Everyone’s had a breakout from time to time! Don’t sweat it, it’s totally normal. Most acne is caused by bacteria that gets on the skin from makeup, pollutants, or other debris in the air that doesn't get washed off at the end of the day. Let's not forget about those occasional hormonal pimples. However, if you have a long-running acne breakout that doesn't seem to be going away, a vegan face wash may not help. The problem might be a fungal acne breakout, which requires specific products for fungal acne.
What’s Bacterial Acne?
Bacterial acne is acne caused when excess sebum clogs your body's hair follicles, especially on the face, neck, or chest. When bacterial begins to grow in clogged follicles, it creates blackheads or whiteheads on the surface of the skin. Hormones, oral contraceptives, diet, environment, and a range of other situations can lead to the development of bacterial acne. Luckily, it's treatable! Home remedies for hormonal acne are a great natural approach to treating your skin. Washing your face with over-the-counter acne treatments, ensuring you eat a healthy diet, and washing off makeup at the end of the day all help to treat acne. A dermatologist can also help if necessary.
What’s Fungal Acne?
Although fungal acne has been deemed so, it only gets its name because it so closely resembles a traditional acne breakout. In reality, fungal acne isn't an acne breakout at all! It’s caused by yeast in your skin that becomes trapped in your skin's hair follicles and causes small, pimple-like bumps. The technical name for this medical condition is malassezia folliculitis or pityrosporum folliculitis, depending on the specific type of yeast fungus.
What Does Fungal Acne Look Like?
Understanding the difference between bacterial acne and fungal acne requires you to know the differences in their appearances. Bacterial acne breakouts tend to be on the face, chest, arms, or other parts of the body. They often vary in size and feature whiteheads or blackheads. Fungal acne is much more uniform. These small, often red bumps form on the chest, back, and upper arms but almost never on the face. They almost never come to a head and tend to be very itchy.
Causes of Fungal Acne
There are several fungal acne causes. Yeast lives on everybody's skin, but certain health issues or other hormonal imbalances can cause it to become more prominent and create acne-like bumps! Everything from your diet to your environment determines how the yeast produces on your body, but it tends to appear more often in people after they have taken antibiotics, if they’ve spent time in an intensive care unit, or after they've had a transplant surgery. People who have HIV or AIDS are also more susceptible to fungal acne.
How To Treat Fungal Acne
You must take several steps to treat fungal acne. Start by using a chemical exfoliant on the skin to keep dead skin out of your pores. Wearing breathable, natural fabrics will also prevent the buildup of yeast, as will showering after your workouts (or any good sweat)! You may need to try over-the-counter fungus treatments or see a dermatologist if the problem is too severe.
Now that you know how to treat bacterial acne and fungal acne, it's just a matter of purchasing the right treatments. Fungal acne home remedies are as easy as trying this natural fungal acne treatment.
