Acne: am I cleaning my face enough?
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By: Dr Moumita Chattopadhyay
While it’s very common in teenagers, acne is a troubling condition for some adults too. Our natural reaction when we see large, inflamed spots appearing on our face is to vigorously clean the area and start applying creams, face masks and anything we can find to reduce the swelling. But is this over-cleaning doing more harm than good? And how often should I be washing my face?
Dr Moumita Chattopadhyay is a leading consultant dermatologist based in Birmingham who specialises in treating adults with acne. In this article, she explains the main causes of acne, how our cleaning habits might be exacerbating it and whether make-up can, in fact, make acne worse.
Why do some adults have acne?
There are several causes of acne in adults. In our skin, we have structures called hair follicles that have tiny sebaceous glands attached to them. These glands produce sebum (oil), which lubricates our hairs. If the glands produce too much sebum, it mixes with dead skin ce...
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