Why am I the only one with acne?

What do bangs have to do with acne?

Everyone’s skin in different. Plenty of people suffer with acne. See a dermatologist for the most effective treatment.

General tips for healthy skin is washing it with oil-free facial cleanser daily, avoid touching your face, use either oil free make-up or none at all, never sleep in make-up, and continue your healthy eating and exercising.

@kimchi Since I’ve been a teenager I’ve used a Buff Puff and Nutrugena Soap. It kept my skin good all the time.

Do you take any supplements or any protein drinks etc. to increase your muscle mass? Increases in certain hormones can lead to acne. Do you get your periods regularly?

It’s very common to have acne, especially as a teenager. Is your acne mostly on your forehead? Do you get it on your cheeks and chin as well?

I’ve heard that putting a clean towel across your pillow every night will clear acne up like a charm. Can’t vouch for it personally.

@livelaughlove21 Supposedly oils from hair can contribute to acne.

As for why you’re the only one – well, you just got lucky in the body chemistry department, I suppose! As I recall, though, you’re pretty young. These things tend to get better within a few years.

It’s hormones and things out of your control that affect your skin too, unfortunately. Not just the variables you control like diet or the fact that you exercise. All you can do also is keep your skin clean, not sleep with makeup on, not having bangs does help too because the oil from your hair can make your forehead breakout worse than without them…I’ve had bangs on and off forever and have always noticed the difference. Anyhow…yeah. Good luck. It won’t last forever, probably not even very long.

Thank ya, thank ya! Oh and also, hair “collects” or has oil. Having hair in front of your face makes the oil go to your forehead, which turns into acne.

I had pretty bad acne when I was a teen. I tried all the expensive soaps and nothing really worked.

Funny thing is what did work was a super-hot washcloth every couple hours on my face.

Mine was bad enough that my HS GF was getting pissed that she was getting acne from making out with me. Hot cloth every few hours did the trick. Soaps just clog up your pores.

Edit:: And obviously you should use a freshly laundered cloth each time.

You didn’t answer my questions, but I’ll go ahead and expand my answer. If you touch your face a lot it could be giving you or contributing to your acne. If you talk on the phone a lot that can give you acne where the phone touches, cheek and chin. The ways to help that is don’t touch your face unless your hands were just washed, clean your phone often, and after using your phone if you feel a new acne coming on put some alcohol on it as soon as you feel it, and then once more several hours later. Use moiisturizer on those areas though. It isn’t the drying out from the alohol it is the killing of bacteria. Oh, if you have a boyfriend ot girlfriend and they touch your face that counts.

Also, do not share make-up with anyone. Don’t keep foundation or blush more than a year. Clean your make-up sponges and brushes.

For girls if you are causing your testosterone to rise, or some other more male associated hormones it can give you acne.

I had acne all the way up to my adult years. They went away only when I stopped drinking milk and stopped eating other lactose containing foods (cheese, yogurt, milk containing sweets such as chocolate, etc.).

Achne is caused by grease in or around the area you have the achne at ..The best way to get rid of it from popping up is just was that area very thouroughly

What kind of exercise?

Curious because I had a pretty bad acne problem into my 20s, and it just disappeared when I started doing cardio exercises (I was literally completely soaking my shirt at the gym daily). I have no explanation as to why that helped. Or maybe it’s a coincidence, but I don’t think so.

I had mlld acne as a teen and very oily skin, which I despaired about.

But as I matured, and ahem aged, that held me in very good stead. I have almost no wrinkles and still, to my delight, get an occasional small pimple.

Here are some straightforward home treatments and techniques

Here are causes and non-causes of acne

Touching your face with your hands or a phone is not a contributing factor.

“Probably the most useful lifestyle changes you can make are to apply hot compresses to pustules and cysts, to get facials (see below), and never to pick or squeeze pimples. ”

@gailcalled For you. The only time I get acne is on my chin when I have used a phone or my husband has touched it (which I try not to let him do, I don’t know why he insists on it). We have no idea how much acne the OP has or how all over her acne is. She could be fretting over 2 pimples, or have a whole face of acne. I have seen girls with lines of acne from their ear angled across their cheek towards their mouth. My sister had very bad acne and I would agree hers was much more than a phone causing her problems.

@JLeslie: Read the medical literature. I am the reporter only.

@gailcalled How about a link to support your claim? Here is one from me http://www.wellandgoodnyc.com/2012/03/15/is-your-phone-making-you-break-out/ and my personal experience is I don’t get acne much at all, never have, except when I spend time on the phone and don’t follow up with washing my face or putting a little alcohol on the area. I just told my own experience, the OP can try it or not. If she talks a lot on the phone she can start using a speakerphone or blue tooth and see if her acne goes down. If her acne is on her forehead then probably my suggestion does not apply to her. So? Why not just give your answer and leave me alone or not state it as a fact that I am wrong, but rather your opinion I am wrong. And, you always challenge me to back up my claims with some data, so now it is your turn. And, I thought I have asked you many many times to leave me alone, I am pretty sure a mod has also at this point. And, I have no desire to say this in PM, because I want people to know that I am tired of it and have taken action and you don’t care. I enjoy a good argument, I have no problem being corrected, but you don’t argue often with me, you just go after me like I am some sort of idiot or something.

Another one http://www.balanceyourskin.com/insight/can-my-cellphone-cause-acne/

Easy guys. Life is short. Be civil to each other.

I get acne on my genitals depending what kind of detergent I use. Different people’s skins seem to react in different ways.

There’s a genetic component to acne – affecting the degree of oiliness of your skin, testosterone levels (male and female) that play a role, and probably a whole host of other individual details, e.g. skin flora, that you have no control over. I was a real pizza-face & so was my son. Severe acne also runs in my wife’s family. You can’t change your genes, but you can (do as I say, not as I did):

* Wash your face a million times a day. Embrace your inner OCD lol.

* Try various mainstream acne products (among those known to work)

* Get a magnifying mirror & budget a couple minutes a day for squeezing blackheads, little black dots (comedones) before they turn ugly. It hurts but goes to the root of the problem.

* Avoid excessively touching your face with your hands, such as the habit of resting your chin in your palm, etc. – often done unconsciously – or else wash your hands a million times a day, too. Similar to the bangs-forehead connection.

* Read up on acne vulgaris at .edu, .org, or .gov sites that have patient-oriented articles (use google to filter out dot-coms).

* See a dermatologist. Not an option for many people. In my day (the 60s) the dermatologist could do little more than squeeze a few blackheads & lecture me. For my son, however, there was Accutane. We saw a dermatologist in his teen years in the late 90s; one course of the expensive pills effected a near-miraculous cure. I wonder if it would have worked for me?

Btw, @kimchi, surely you are not literally “the only one with acne,” even if yours may be one of the worst cases. Keep in mind that being self-conscious will enhance your sense of how your skin compares with others. Acne is very common among a certain age group, but even if you were the only one with some skin disease, would/should people think badly of you for it? So you have acne. Do what you can & move on.

@gasman: Accutane can have some serious side-effects for some people; I would not let my son take it, because I suspect he’d be a high-risk for them. I just strongly suggest that people do research before taking medications. I like that you recommend filtering out the .com web addresses.

I had moderate acne in my teens and still – in my late 40s – get breakouts. There are many factors that can cause pimples, and there are different kinds of pimples—that’s why it’s best to have a dermatologist examine your particular condition.

There’s also a lot of conflicting information out there regarding exfoliation techniques, if or when to pick at or pop blackheads and pimples, whether one can over-cleanse the skin (causing it to produce more oil as a defense), etc.

From my own experience and my son, I find the biggest cause is genetics. Then it helps to find what works best for your own skin… e.g. frequent gentle cleansing because what works well for some might exacerbate others’ condition. Before spending a lot of money on products out there (and there are tons if products and systems that will gladly take your money), research them… including reviews from real users on sites like drugstore.com or amazon.com – when I look at user reviews, I consider the person’s self description to determine if their skin traits are similar to mine, as well as considering the overall ratings.

Good luck!

Seconding @hearkat‘s hesitance about Accutane. No acne is bad enough to warrant the risks you face when you take that medication.

Just to chime in about accutane, I know many people who finally had success when they finally took accutane. Only one of them had what they consider to be very negative side effects from the medication. She can’t be 100% sure her problems are from accutane, but I tend to think there is a good chance she is rght. Everyone else is very grateful for that medication. I think accutane is a last resort after trying many things and after the person gets through the worst of the puberty hormonal changes. Also, if there is any indication of hormonal abnormalities I think that should be addressed first. Not menstruating regularly, diabetes, high testosterone, any of those plus others can be underlying causes, while accutane only treats symptoms.

I have read there is a genetic component, I think they may have narrowed it down to certain genes, I really am not sure. Interestingly my sister is the only person in my entire extended family that I know of who had acne problems. But, my family is very small, so we don’t get to see every genetic problem play out necessarily. My sister lived with a nonrelated girl from ages 14–16 and that girl had bad acne too. We always found it curious. That girl did steal/use my sisters make-up and other things. But, my sister’s acne continued well on into adulthood, and was not jus a simple pimple here and there, so unless there is some sort of permanent transfer of bad bacterias, it doesn’t make sense she would “catch” acne. Although, maybe it is similar to catching cavativies in teeth?