Acne With Dry Skin. Is It possible?

[Mrs.Clooney]

I don't want to hijack somebody elses thread, so I thought I would post this separately. This thread can hopefully help me and anybody else with similar queries. Can somebody with a dry skin type have acne?Dry skin is characterized by thinned epidermis, tight feeling, tiny almost invisible pores with virtually no comedones. It is often accompanied by flakiness due to lack of production of sebum which usually moisturises the skin.Acne is characterized by papules, pustules and comedones with a shiny skin surface due to oiliness caused by over active sebaceous glands and over secretion of sebum.Both dry and Acne skin can be dehydrated.Therefore, if somebody has dry skin, can they have acne? The reason I ask, is because I have specifically asked this question a couple of times to different tutors at college and the answer has been a catagorical resounding 'no'. To you experienced skin geeks, please don't take my question as rude. I am genuinely interested in your responses. I have an ever enquiring mind, lol.

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

I don't want to hijack somebody elses thread, so I thought I would post this separately. This thread can hopefully help me and anybody else with similar queries. Can somebody with a dry skin type have acne?Dry skin is characterized by thinned epidermis, tight feeling, tiny almost invisible pores with virtually no comedones. It is often accompanied by flakiness due to lack of production of sebum which usually moisturises the skin.Acne is characterized by papules, pustules and comedones with a shiny skin surface due to oiliness caused by over active sebaceous glands and over secretion of sebum.Both dry and Acne skin can be dehydrated.Therefore, if somebody has dry skin, can they have acne? The reason I ask, is because I have specifically asked this question a couple of times to different tutors at college and the answer has been a catagorical resounding 'no'. To you experienced skin geeks, please don't take my question as rude. I am genuinely interested in your responses. I have an ever enquiring mind, lol.

I did post in paragraphs, I promise! Sam's tinkering is just not doing it for me, lol.

 

[~Emmsybabes~]

hi hun,
I know you're refering to my post.
I will give an example of my skin although as you know I am not a skin geek just a consumer.

Under normal circumstances when I am not undergoing treatments of any kind, My skin is
forehead.....dry and flakey with some wrinkling, no spots and clear skin tone.

Nose....very oily, lots and lots of blocked pores, no spots, uneven skin tone

Cheeks....same as nose, never get acne type spots on this area, although sometimes have spots that i can feel but not see iykwim, uneven skin tone.

Chin.....oily, blocked pores...little whitehead things in the line between my
Chin and lip....oily, often get spots (sore ones) again uneven skin tone.

Area around side of lips, between cheeks and jawline.....this is where I get most of my acne..big sore spots, often quite a few in the same place at the same time....no blocked pores...often have flakey skin around the spots.

Jawline. dry sometimes flakey, no blocked pores and even skin tone.

And finally inbtween my eyebrows, often get spots here too.

Its as if some patches of my face don't belong on my face, but someone elses lol.

Just thought I would give a bit of a description of my face for you lol,

This thread might help me as much as you Mrs C x

 

[weezie]

You cannot be oily and dry skinned.

You can be oily and dehydrated though which can be mistaken for dryness. It is usually due to using harsh products on the skin to strip the oil. :hug: People with this skin have combination skin type- the combination being oily and normal with the skin condition being dehydrated as it is temporary not an innate skin characteristic.

You cannot have open and tight pores at the same time or be overproducing and under producing sebum on your face at the same time.

 

[bexi]

As usual weezie has it right on!!:green:

A dry skin doesn't produce enough oil and oily/acne skin produces too much oily so you cannot be both - physically impossible.

Dehydration is a massive skin problem in this country - well my area anyway - people usually assume they are dry so start using the wrong products which makes the dehydration worse.

Hth

Becki xxx

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

You cannot be oily and dry skinned.

You can be oily and dehydrated though which can be mistaken for dryness. It is usually due to using harsh products on the skin to strip the oil. :hug: People with this skin have combination skin type- the combination being oily and normal with the skin condition being dehydrated as it is temporary not an innate skin characteristic.

You cannot have open and tight pores at the same time or be overproducing and under producing sebum on your face at the same time.

Thank you Weezie :hug:. I am pleased I was correct in my thinking on this and should perhaps have more faith in myself, lol.

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

hi hun,
I know you're refering to my post.
I will give an example of my skin although as you know I am not a skin geek just a consumer.

Under normal circumstances when I am not undergoing treatments of any kind, My skin is
forehead.....dry and flakey with some wrinkling, no spots and clear skin tone.

Nose....very oily, lots and lots of blocked pores, no spots, uneven skin tone

Cheeks....same as nose, never get acne type spots on this area, although sometimes have spots that i can feel but not see iykwim, uneven skin tone.

Chin.....oily, blocked pores...little whitehead things in the line between my
Chin and lip....oily, often get spots (sore ones) again uneven skin tone.

Area around side of lips, between cheeks and jawline.....this is where I get most of my acne..big sore spots, often quite a few in the same place at the same time....no blocked pores...often have flakey skin around the spots.

Jawline. dry sometimes flakey, no blocked pores and even skin tone.

And finally inbtween my eyebrows, often get spots here too.

Its as if some patches of my face don't belong on my face, but someone elses lol.

Just thought I would give a bit of a description of my face for you lol,

This thread might help me as much as you Mrs C x

I didn't want to hijack your thread Emmsy which is why I started another :hug:. I think it is a common mistake to think that dehydrated skin is dry. There is a difference and I only learned this in college.

With my exams next week I suddendly had a doubtful moment but am pleased it has been confirmed that you can't be dry/oily. It is difficult having not seen your skin but you are possibly more likely to be normal/ oily but dehydrated.

 

[weezie]

Thank you Weezie :hug:. I am pleased I was correct in my thinking on this and should perhaps have more faith in myself, lol.

Yes, you should, because we believe in you!:hug:

 

[~Emmsybabes~]

I too am pleased lol, as I was led to think I had dry skin and acne,....now I know otherwise...I know I was given lots of advice in my thread, but this one has been usefull too...

So a quick question ....Will drinking 8 glasses of water a day actually make a difference to my skin, would it rehydrate it ?
So When I am using my products and facials to strip the oils...its taking away the moisture, so I need to put back in the moisture...but the oils will still be gone ?????

Emm's has now confused herself lol, I should go back to my own thread really lmao :green:

 

[danielleclark]

Sorry to hear about your skin probs, I had this problem too when I was about 25. I didn't help myself by trying hundreds of different products to try to clear it up!

With regard to the eight glasses of water a day thing, apparently the sciencey peeps are clarifying this now by saying they meant that volume of liquid - this can be from food, other drinks and not just water. And they are also recommending you get enough fats in your diet (good ones like olive oil, omega 3 6 9 etc) so that the skin is lubricated by fats and water. This makes sense to me, as just water on your skin can dry it out, but water and oil emulsion does the job!

Hope that helps x.

 

[weezie]

So When I am using my products and facials to strip the oils...its taking away the moisture, so I need to put back in the moisture...but the oils will still be gone ?????

Emm's has now confused herself lol, I should go back to my own thread really lmao :green:

Products and facials should be there to rebalance the skin therefore they should not be "stripping" all the oil but instead reducing the oil production to a "normal" level. Skin should never feel tight after cleansing and a healthy skin is moisture rich by natural balanced sebum (the skins natural oil) production.

The skin has a protective layer called the acid mantle which consists of a hydro-lipidic film. This is an acidic layer which acts to destroy bacteria and therefore protect the skin and is made up of water and fat (oils).

For an oily/congested skin:
Cleansing should remove make-up and excess oils, skin should not feel tight or "squeeky clean" after.

Toning (unless using a ph balanced cleanser, where no toner is needed) should re-balance the skin therefore controlling oil production and may also heal any blemishes depending on ingredients.

Exfoliating should help to remove cell debris that is stuck to the skin which is more common in oily skins as they get more clogged up due to the excess oils causing sticky bonds. This should leave the skin smoother but should not be aggressive enough to turn the skin pink. Enzyme or AHA peels are excellent for this.

Moisturiser should help to hydrate oily skin, this should be water base NOT oil based, therefore not adding excess additional oil to the skin. Some moisturisers also contain ingredients that help to reduce excess oil production. There are also more advanced creams that are suitable for oily/aging skins as they are water based AND have added anti-aging ingredients.

Then with any skin type a spf preferably of spf30 is needed ontop to prevent further damage from uv rays. :hug:

In summary with cleansing you are not stripping oils but rebalancing and with moisturising you are not adding oilyness but hydration.

 

[Nika]

I'm sorry guys but I am going to throw a bit of a spanner in the wheel. As a therapist I have encountered acne on a combination to dry skin ( and the reason I know this is that I also suffered from it as an adult myself)! The acne breakouts (that at one stage got to a grade 3 acne) did not occur on my 'oil' producing area's (which when looked at under a woods lamp don't produce much oil anyway) but on my cheeks that have zero oil production! - this face demonstrates exactly what I thought when I first saw it. Since then I have seen it a couple of times in-salon too, particularly in adult acne (not acne rosacea).

The conclusion I have come to is that the acne in this skin is caused more by the hyper-keratinisation of the skin on the face (over production of dead skin cells) blocking the follicle opening and thereby allowing the little oil that is naturally in the follicle and the P-acnes bacteria to build up underneath than from an over production of oil. Otherwise how else could we have people with oil skin that don't have acne breakouts if it is always caused by oil production!? Please let me know if anyone else has encountered this and your thoughts on the subject

As for dehydration virtually every client I have ever seen suffers from it whether they have oily skin or not, and I agree most people mistakenly believe that they have a dry skin when really they are just dehydrated. Although people with combination skin can have tight pores on the sides of their face and open pores on the T-sections leading to the dry/oily combination that can be expensive to treat if the dry to oily ratio is extreme due to the ideal application of 'dry' products in one area and 'oily' in the other..

 

[bexi]

I just dont understand how you can physically get spots if the skin is producing NO oil?

jmho

becki xxx

 

[hayls]

The skin on my chin is so dry it sometimes cracks and can be painful! BUT.........I still get spots there! Its been the bain of my life since the age of 13, nothing I try seems to help, Ive totally changed my diet to see if that would help, nope, Ive tried everything!

Im sure my skin would be a massive challenge for you Mrs.C. :wink2:

If anybody has any advice on it though I would be truley grateful!

xxxxxxxxxx

 

[huberella]

We also have to remember that our environment, hormones and habits play a part in our skin.

You can have dry skin, but be going through hormone changes that cause breakouts.

You can be someone who sits at their desk with their chin in hand all the time, causing breakouts.

You are on the phone constantly, dirty hands and faces, and have breakouts along your ear and jaw line.

These are all factors in skin breakouts.

 

[Nika]

I agree Huberella That's why I think it has more to do with the hyper-keratinisation of the dead cells (which occurs because of internal imbalances eg. hormones, not enough vitamins etc.) than with sebum production. Because you get all the germs that are sitting on top of the cells (from the phone, environment etc.) mixed in and combine it with an overload of dead skin that then clogs the follicles.. voila! pimples!
But that is just my opinion.. although I have read & been taught that hyper-keratinisation mixed with sebum causes acne, due to my experiences I have developed my slightly different point of view

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

I'm sorry guys but I am going to throw a bit of a spanner in the wheel. As a therapist I have encountered acne on a combination to dry skin ( and the reason I know this is that I also suffered from it as an adult myself)! The acne breakouts (that at one stage got to a grade 3 acne) did not occur on my 'oil' producing area's (which when looked at under a woods lamp don't produce much oil anyway) but on my cheeks that have zero oil production! - this face demonstrates exactly what I thought when I first saw it. Since then I have seen it a couple of times in-salon too, particularly in adult acne (not acne rosacea).

The conclusion I have come to is that the acne in this skin is caused more by the hyper-keratinisation of the skin on the face (over production of dead skin cells) blocking the follicle opening and thereby allowing the little oil that is naturally in the follicle and the P-acnes bacteria to build up underneath than from an over production of oil. Otherwise how else could we have people with oil skin that don't have acne breakouts if it is always caused by oil production!? Please let me know if anyone else has encountered this and your thoughts on the subject

As for dehydration virtually every client I have ever seen suffers from it whether they have oily skin or not, and I agree most people mistakenly believe that they have a dry skin when really they are just dehydrated. Although people with combination skin can have tight pores on the sides of their face and open pores on the T-sections leading to the dry/oily combination that can be expensive to treat if the dry to oily ratio is extreme due to the ideal application of 'dry' products in one area and 'oily' in the other..

xxxxxxxxxx[/quote]
I'm going to throw a spanner back, lol. Please take this in the spirit in which it is meant as I am challenging my thought processes here. If I am going to be a beauty therapist, then I need to understand what I am saying and why I say it :wink2:. Don't even have my exam result yet !

Firstly there is no such thing as 'combination to dry skin'. It is combination 'normal to oily' or 'normal to dry'. I was taught that 'oily to dry' does not exist for the reasons already stated in other posts.

Perhaps what you are referring to is not acne per say but rather localized inflammation/infection. Dry skin can crack allowing bacteria to enter beneath the skin surface. This has nothing to do with sebum production or hair follicles.

 

[Mrs.Clooney]

The skin on my chin is so dry it sometimes cracks and can be painful! BUT.........I still get spots there! Its been the bain of my life since the age of 13, nothing I try seems to help, Ive totally changed my diet to see if that would help, nope, Ive tried everything!

Im sure my skin would be a massive challenge for you Mrs.C. :wink2:

If anybody has any advice on it though I would be truley grateful!

xxxxxxxxxx

I hope I explained above hayls why you may get spots from dry cracked skin. The cracked skin allows the introduction of bacteria into the skin resulting in pustules (infected spots). How often do you moisturise? Are you using the right products for your skin type?

We also have to remember that our environment, hormones and habits play a part in our skin.

You can have dry skin, but be going through hormone changes that cause breakouts.

You can be someone who sits at their desk with their chin in hand all the time, causing breakouts.

You are on the phone constantly, dirty hands and faces, and have breakouts along your ear and jaw line.

These are all factors in skin breakouts.

Skin types change throughout ones life. You can be a teenager with a combination normal/oily skin with breakouts and develop into and adult with normal skin type.

 

[Nika]

Skin types change throughout ones life. You can be a teenager with a combination normal/oily skin with breakouts and develop into and adult with normal skin type.

That's ok, I think it is better to hear other people's opinions and then make up your own mind. But on this note I will explain something that might help you to understand a bit better and hopefully help you in your studies..

A person's skin TYPE can never change, it is based on hereditary factors and the amount of oil flow a skin has, that aspect never changes (go on to read about dryness after menopause). So as humans we are either oily, dry, combination, or normal (except normal is generally considered to only be seen in children, as soon as your hormones kick in, so does your skin type).

What can and does change throughout life is your skin CONDITION; acne (although acne is widely debated between skin type & condition), dehydrated, prematurely aged, aged/ageing (this is where women tend to get dry because of a lack of eostrogen being produced, if you have an oily skin this is the only time it may change and is considered part of a skin condition), sun damaged etc..

This means as a therapist we cannot change a person's skin type, we can help to regulate oil flow by using products that will soak up oil, or feed the skin more oils if it needs it etc. but we can't change how much oil is actually being secreted. On the other hand, what we as therapists do alot of is treat skin conditions. Skin conditions can affect any skin type at any time (although obviously some conditions are more common at certain ages and in certain environments), so this is why we are constantly treating acne, dehydration, pigmentation (sun damage) etc. on people's skin and why every person's skin is unique!

 

[Nika]

xxxxxxxxxx

Firstly there is no such thing as 'combination to dry skin'. It is combination 'normal to oily' or 'normal to dry'. I was taught that 'oily to dry' does not exist for the reasons already stated in other posts.


Combination to dry skin (otherwise known as combination skin with dry tendencies) happens when the oil flow does not come as far out from the nose as it does on someone with combination to oily skin (also known as combination with oily tendencies) who will have oil on the T-zone that comes out quite far across the face and then be very dry on the outer cheeks and near the ears. In oppostion, someone who is combination to dry and has an oily T-zone but the oil basically stops at the edge of the nose leaving entire cheek area, sides of the forehead etc. dry.

You would treat a person with combination to dry skin with products for drier skins because they are mostly dry. Combination to oily skin is treated with products made for oily skins because the oily flow is good on the majority of the face.