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Dr. Laura Pipher

Dr. Laura Pipher

Want Clear Skin? Why It May Not Be as Simple as You’d Like

Walk into any drugstore, makeup boutique or spa and you will be overwhelmed with the amount of people giving you advice on your skin and how you should best treat it, most of which seems very conflicting, confusing and ends up being very costly. 

 

“Your skin is too dry, use this moisturizer”, “This spot treatment should do the trick!”, “All you need is a full coverage foundation”, “You need a lightweight foundation that doesn’t clog your pores”, “I think weekly facials should do the trick!”.. .. you get the picture. 

 

For some people who have been blessed ( I am not one of those people) with seemingly flawless skin; the right moisturizer, foundation, face mask and face wash seem to do the trick. For the rest of us, we find ourselves forever searching for the right product to keep our “problem” skin at bay, hoping that this next face wash or foundation will result in some miraculous covergirl-like coverage so that it wont matter how your skin behaves underneath. 

Acne can be a HUGE burden on your life, & whether anyone notices it or not, the smallest pimple can EASILY ruin your day! The problem is that there are MANY causes for acne, and although sometimes a change in product or cleanse of a makeup brush can solve the problem, that is often not the case.

Some common causes of acne include:

Hormone imbalances (& underlying conditions) – Sometimes acne can be a very loud partner to period problems, have a tendency to flare up around “that time of the month”, or be a part of a much larger picture (a PCOS diagnosis for example).

Stress- This can also be linked to hormone imbalances

Diet & Deficiencies – Does your breakout occur the day after you’ve eaten the entire bag of fuzzy peaches?  Do you find a relationship to how much bread & cheese you eat? Your acne may be a symptom of a food sensitivity but you don’t have to necessarily have a food sensitivity to suffer from acne as the result of a poor diet.  

Environmental exposure- where do you spend your days? What do you do for a living? The air quality around you can definitely have an impact on your skin health!

Paying TOO much attention to your skin (or not enough)- Washing off your makeup at the end of the day is very important, however washing it too much can leave you victim to future breakouts. Our skin must create a delicate balance between “oily” & “dry”‘; both being perpetrators of acne breakouts if present in excess 

Makeup, foundations, face washes – Stay tuned for my post NEXT WEEK highlighting ingredients you should AVOID when shopping for these products. 

With all of these causes, its no wonder treating acne can be so difficult, and since this is our FACE we are generally talking about, it is easy to get frustrated and want to give up. 

How to TREAT your acne

1) First of all, make sure that your “breakout” is ACTUALLY acne. There are many conditions that can look acne-like including rosacea and some bacterial infections. These are both treated differently & products used to treat acne may actually MAKE BREAKOUTS WORSE. 

2) BEFORE going to the drugstore or spending a ton of money on products you don’t need- get a FULL Intake done with a naturopathic doctor so that you can understand WHY you may have acne

3) Treat the CAUSE- I understand that physically putting something on the skin seems like the best option, but many causes of acne are actually internal and need to be treated as such. 

4) Be patient with yourself!!! Healing the skin takes time and although getting frustrated with a new breakout is normal, give yourself a break (and TRY not to pick!)

 

Do you have any questions about YOUR skin or want to book an appointment with Dr. Laura?

Go to the contact page and send me a message, or email laura@laurapipher.com 

 

In Health

Dr. Laura, ND

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