The onset of acne is related to a variety of factors such as emotion, diet, psychological state, infection, endocrine and metabolism. Therefore, comprehensive care from psychological, dietary and daily life aspects can prevent the occurrence of acne, improve the clinical efficacy of acne, and reduce the complications of acne.
I. Psychological care
Acne occurs on the face and has a variety of lesions, thus seriously affecting beauty. After the disease, patients are psychologically overburdened and may have anxiety and depression. Therefore, it is important for patients with a heavy psychological burden to provide patient explanations and positive encouragement for the treatment of acne. Patients should maintain optimism and confidence in the treatment, so that they can actively cooperate with the treatment to achieve the best treatment effect. Wang Daguang, Department of Dermatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University
II. Dietary care
Studies have shown that the occurrence of acne is related to excessive consumption of fatty, sweet and spicy stimulating foods. Therefore, acne patients should pay attention to their daily diet and appropriately limit the intake of oily, spicy, sweet and other foods. Foods that need to be restricted are.
① High-fat foods and waxy foods, such as fatty meats, cheese, sausages, milk, bacon, fried foods, chocolate, etc..
② High-sugar foods, such as candy, bread, sweet snacks, etc.; ③ Heterogeneous proteins, such as fish, shrimp, aquatic shells, etc. A spicy diet can also aggravate acne, so alcohol (especially white wine) and chili peppers should be prohibited, and adjuvants such as: pepper and mustard should be used sparingly.
In addition, the following food choices are beneficial to the recovery of acne.
①Foods that improve microcirculation, such as hawthorn, banana, honey, malt, black fungus, etc. ;
②Foods that enhance skin resistance such as animal liver, peanuts, lilies, coix seeds, etc;
③ high vitamin foods that inhibit skin oiling such as various types of fresh juices, radish, tomato, cucumber, celery and other vegetables;
④ Food with anti-infection power such as winter melon, loofah, mung beans, adzuki beans, grapes, etc.
Three, daily care
The harmful substances in the skin lesions can be squeezed into the surrounding tissues to induce and aggravate inflammation. Squeeze the skin lesions in the danger triangle, bacteria can also be retrograde to the brain through the cavernous sinus leading to intracranial infection.
2. Prevent constipation and keep the stool open. Dry stool can promote and aggravate the occurrence of acne. Therefore, keeping the stool open is conducive to the fading of acne.
3. Maintain emotional stability and get enough sleep Adequate sleep and good mood can improve the immunity of the body, which helps acne improve and recover.
4.Other Patients with acne should use cosmetics selectively. Avoid using oily cosmetics to avoid clogging pores and aggravating acne. Avoid mistakenly applying some hair care products such as hair oil, hairspray, mousse, etc. to the face to induce acne. In hot and humid seasons or environments, you should try to reduce the amount of sweat gland secretion to relieve acne. Patients with acne should also protect themselves from the sun.
Fourth, skin cleansing
Skin cleansing is an important part of acne care because reasonable skin cleansing can play a good supporting role in the treatment of acne. On the contrary, wrong care not only aggravates acne, but is likely to be the main cause of acne development. Patients with acne should wash their faces with lukewarm water, not too often, and choose a reasonable skin cleanser. The choice of skin cleanser is crucial. On the one hand, it can remove scales, sweat and excess sebum from the skin surface, but on the other hand, improper use of cleansers can trigger “cosmetic acne. The ideal cleanser should be a mild product that does not cause blackheads and acne, and is non-irritating and non-sensitizing. It not only removes excessive sebum secretion, but also inhibits the growth of bacteria on the skin surface and does not cause disruption of the normal flora.
Liu Xiaoyan et al. showed that cleansing and bathing with cleansers can treat or reduce mild to moderate acne in adolescents. They chose Shu Shu Jia soap for facial cleansing, 2 times/d, and Shu Shu Jia bath, 1 time/d, (provided by Procter & Gamble), and observed 150 patients, 100 in the cleansing group and 50 in the bath group, and evaluated the efficacy at 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks after application, respectively. The evaluation method used to score the degree of seborrhea and skin lesions, and then obtained the symptom score, and the efficacy was evaluated by calculating the symptom score decrease index: cured: score decrease >90%; effective: score decrease 60-89%; effective: score decrease 20-59%; ineffective: score decrease <20%. The test results showed that 89% of the facial cleansing group obtained more than significant effect, of which 14% were cured; 92% of the bath group obtained more than significant effect, of which 24% were cured.
The mechanism of action of the soap and bath includes a mild and non-irritating cleansing action; a long-lasting anti-bacterial and anti-bacterial action; and a strong and long-lasting moisturizing action, making it suitable for acne patients’ skin cleansing. Its degreasing function is the same as that of other soaps, containing surface activators with hydrophobic and hydrophilic components that dissolve oil. Skin Care soap is richly lathered and has a physical decontamination effect. Skin Care contains Diabolic, which is actually a tiny particle that does not tolerate water and forms a storage layer on the surface of the skin after use, which destroys the cell membranes of bacteria and inhibits the absorption of nutrients by bacteria, thus having a germ-removing effect. Skin Care also contains 1.2% Triclocarban, an antibacterial ingredient that effectively inhibits the growth of gram-positive bacteria on the skin surface.
The antimicrobial effect of Skin Care has been demonstrated in a study of 132 volunteers, which showed that Skin Care reduced bacteria levels in various parts of the body, but that it did not adversely damage the natural flora. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention selected 36 communities in Pakistan and randomized them to three groups, including a group using antibacterial soap with the same ingredients as skin care, a group using regular soap (without triclosan) and a group not using soap, and found that the group using soap prevented impetigo, diarrhea and acute respiratory infections. The pathogenesis of acne mainly includes hyperkeratosis of follicular sebaceous ducts and increased sebum secretion leading to obstruction of follicular sebaceous ducts, proliferation of Propionibacterium acnes inducing local inflammation.
In addition, commercially available medicated soaps can also be used, but the number of face washes should not be excessive. Excessive frequency of face washes can affect the pH value of the skin surface, increase the local sensitivity of the skin to stimuli, and negatively stimulate the overproduction of sebum, aggravating the onset of acne. Generally, it is appropriate to wash the face no more than three times a day.
Studies have found that long-term use of neutral or alkaline surfactants will increase the amount of P. acne on the skin surface; the pH of the normal skin surface is acidic (5.3 to 5.9), the so-called acidic protective film. Washing with alkaline soap will increase the skin pH by 1.5 to 2.0 and last for 4 to 6 hours, destroying the normal acidic barrier. This rapid pH change can dry out the skin and make it susceptible to sensitization, as well as increase the chances of skin infection. Therefore, the detergent chosen should have a pH similar to that of the skin surface (most are nonionic detergents) and be easy to clean, removing excess sebum while avoiding loss of normal lipids.
In conclusion, acne care should be taken as a whole, with attention to multiple details such as spirituality, diet, and daily life. Reasonable acne care can be twice as effective in treating and preventing acne.