Many think that they won’t have to worry about pimples or zits when they reach their twenties but acne is definitely not just a teen issue; adults can get acne even if their already in their forties or fifties.

The Skin Matters 2008 survey found that acne can negatively impact the physical, social, academic and professional aspects of a person’s life. Participants of the survey agreed that having acne as an adult is more stressful than when they had it as a teen. They also said that they found having acne as more unappealing than having wrinkles or grey hair.

One in five women between the ages of 25 and 40 suffer from acne, which often causes them to get depressed, suffer from stress, or experience social withdrawal and intimacy problems – emotions that can trigger or worsen pimple breakouts.

Though this condition is very treatable, the lack of knowledge may also prevent or hinder the proper treatment of acne.

Antibiotics are the typical acne treatment recommended by dermatologists, like tetracycline-type derivatives designed to kill acne infections. Topical application of benzyl peroxide is another conventional acne treatment method.

Special gadgets, like the hand-held Zeno acne blemish device, have also been developed as quick fixes to fight acne. The Zeno device works by heating the skin for up to 120 degrees to kill the acne-causing bacteria and cause an influx of heat-shock proteins that also help kill the bacteria and reduce inflammation in the pores.

There are many other acne treatment methods available but Dr. Mercola warns against the use of Accutane (isotretinoin), a powerful drug prescribed for a severe type of acne known as nodular acne, which is also used as a chemotherapy agent to help prevent and treat certain skin cancers.

Accutane is the only drug classified as category X, which means it is guaranteed to cause birth defects. Other isotretinoin side effects include depression, psychosis, aggression and suicide.

Treating the Root Cause of Acne

Dr. Mercola explains that while conventional acne treatments typically do work, they DO NOT treat the UNDERLYING cause of acne in any way, shape or form.

There are 4 factors that cause acne:

• Plugging of the hair follicle
• Excess sebum production
• Inflammation in the pore
• Presence and activity of Propioniform bacteria (acne-causing bacteria)

While most skin experts will say that diet has nothing to do with acne, Mercola believes that nothing could be further from the truth.

If you are predisposed to developing these acne lesions, you will have acne if you are eating a diet that is causing your insulin levels and associated insulin growth factors to rise.

That is because when you eat refined carbohydrates and sugar, it causes a surge of insulin and an insulin-like growth factor called IGF-1 in your body. This causes an overproduction of male hormones, which cause your pores to secrete sebum, a greasy substance that attracts the acne-causing propioniform bacteria.

IGF-1 also causes skin cells known as keratinocytes to multiply. This process is also associated with acne.

Now that you know the underlying cause of acne, here are …

Dr. Mercola’s 3 Simple Steps to Prevent Acne:

1. Reduce your consumption of grains and sugars – including bread, cereal, pasta, rice, potatoes and corn to radically reduce your insulin production. You can replace the carbohydrates you get from sugars and grain carbohydrates with vegetable carbohydrates according to your Nutritional Type.
2. Take a good probiotic supplement – If you’re using antibiotics to treat acne, it’s very important to take a probiotic supplement. Antibiotics do kill the propioniform bacteria that causes acne but they also wipe out the good bacteria in your gut.
3. Optimize your vitamin D levels – Go out and get a healthy dose of sunlight to create natural vitamin D in your body. You produce over 200 antimicrobial peptides when you’re getting enough vitamin D. If you can’t get regular sun exposure or don’t have a safe tanning bed, you can supplement with oral vitamin D. You have to monitor your vitamin D levels with a blood test at regular intervals if you decide to take vitamin D supplements

But there’s something rearing its ugly head in the middle of this cozy picture because your child’s bath products may be exposing him/her to cancer!

Yes, you’ve read that right. Many baby and children’s care products have been found to contain the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane.

The non-profit organization Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (CSC) tested different kids bath products and discovered that:

• 17 out of 28 products or 61 percent contained both formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane, including Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, Sesame Street Bubble Bath, Grins & Giggles Milk & Honey Baby Wash and Huggies Naturally Refreshing Cucumber & Green Tea Baby Wash.

• 23 out of 28 products or 82 percent contained formaldehyde at levels ranging from 79 parts per million (ppm) to 610 ppm. Baby Magic Baby Lotion had the highest levels of formaldehyde.

• 32 out of 48 products or 67 percent contained 1,4-dioxane at levels ranging from 0.27 ppm to 35 ppm. American Girl shower products had the highest levels of 1,4-dioxane.

So much for being labeled ‘gentle’ and ‘pure’ because there’s nothing gentle about formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane.

Toxic Chemicals Make Bath Time Hazardous!

Formaldehyde is a colorless and flammable industrial chemical used to make building materials and household products and is also used as a disinfectant and preservative. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified it as a probable human carcinogen under high and prolonged exposure.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer also included formaldehyde on its list of known carcinogens.

Aside from the risk of cancer, your child can also develop rashes when exposed to formaldehyde. But that’s the least of your concerns.

Dr.Sheela Sathyanarayana, an environmental health pediatrician at Seattle Children’s Hospital warned that kids become “extremely sensitized” from formaldehyde exposures, and with each new exposure, bigger reactions follow and could possibly make their skin sensitive to a variety of substances aside from formaldehyde.

On the other hand, 1,4-dioxane is a petroleum based contaminant described as a probable human carcinogen by the EPA and an animal carcinogen by the National Toxicology Program. It has also been linked to birth defects, is a suspected neurotoxin and kidney and respiratory toxicant.

Because formaldehyde is released from some of the chemicals used as preservatives and 1,4-dioxane is a byproduct of chemical processing, the FDA does not require manufacturers like Johnson & Johnson to list them as ingredients on the product labels.

Since you won’t find formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane on the labels of children’s bath products, the CSC advises consumers to be wary of these ingredients, which are likely to contain either of the two toxic chemicals: peg-100 stearate, sodium laureth sulfate, polyethylene and ceteareth-20, quaternium-15, DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea, diazolidinyl urea and sodium hydroxymethoylglycinate.

But your child is not the only one in danger. If toxic chemicals have found their way to kids bath products, personal care products for adults are also not safe from contamination.

Data from an Environmental Working Group (EWG) study on the safety of personal care products show that the average adult uses nine products that contain 126 different chemicals. Also, over 250,000 women and one out of every 100 men use 15 products per day on the average.

The EWG found that:

• Only 28 of the 7,500 products in the study were completely tested by the cosmetic industry’s self-regulating Cosmetic Ingredient Review Board

• One-third of all the products tested contained at least one ingredient that fell under the category of human carcinogen

• 71 percent of hair dye products evaluated had carcinogenic coal tar as an ingredient

• Close to 70 percent of the products reviewed were found to include ingredients that could be tainted with impurities associated with cancer and other health complications

• 54 percent of the products violated the safety recommendations proposed by the industry’s self-regulating panel. Unsafe ingredients were discovered in diaper cream, products for damaged skin and in spray products

How to Avoid Toxic Personal Care Products

Dr. Mercola explains that putting chemicals on your skin is actually worse than directly ingesting them because the enzymes in your saliva and stomach help break down whatever you eat and flush it out of your body but the chemicals you put on your or your child’s skin are absorbed straight to the bloodstream without being filtered. You’re at the mercy of the toxins.

His rule of thumb for personal care product safety? Don’t put things in your skin that you wouldn’t even consider eating!

You can visit the EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database to find out if your family’s personal care products are safe.

Choose quality organic products for your skin and beware of those only pretending to be organic.  Remember that your skin reflects the state of your health.