Incurable Cystic Acne? Maybe Not

I wanted to address this topic because I see so many beautiful people walking around with a face full of obviously painful, scarring cystic acne.  It makes me feel bad and I would like to shed some light on the subject for those of you have given your fair share of time and money to a dermatologist who is treating the symptoms and getting little results.  I'm assuming that considering your acne incurable means that you have already tried a good diet and exercise, increased water intake, special cleaning products, antibiotics and other medications to no avail.  If this is you, do not give up hope.  You may be able to clear up your face for free, which is inherently awesome.  Read on.

Although acne in general is often related to hormone changes, and can be treated with things like birth control pills, long term cystic acne may be caused by a reaction to certain ingredients in foods.  I can tell you this because I've seen it in some of the people in my personal life and I've read many a testimonial from people I know indirectly.  The more I read about it, the more I see patterns of information.  If you have already tried everything else, it is time to start experimenting with your diet.

The two most common ingredients people claim to cause their cystic acne are casein (a protein found in milk) and gluten (found in grains like wheat and barley).  This may account for the common belief that junk foods cause acne, since they are typically high in wheat and possibly dairy.  It is not a typical food allergy.  Quite likely, the only notable symptom will be the cystic acne.  There is no guarantee that this is the cause of your acne specifically, but finding out is easy and only requires a little discipline to read food labels and faithfully avoid some thing for a little while.

If you would like to find out if one or both of these ingredients is the cause of your acne, try cutting one or both from your diet for two to three weeks.  You should experience a significant difference within that time frame if it's going to work for you.  For example, try avoiding casein first.  If it works, great.  If it doesn't work, try avoiding gluten next.  If that doesn't work, try removing both casein and gluten from your diet for a couple of weeks and see how that works.  If neither one worked for you, it was worth a try and didn't cost you anything.  Hopefully, it did work and your precious face is on the road to recovery.

Awesome Tip of the Day:  Many people have gluten allergies these days, so it's not difficult to find gluten free foods on the market.  Also, a casein/gluten free diet is a relatively new idea for the treatment of autism, so there is a lot of information on buying and cooking gluten and casein free available online.  You can Google it if you need ideas.

Success!  Now what?  First of all, congratulations.  Now, you may want to find out exactly how sensitive you are.  If you're only mild to moderately sensitive, you may be able to get away with still eating certain foods.  Let's say, for example, casein is the culprit.  Some people report that any casein in their diet at all has their face exploding with painful pustules.  Other people say that certain foods are okay, but that others with a higher concentration of casein will cause a flare up.  Maybe drinking milk isn't enough to have an effect, but protein powders or energy bars can be a cause for panic.  Find out exactly what your body can and can't handle and feed yourself accordingly.

My hope is that the information above will help people all over the world get their faces back.  I know chronic cystic acne can create both physical and social discomfort.  If you know someone who suffers from cystic acne, help them potentially avoid years of facial scarring that, over time, will become permanent.  Please, feel free to share this article.