What Causes Acne? 5 Possible Causes of Acne Breakouts

Acne breakouts are the worst. It transforms an otherwise good morning once you walk up the mirror and be greeted with a huge red zit around your T-zone or on your chin. No matter how much you try to hide it, it still somehow finds its way to pop out.

Before anything else, do you have any idea what causes acne? Aside from your hormone imbalance and unnecessary touching of your face, here at other factors that cause acne breakouts.

Your hormones are to blame

Yes, the irregular rising and falling of your hormones, most notably before your menstrual cycle, contributes largely to the occurrence of your breakouts.

The male hormones such as testosterone drive your oil glands crazy which in turn would induce more oil. This then wrecks its ugly in a form of painful cystic acne(s) around the chin and your T-zone.

You’re using the wrong products

It’s tempting to test and buy new products whenever you have some extra cash or in impulse. But do know what you should look for when buying products and most importantly, know your skin type.

Determine your skin type so you know which products would work best for you. Do you have a dry skin, oily skin or a combination skin and possibly prone to breakouts? Go look for “water-based”, “oil-free” or “noncomedogenic” labeled products. Make sure you’re not just applying any products on your skin because chances are, it may not help and only make matters worse.

Your vices contribute to the damage

Each time you puff a cigarette, you instantly decrease the oxygen that goes to your face which then triggers the breakdown of both your elastin and collagen. This then causes wrinkles and increased pores. In addition, the smoke obviously irritates your skin and dries it out (due to lack of oxygen to the face). This means your oil glands instinctively produce more oil which clearly means: breakouts.

Furthermore, you need to take it easy on your late night drinks as well. Alcohol triggers fluctuation in hormones—the main cause of breakouts.

This may be tough but you need to break it off with your Friday night margaritas and no more lighting the cigarette.

Your phone

Don’t panic yet, they’re not actually a primary source of your breakouts. But come to think about it, with everything your hand touches and you grab your phone, all those bacteria automatically transfers to the device. This means that yes, there’s a whole lot of bacteria festering on your phone.

Then when someone calls and you press the device on your cheek and chin, that’s where the acne build up starts. The bacteria gets into the pores and causes the oils to build up along with all the other germs on your phone. Quite disgusting, isn’t it? Make sure that you wipe your phone before you press it on your face.

You scrub your skin too hard

Thinking that scrubbing the dirt off your face hard would wipe them off faster and easier as well leaves skin smoother, only makes the damage worse. Scrubbing your face hard with a washcloth and using rough exfoliants won’t help get rid of the acne fast.

When you rub and scrub an active acne, the bacteria gets spread across your whole face or skin. You’re only adding damage to your skin so as much as possible, wash your face gently and keep away from rough exfoliants.

You constantly touch your face

You already know how bad touching your face does, why do you still do it? You know, touching your face can cause clogged pores. Not only that but you transfer bacteria onto your skin with touching.

Resist the temptation of picking on your pimples and comedones. You only push the bacteria deeper and let the blemish of bacteria spread across your face and underneath the skin which results in more breakouts. Let the zits heal on their own, this way you don’t get the bacteria to spread further and leave the skin scar-free.

You’re exposed to pollution

How’s your daily commute grind? Air pollution exposes your skin to layers and layers of impurity and substance. Walk outside for a half hour then once you get inside home or back at the office, wipe your face with a face wipe and just see how much dirt you have accumulated with just a half hour outside.

Are you guilty of these acts and finally put two in two together? It’s time to take better care of your skin and stop extracting on your own.

What other factors trigger your breakouts? We’d like to know—share it with us!