocked pore, but the idea that you can “empty” these with a scrub is misguided.

In fact, harsh, grainy scrubs are one of the worst things you can do to treat a breakout. More often than not, the particle is too big to get inside the pore and, worse yet, the friction will irritate your already inflamed skin, causing it to get even angrier.

So, while acne sufferers will definitely want to up their exfoliation, they need to choose their weapons wisely.

In this case, gentle chemical exfoliators will do a much better job of gently ridding your skin of the excess skin cells that can clog up your pores.

ALSO READ: Beauty dilemma! Do I need sunscreen or sunblock?

Myth 4: Getting a tan will help clear up my skin

Yes, getting a tan may help to temporarily minimise the look of redness associated with acne and at first, it might feel like it’s helping to dry it up.

Alas, all you’re doing is dehydrating and burning your skin, causing it to produce even more oil and become inflamed.

And guess what that leads to? Yep, a worsening of acne.

If you want a golden glow, you might be better off using a self-tanning product.

But something all acne sufferers definitely need in their artillery is a good sunscreen, especially since many of the active ingredients proven to help clear up acne, things like exfoliating acids and retinoids, will increase their skin’s sensitivity to the sun.

Also, it’s not true that sunscreen will make acne worse – you just have to find one that’s lightweight and non-greasy.

The bottom line

Ultimately, the more you know about what really causes acne, the better equipped you’ll be to treat it.