Little will worry a parent more than seeing their newborn suffering with a skin condition such as baby acne. However, before we can begin to treat this skin condition we need to learn a little more about it. What causes baby acne? Is it dangerous? Will it permanently scar my baby’s delicate skin?

First and foremost, remain calm. Your baby will not react well to a frantic parent!

Baby acne is a common occurrence and as many as 1 in 5 new born babies acquire it during the first few months of their lives. There are two varieties of baby acne.

Acne on a newborn baby between 1 and 4 weeks old is known as neonatal acne. Acne that affects infants between the age of 2 and 18 months is called infantile acne.

Baby acne is usually found on your baby’s cheeks, chin, forehead and sometimes on the back. It presents itself as small pimples surrounded by a ring of pinkish skin. You may notice that the symptoms worsen during prolonged bouts of crying or when your child is overly warm and clammy.

Baby Acne Or Rash?

Baby acne is commonly confused with rashes and other more serious skin conditions. One way to determine whether your child is suffering from a rash such as milia is to examine the location. Baby acne only affects your baby’s face so finding pimples elsewhere will generally suggest it isn’t acne.

Crusting is another factor to watch for as mild eczema is known to ooze, crust over and flake off usually resulting in considerable discomfort.

Baby Acne Treatments

Unlike other, more serious skin conditions, leaving a mild case of baby acne is the best form of treatment. Your baby’s skin is incredibly sensitive and cleansing too vigorously will do more harm than good and could lead to further irritations. Aside from the cosmetic appearance, moderate baby acne is completely harmless to your child’s wellbeing.

In extreme cases or when you are advised by a qualified doctor you may be required to apply topical medications and ointments. Please adhere strictly to the doctors specifications as these medicines are often harsh when liberally applied.

Baby Acne Remedies and Prevention

Preventing the onset of baby acne is a surprisingly simple procedure. Firstly, cleanse your baby’s skin twice daily with a fragrance free cleanser using a soft cloth and warm water. Again, be careful not to rub the skin too vigorously.

It is a common misconception that any acne outbreak on your infant’s skin should be treated with over the counter medications and specialized ointments. This of course is a fallacy, the best remedy for a baby acne outbreak is time and patience.

Stick to the guidelines above and your bouncing bundle of joy will be back to her smiley self before you’re able to pull a face and make gurgling noises!

Baby acne on the face and back of your new born isn’t a cause for concern.

Baby Acne is a post from: Acne Online

If you are plagued with acne, it is best to find out what’s behind it, so that you can find a meaningful and lasting solution to it. In trying to get information on the causes of acne and the possible treatments, you need to be more cautious about where you go and what information you get there, so that you will not be confused or misled.

You may have long been wondering what causes acne and probably have not been able to find any meaningful solution to this big puzzle. Well, here’s the true revelation of the cause of this skin ailment. Acne is a disorder of the pilosebaceous unit; this unit comprises of the hair follicle, the hair and the sebaceous gland. Apart from few parts of the body, the components of the pilosebaceous unit are found at every other part of the body. The exceptions are the soles of the feet, the palms, the lower lip and the top of the feet.

The pilosebaceous unit components are more on certain parts of the body than others; those parts are the face, the chest and the upper neck. The substance that is responsible for the moisturizing of the skin and hair is produced by the sebaceous glands; this substance is known as sebum. The sebaceous gland gets larger in adolescence, thereby producing more sebum. The production of more sebum by the sebaceous gland during adolescence is greatly influenced by certain hormones known as the androgens. However, the production of sebum gets smaller again after the teenage years. So, how does acne develop from the processes decried?

The Reality about Cause of Acne

Acne is not caused by a single factor; there are many factors that influence the birth of this skin condition. The sad part of it all is that most of these factors are beyond your control. As noted earlier, the rate of sebum production is impacted by hormone balance which varies constantly. There’s also the role of genetics in the development of acne and its resistant to certain treatments. In essence, your family history can also be pointed at when asking how this skin condition came to be. Acne is traceable to some major factors which include;

Causes of Acne #1 : Hormones

Most people who have acne can have their problems traced to puberty years, the period in which the androgens hormones are produced. The enlargement of the sebaceous glands by the androgens is something that occurs naturally. However, there is overstimulation of the sebaceous gland by androgens in those plagued with acne. In some individuals, this overstimulation extends to their adulthood.

Causes of Acne #2 : Follicle Shedding

Naturally, the dead cells found within the follicle falls out slowly onto the surface of the skin. However, the sebaceous glands are overactive in certain individuals and almost in every person during puberty. This results in an increased shedding of the dead cells. When the dead skin cell combines with excess of sebum, a plug is formed in the follicle, interrupting the completion of the skin’s natural renewal process. This is also one of the major cause of acne.

Causes of Acne #3 : Improper Washing of the Skin

Apart from the causes of acne that are beyond your control here are some more which you can avoid. To get rid of acne, you have to clean your skin. To make acne a whole lot worse, wash it the wrong way. Most people who have acne are very determined to “clear up” their skin. They rub harsh cleansers on their skin, making sure they foam, then they rub the skin with a hot washcloth -usually the same one they used the day before- and rub the skin dry with a towel. The problem with this approach is that heavy-duty skin cleansers lift tiny flakes of dead skin without completely removing them. The flakes can lodge over pores, tracking acne bacteria and the skin’s lubricating oil, sebum, inside. The bacteria consume the sebum and emit peroxides as a waste product, but this stinging, burning, reddening peroxides cannot escape because the pore is blocked.

Drying acne-affected skin by rubbing it with a towel is one of the major causes of acne. The towel positions dry flakes of skin over pores as it spreads acne bacteria where they have not gone before. Dirty towels, of course, spread even more bacteria and dead skin cells, making improper washing a major cause of acne. A better approach is to use a gentle cleanser (it does not necessarily have to foam) by applying it lightly with the fingertips to areas of skin where acne has broken out. Allow the cleanser to set on the skin, and then remove with lukewarm (not cold and not hot) water. Cold water tightens pores trapping debris inside; hot water causes skin to flake. Then pat skin dry with a clean towel you use only once before laundering.

Causes of Acne #4 : Drying Out the Skin

Next to improper washing, nothing causes more acne breakouts than attempts to dry out the skin. The conventional wisdom is that since acne has to do with oil trapped in pores, getting oil out of the skin will prevent it. The problem with this reasoning is that drying out the skin makes it tight and inflexible, trapping oil in pores! Drying out the skin actually makes acne worse, and it has the side effect of creating wrinkles. Instead of drying out the skin, moisturize it. The skin needs moisture to stay supple and flexible. Supple skin allows pores to stay open so they can drain sebum, which can then be washed away twice a day with a gentle cleanser applied with warm water.

Causes of Acne #5 : Covering Up Acne the Wrong Way

If you have a great big zit, it’s natural to want to hide it. The thing to remember is that before you cover up acne with concealer, you need to make sure your skin is both clean and exfoliated. Exfoliation is nothing more than removing dead skin cells. You can do this with a commercial skin peeler, or you can use any facial pack you make at home. It is important to remove dead, dry skin so it does not get trapped over pores when you use makeup. If you use makeup, apply your base makeup with clean fingertips in gentle, long strokes covering your entire face evenly. Then cover up red spots with green concealer. Since green pimples are even less attractive than red, next apply concealer in your flesh tone over your entire face. It’s important to choose the right flesh tone for your concealer to look natural. It’s also important to spread it evenly rather than to slap in on. But it is critical that you clean your face twice a day and exfoliate about once a week to prevent your concealer from actually making your acne worse.

In addition to the factors listed above, a particular bacteria called Propionibacterium acnes, is also known as a cause of acne. Now that you know the cause(s) of acne, it will be much easier to know what treatments to seek.

Causes of Acne is a post from: Acne Online

Chances are you have heard the old advice that the chief foods that cause acne are chocolate and nuts. There really are foods that cause acne, but chocolate and nuts are not among them. Here are three food groups that cause skin to break out in new acne flares. It would however, be a mistake to think that you can cure acne by simply cutting out acne causing foods; you need to take a holistic approach to resolve the condition. It is, however, the first step in the right direction.

Four Groups of Foods that Cause Acne

Foods that Cause Acne #1

Seafood, such as shrimp, oysters, lobster, and crab, and sea vegetables, such as nori, dulse, and kelp, are all rich in iodine, an essential nutrition which in excess can cause skin to break out or interfere with acne treatment. Spinach is also high in iodine.

Foods that Cause Acne #2

Trans-fats have only recently been recognized as a source of the inflammation that causes acne. Many food manufacturers and fast food chains are removing trans-fats from their products, but these sources of acne irritants are still abundant in:

• Chocolate-chip cookies made with cottonseed and/or soybean oil, the problem ingredient being the cottonseed oil or soybean oil, not the chocolate.
• Chocolate cookies with crème fillings, the problem being the filling.
• Commercial taco shells.
• Glazed doughnuts, which are made with a different kind of shortening so the cake will not get soft under the glaze.
• Margarine, except for stanol (cholesterol-lowering) margarines.
• Milk chocolate coated cookie bars with caramel.
• Popcorn made with soybean oil.
• Potato chips fried in a mixture of oils (but not potato chips fried in just one kind of oil).
• Shortening, especially if it is made with soybean oil (which has 28 times the trans-fatty acid content of lard).
• Snack crackers made with cottonseed oil, refined coconut oil, or soybean oil.

These foods are actually worse for your skin than lard, butter, hot dogs, and tortilla chips, although you should not overindulge in these foods, either.

Foods that Cause Acne #3

Omega-6 fatty acids are used by the body to make the hormones that cause inflammation, redness, and irritation. Some pro-inflammatory hormones, of course, are necessary to fight infections and to heal tissues after injury, but too many pro-inflammatory hormones make acne worse. Foods that are rich in omega-6 are among the foods that cause acne, some of them are:

• Bacon.
• Bologna, no matter what kind of meat is used to make it, even if it is low-fat.
• Ham.
• Most fast food sandwiches, but especially cheeseburgers.

• Pie crust.
• Pork sausage patties.

And if you happen to live in the Arctic North, you should also avoid dried seal meat and fresh whale blubber, which are nature’s richest sources of n-6 essential fatty acids.

Foods that Cause Acne #4

Foods that the body rapidly converts to sugar also aggravate acne, by accelerating the conversion of n-6 fatty acids into pro-inflammatory hormones. A few of the most common high glycemic-index foods are:

• Bagels.
• Bread.
• Candy.
• Cake.
• Cookies.
• Cereals (except steel-cut oatmeal or quinoa).
• Corn bread, corn muffins.
• Crackers.
• Croissants.
• Doughnuts.
• French fries.
• Fruit juice, although fresh fruit is OK.
• Granola.
• Ice cream, gelato, ice milk.
• Jams, jelly, and preserves.
• Molasses
• Muffins of all kinds.
• Noodles except those made with spinach or zucchini (use zucchini in place of pasta in lasagna).
• Pancakes and pancake syrup.
• Pita bread
• Pizza (thin crust is a better choice).
• Pasta (unless made with semolina).
• Popcorn.
• Potatoes, especially instant.
• Pudding and pudding pops
• Relish.
• Rice (white but not brown).
• Sherbet.
• Soft drinks.
• Sugar.
• Taco shells.
• Tortillas, although corn tortillas (not chips!) are slightly healthier than flour tortillas.
• Waffles and waffle syrup.

It is not necessary completely to avoid these foods that caues acne, but limit yourself to one or two servings in any four-hour period. And if what chocolate and nuts cause your skin to break out? In all probability, the skin flares occurring after eating these foods is due to the reactivation of a viral infection, rather than acne. Chocolate, nuts, and also pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, roast beef, peanut butter, tofu, and whitefish are all potent sources of the amino acid arginine. Viruses that cause skin inflammation, especially the viruses that cause cold sores, are more active when there is a sudden increase of arginine in the diet. Eating foods that are high in lysine, such turkey, lamb, Parmesan cheese, and spirulina, reverses the effect.

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Foods that Cause Acne is a post from: Acne Online