Lifestyle Choices

You can wash your face with soap and water as often as you can wash your face with soap and water. That may sound silly but what it means is that if you wash often with no ill effect, then clearly no damage is being done. People with greasy skin often have pallid, rather coarse, thickened complexions and suffer from blackheads, whiteheads and spots. They need to wash regularly to keep pace with the production of oil and it really doesn’t matter what they use as long as the shiny surface is removed. They cannot change the underlying grease production rate unless they take tablets which will grossly interfere with the hormonal control of their body. It is no use using products that claim “deep down cleansing” or which “unblock clogged pores:’. These phrases are meaningless and no amount of soap has any effect on the blocked grease gland which is the forerunner of an acne pimple. Neither is it any use using ‘medicated’ soaps because a flourishing bacterial population on the surface of the skin is quite normal and is only temporarily reduced by washing. Where bacteria might be important, is down in the depths of the grease gland, and is certainly out of reach of the medication in any soap. Soap and water lifts off grease and dirt and old make-up, and makes the skin feel better and refreshed. Sometimes regular use of soap and water will cope with the grease production from the centre of the face but tends to dry out the skin around the periphery.

In these cases commonsense is needed and these latter areas should be less energetically washed. There is no need to spend additional money on special cleansers for greasy skin unless personal preference dictates otherwise. Soap and water is more than enough for most people.

Should you wish to remove even greater amounts of dirt and grease or old make-up, then you can do this with a ‘toner’, a spirit solution, which dissolves away fat and leaves the skin drier and tighter, pulling it together and flattening out the depressions where the hairs emerge (so-called ‘closing of pores’). A toner is used before applying make-up and helps prevent the rapid breakthrough of ’shine’ particularly on the nose and forehead. All you are doing is just taking off even more grease than soap can cope with. You should choose a foundation from a range especially designed for oily skin, and most of the large cosmetic companies offer such selections. They may contain powder which gives the product a grease absorbing action and leads to a more ‘matt’ finish on the face. Loose transparent face powder can then be dusted on top and will act as an additional sponge for any remaining grease. Face powder is also less likely to cake than some of the foundation creams.

Powdered eye make-up is more suitable for greasy skin because the creamy ones do not stick so well on the oily surface and end up in lines after being moved by the facial muscles. Heavy, greasy make-up preparations should be avoided and you should try ‘oil-free’ cosmetics until one that is suitable for you is found.

Individual spots can be disguised with a stick eraser cream of similar colour to the natural background. The cream can be applied over the spot and blended into the surrounding skin with the fingers or a make-up brush. If spots occur more than occasionally then proper treatment from a doctor or dermatologist may be necessary. You can squeeze out large blackheads with care using the fingertips and clean tissues, but this should be done after warming the face for some time with either a hot flannel or by bathing with warm water, so that the grease has become softened along with the surface layers of the skin. The blackhead will then come out much more easily following gentle squeezing. Try and press slightly downwards and underneath the blackhead rather than pinching it tight at the top which will obstruct the opening. You can sometimes get blackheads to come out of the skin by stretching it and this does not do so much damage to the tissues. It is unwise to squeeze unripe, painful spots as they may burst downwards into the tissues and healing will take much longer with the risk of a scar.

The treatment of acne has already been covered in a previous section. Should you be left with unpleasant scars, you may consider having plastic surgery. Individual, deep, pock-like scars can be cut out by the surgeon leaving tiny linear marks rather than the previous hole. Widespread scarring is much more difficult to treat. There are skin peeling techniques with corrosive chemicals or even freezing with liquid nitrogen, but these should only be carried out by an experienced doctor and never in a salon by unqualified, non-medical staff. They will either use techniques which do not have any effect at all, in which case you are wasting your money, or they may take risks with your skin which could lead to even more scarring or unpleasant discolouration. Some dermatologists have used dermabrasion using a rotatory burr which grinds Off the surface layer of skin. This is little used in this country nowadays but is more generally available in those parts of the world where private medicine is more common.

The trouble is that the results of all these procedures are less than satisfactory and it must be understood that were they to work with no complications, then doubtless we would all be using them much more often. There is a poor return on an investment of time and discomfort and this is the reason for their lack of popularity. Luckily, with time, the marks caused by previous acne become less apparent and are hidden amongst the lines and wrinkles of approaching middle age. It would seem better policy to avoid the scarring in the first place byearly energetic treatment of bad acne rather than trying to clear up the mess which is left behind.

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