Stress & breakouts

shorty35565

Does anyone else's face breakout when they're stressed?
What do you use for it?
Currently I'm using Clearasil ultra rapid action daily face wash, but it doesn't seem to be preventing.

Mharren

Acne breakouts can happen at stressful times due to hormonal changes that increase the secretion of sebum from the pores, clogging them and causing pus to accumulate. It can also happen when the normal bacteria that lives on your skin gets out of hand and over-colonizes, leading to infection.

Most over-the-counter acne cleansers contain little or no actual medicinal ingredients and are often loaded with glycerol and alcohols which account for that 'tight' feeling some people get after using them. Alcohol also wipes out the normal bacteria on your skin, allowing not-so healthy bacteria to colonize there instead, or bacteria that can cause infection that was already there and was resistant to the alcohol to colonize.

Your skin is kind of like prime real-estate for microorganisms and when you kick off the ones that live there normally, the big baddies take-over.

My specialty is not in dermatology but I generally don't recommend using these facial cleansers at all. Over 'sterilization' of your skin can throw the microorganism 'neighborhood' there way out of whack and repeated attempts to fix it can just cause a looping effect which leaves you vulnerable to infection and inflammation when your are stressed you and your immune system is down.

A lot of teens come in and ask about this and if the blemishes appear to be widespread or severe they get referred to a dermatologist who usually puts them on a systemic antibiotic, usually tetracycline. There is also the cases where the infection we're looking at is a Staphlococcus sp. infection. Roughly 1 of 3 people carry Staph species on and in them that are capable of tissue degradations (including necrotizing fascitis, or flesh eating disease). If this is the case, repeated exposure to any cleansers that do have antibiotic ingredients can lead to antibiotic resistance in the culprit bacteria.

If this is a cleanser you use on regular basis you might consider stopping its use when your not having an outbreak, and only applying the cleanser when you are having one. We don't wash an unscraped knee with bactine on a daily basis, thus there is no reason to wash a clear face with a cleanser that has antimicrobial ingredients (like alcohol) unless there is microbes to be removed.

That being said, some people find rotating cleansers helpful. We do this with antibiotics as well in people who require frequent treatment with them. Generally the cosmeticians that can be found in pharmacy make-up areas are quite knowledgeable about appropriate cleansers for frequent and non-frequent use, as well as rotating methods.

Best of Luck,
- Mharren

RhineDHP

I usually only get breakouts during that time of the month. I just bear with it. The facial cleanser I use is this grainy apricot scrub....I think St Ivens? Or something that starts with an S. It leaves my skin so smooth. Afterwards I use this Freeman face mask that dries out and peels off, which makes it super soft. Best of luck!