There are many myths regarding acne and even a few misconceptions that could prolong the life of your acne or cause skin damage. Here are the more popular ones to avoid.

The sun actually helps to remove acne!

The sun and tanning beds will cause acne to clear up in the short term. Your skin will redden which will blend your skin tone with the red acne marks however, tanning beds and sun exposure is only causing damage to your skin. If your skin is fighting off further ultra-violet exposure from the sun by tanning then you are damaging your skin even though some of the acne is gone. It may help acne but at the cost of damaging your skin, it is not worth it.

Acne is caused by stress!

Focusing on dealing with stress is not an effective way to remove acne. It has been said that stress related drugs could have a side effect to treat acne but it only makes a small difference. There are other methods and treatments to concentrate on rather than looking and your stress level.

Your diet is causing acne!

This is the most popular myth and many believe certain foods cause acne. Currently, there is no scientific evidence proving any particular food, for example chocolate, causes acne. The dermatology community even believes there is no connection between eating certain foods and acne. If you have verified that certain foods do cause acne, then please avoid them. Science is always growing and learning and perhaps it will be proven some day but if you eat a certain food and it makes your acne worse, then by all means stop eating it.

Washing your face more will help to treat acne!

This myth could lead to more acne for the following reasons. Having dirt on your skin does not cause acne; it is from trapped oils underneath the skin. Washing more often will only cause irritation and excessive irritation will cause more acne. You should wash no more than twice a day with your hands and not a washcloth; an abrasive washcloth will cause irritation even faster.

Acne is just a cosmetic disease!

Acne can alter the way you look and cause permanent skin damage. This damage over time could affect how you view yourself. Acne is not a disease or otherwise a serious threat to your health.

Acne is just a part of life and it needs to run its course!

Proper treatment can clear up acne. Please see your dermatologist to start working on a treatment. Letting acne run its course could take many years and cause further damage to your skin. Proven treatments are available and recommended.

Popping acne will help it go away faster!

This myth could leave permanent marks on your face. Popping pimples or zits actually pushes the germs deeper under your skin. Since acne starts from under the skin, pushing it deeper will only prolong the time needed for those oils to dissipate naturally.

If you want to prevent acne, do not wear makeup!

Wearing makeup could block your pores, which could cause acne. If you want to wear makeup, make sure to buy "noncomedogenic" or "nonacnegenic" products. This will prevent your makeup from blocking your pores.

Now that these popular myths have been identified, please take proven steps to treat acne before any more damage is done.