Could the Root Cause of Your Acne Actually Be Dry Skin?

We’ve all been warned that oily skin is prone to acne, but did you know that dry skin can cause acne, too? In addition to leaving you flaky, itchy, and red, dehydrated skin can muddle your face with bothersome blackheads and whiteheads.

Your dry skin may also be related to a separate condition, further worsening your skin. Let’s discuss dry skin and acne, conditions that cause dehydrated skin, and what you can do to keep your skin moisturized and acne-free.  

Dry Skin Causes

Skin dries out when its outer layer loses moisture, and that can be caused by a variety of factors including:

• Environmental factors – Your skin could be dry from seasonal changes (you may have noticed your skin gets particularly dry in the fall and winter); living in a cold, windy, or low humidity climate; or the presence of too much heat in your environment, such as central heating, fireplaces, or anything that reduces humidity.
• Lifestyle choices - Your lifestyle choices might affect the amount of moisture in your skin, too. If you are bathing or exfoliating too often, or if you’re using beauty products that strip your skin of its natural oils, your skin’s barrier could lose moisture.
• Medical conditions - There are a long list of medical conditions that can cause dry skin, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

Dry Skin and Acne

Dry skin causes acne for a couple of reasons. Acne is caused by blocked pores. If you’ve had dry skin before, or you suffer from it chronically, you know that your skin becomes flaky. These flakes of dead skin, combined with other dirt and debris that gather on skin throughout the day, block pores, causing acne.

Additionally, because your skin lacks moisture, your glands are working overtime to produce oil. That excess production causes blackheads and whiteheads to form.

Other Skin Conditions Connected to Dry Skin

As noted, there are other medical conditions that cause dry skin, and they could go hand-in-hand with your acne. Though not an exhaustive list, here are a couple conditions that could be causing your dehydrated skin:

• Rosacea - Rosacea is a skin condition that causes redness and pus-filled bumps, often referred to as rosacea acne, on your face. Many people with rosacea also suffer from acne and require separate treatments to address both conditions.
• Eczema – Eczema, or atopic dermatitis, is a skin condition and that also causes dry skin. It can sometimes cause a bumpy rash that looks like acne, but like rosacea, eczema is a separate condition from acne and must be treated separately.

Although these skin conditions are different than acne, they can look like acne, and because they cause dry skin, these conditions can exacerbate your acne. It is important to keep your skin moisturized, especially if you suffer from a medical condition that causes dry skin, to keep your acne at bay. 

What You Can Do to Combat Dry Skin 

There are lots of ways to keep your dry skin moisturized.

• Use warm water instead of hot water when you shower
• Make sure to use a moisturizer immediately after washing your face
• Add moisture to your environment like a humidifier
• Be sure to use hydrating, anti-inflammatory products like our Dandy body wash that won't dry out your skin or strip it of its natural oils, or try our Lilium skin supplements to hydrate at the cell level. They’ll leave your skin soft and moisturized, which will in turn help control acne.