Do you wonder what advice to give your teen struggling with acne? Stephanie J. Harris, APRN, FNP-BC, Pediatrics at ARC Southwest addresses causes of acne and steps that everyone can take to fight it in this video.
Stephanie says, "Acne is an inflammation of the hair follicles and the sebaceous glands." She continues, saying, "What causes acne is generally a change in hormone level; that's why it begins around puberty."
Her suggestions and strategies for clear skin include:
- Eat a healthy diet
- Wash and moisturize face twice daily
- Wash hair regularly
- Dry hair before sleep
- Wash pillowcase weekly
- Refrain from popping pimples
Watch the video to learn more detail about Stephanie's suggestions. Or read the transcript here:
Acne is an inflammation of the hair follicles and the sebaceous glands. What causes it is generally a change in hormone level; that's why it begins around puberty. I start seeing it in girls first before I see boys just because girls start going through puberty just a little bit at an earlier age than our male counterparts.
Diet
What happens during this age time frame; they love consuming more fried, fatty, junk food and so that does have a factor in contributing to acne production. I have seen some improvement in my teenager's acne when they have cut dairy such as milk, yogurt, and cheese from their diet.
Hygiene day and night
Getting up in the morning and doing their routine of washing their face washing. the face while in the shower and washing their hair on a frequent basis. This can be every day, sometimes this is once a week. When they are washing their hair, afterwards making sure everything is completely clean from their face all the way down to their toes, then afterwards making sure that they blow dry or make sure their hair is dried and pulled up away from the face before going to bed. This also will help decrease that oil production that's in the hair from getting on their face while they're laying down.
At nighttime I would also encourage that they wash their face in the evening times, gently, also doing a moisturizing routine in the evening time and depending on how severe their acne is sometimes they may need to put on a topical medication.
Topical medications
There are some over-the-counter products that we do recommend, however, if a patient is not having improvement, we recommend them coming in to be seen and we will prescribe appropriately.
Bedding
My recommendation is that they change out their pillowcase every single week. This will help decrease the bacteria that they are basically coming in contact with every time they lay down at night.
Pimple popping
I do not recommend popping your pimples that can contribute to bacteria being on the face and actually make your acne worse.
Make an appointment today
Stephanie is currently accepting new patients. To make an appointment, call ARC Southwest at 512-282-8967 or book online.