Exercise Acne!

Exercise Acne...WHAT??? Never heard of such a thing? I've seen it many times so I gave it this name!

I have a long time client that was a fitness instructor and taught very sweaty exercise classes 6 days a week! She had many breakouts around her jaw line, forehead and sides of her face. We tried different skin treatments and products, and there wasn't anything I could quite put my finger on what could have been causing this acne. It drove me nuts!

One day she got an injury that prevented her from being able to workout and teach classes for about 6 weeks. At the end of those 6 weeks she came to see me for another acne treatment, but her skin had dramatically improved! The breakouts along her chin, neck, and sides of her face had almost cleared up!

As a result of this experience, I started to some research into rather uncommon forms of acne. One, in particular, was cause by an overgrowth of a yeast germ. The germ is called Pityrosporum, which actually lives in everyone's skin. Through her sweaty exercising, she had created the condition that caused this yeast to grow. The more she worked out, and the more sweat she produced, the more this germ would cause her to breakout!

All healed up and ready to start her exercise classes again, she was concerned about another acne relapse. I knew she needed to take more prevenative approach, so I suggested she start washing with a cleanser that contains Salicylic Acid, Benzoyl Peroxide, mixed with anti-oxidants and soothing anti-inflammatories. Also, if her classes were scheduled "back to back", she should rinse her face with fresh clean water so that the sweat wouldn't dry on her skin.

With just a few simple steps...now she won't have to sweat the small stuff!