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Acne 101 l What Is Acne Telling You? Face Mapping Your Acne

by Wendy Kim on Nov 28, 2017

Welcome to Acne 101 series here on Wishtrend. For this series, we will be slowly but surely sharing all the necessary basic skincare information you need to know about acne care! So, if 'acne' is one of the skincare keyword of your interest, make sure to keep an eye on this series! From acne face mapping which we will be talking about today, to ingredients worth knowing for acne skincare routine, we will deliver a comprehensive yet easy to learn tips and information on acne! 


And as the very first episode, let's start with a topic that is a great introduction to understanding acne in general. It is a topic that could come in really handy for everyone who is not only new to acne care, but for anyone who struggles with acne: Acne Face Mapping


Acne Face Mapping will be a guide to have a better understanding of some of the causes of acne you experience and possibly a guide to help you prevent them and even further treat acne. Let's get into it!

What is acne face mapping?

Acne face mapping can be linked back to Chinese medicine which has only in recent years, become a well known method for better understanding the health causes and acne meaning on the facial area. Face mapping for acne teaches us how having acne on certain areas of our faces, can actually be linked to underlying health concerns. Acne face mapping is not the whole to explaining why we get acne in certain areas of our face, but it could be a great starting point to assess the causes of acne and to evaluate our lifestyle or health conditions. 

Want to save time? Look into the mirror now, where do you spot acne?

A. Forehead

1) The first factor for acne located on the forehead can commonly be one of the areas that is linked to hormonal imbalances. Our hormones influence our skins natural oil  / sebum production. An imbalance in hormones can not only stimulate excessive oil on the forehead but also on the entire face. 


2) The second factor is your hair and hair hygiene! If you have a fringe / bangs, the constant contact of hair against the skin on the forehead can cause mild irritation resulting in irritation acne around the forehead. The acne meaning for the forehead can also be a sign that the hair products you're using are not working with your skin or that you aren't showering your hair often enough.


3) The third factor of the acne meaning for forehead breakouts can be linked to the stomach. If you often have stomach issues such as acid reflex and indigestion, then you can link that to the acne on your forehead. Try switching up your diet for less fatty and oily foods to help with stomach digestion.  

B. Cheeks

Our cheeks are the largest area of our face and as such, these areas have the most sebaceous glands(oil glands), allowing for the most oil production as well as more pores, making it most vulnerable to acne. We can divide the cheeks areas into upper and lower cheeks area and the causes for them could be slightly different. 


  • Upper Cheeks

If you spot acne on the upper cheeks (closer to under eyes area), you might want to evaluate the food you intake. It is possible that if you have been excessively consuming deep-fried, fatty or sugar rich foods. Acne linked to issues with digestion in the colon. If you have IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), food allergies or are often constipated, then you will most likely experience acne on your cheeks.


  • Lower Cheeks

First note that your lower cheeks are vulnerable to the temperature. If your cheeks are high in body temperature or are exposed to too much heat exposure such as hot stoves and the sun, you will most likely see a rise in acne in this location. Another common cause is contact with our hands and objects such as our cell phones. If you touch your hands to your cheeks a lot, use dirty makeup brushes / tools or hold your cell phone to your face often or rarely wash your pillow cases, then you bet you will see more acne pimples popping up!


C. Tips of Nose

1) Pimples on the nose are often linked to poor blood circulation in the body or a heart condition. So, if you have a history of disturbed blood circulation and imbalance in blood pressure, when you spot a pimple on the nose, make sure to revisit your health history. Apart from this, frequent constipation can also influence pimples on the nose. 


2) Aside from health concerns, we also have many pores around the nose area that often get blackheads. If these clogged pores are not extracted or kept clean, then they can sometimes become infected by irritation, resulting in pimples on the nose. There are many reasons to cleanse your face at the end of the day, but considering clear pore conditions to prevent breakouts on this area, make sure to make gentle but effective cleansing your face a habit!

D. Chin & Jawline

1) Chin acne indicates the biggest blemish instigator we know all too well: hormonal imbalance. If your hormones are out of balance, especially if you have excess androgens (commonly referred to as “male hormones” like testosterone, though women also have and need them to a lesser degree), you may break out on the jawline or chin. That’s because these hormones can cause the oil glands to overproduce, leading to clogged pores where the bacteria that leads to acne can flourish. If it is related to hormones, for women, the pimples often show up around a week before menstruation. It can also occur when birth control medications are started or switched.


2) However if these breakouts on the chin are more constant, note that gut health can also affect hormone levels, which can then lead to increased acne. This may explain why some people feel like they break out more after eating dairy or sugars.

E. Temples & Eyebrows 

You would have noticed from time to time whenever you've had too much to drink the night before, the next day, you notice a a pimple pop out around your eyebrows. It is because one of the common cause for acne around the temples and eyebrows is alcohol intake. Drinking alcohol effects our liver and when the liver is having a hard time, the signs can commonly show up through acne around the temples and eyebrows. The liver is effected by alcohol consumption, food allergies and heavily processed/chemical heavy/greasy foods. So to reduce acne around the temples and eyebrows, slow down on the drinks and try to focus on having a healthy liver with a clean diet.  

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