I know you're saying to yourself, how can diet and acne be related, because my doctor told me that diet has nothing to do with acne. It's important for you to first understand this: In order to cure your acne, diet is just one change you're going to have to make, there are other factors as well that need to be addressed.
How can I be so sure? I suffered with very severe acne for years. I did everything to try and remedy the problem, from over the counter meds to seeing many different doctors and dermatologists.
I first learned from a health food store owner to stop drinking milk and any and all dairy products. With that alone I saw a great improvement in my skin. I then over the next few years tested many foods and food groups to be able to work with clients on exactly what diet they should consume if they are prone to acne.
Why have doctors been telling us for years that diet has nothing to do with acne? Well think about it. Can a doctor or dermatologist make any money by telling you to just make a diet change? No. They make money when you keep coming in for that office visit, or because you need a prescription for a drug.
I was told very early on by a doctor, that diet has nothing to do with acne and you can eat whatever you want. For many years I believed that. I think it's because we hold doctors in such high regard that when they say something we take it as a fact.
My first visit to a dermatologist was in the late 1970's, and it was during that consultation I had asked the doctor a random question about the relationship of diet and acne. He began laughing like I had just told him a joke. He then said: "there is no scientific evidence to support that diet effects acne in any way."
I can't remember what the doctor said in my third or fourth appointment, but I remember that statement clear as a bell! Being that I was a teenager and this was a doctor with a medical degree of course without question I believed him. I went a good five or six years before I would ever question that again.
You would think that all these years later that doctor's would have a cure for acne. A typical appointment to a dermatologist now has not changed much.
Not that long ago a young man contacted me and he just happened to live in a city that was not that far away. He emailed a few times with some questions, and in one of those emails he said that he had an appointment with a dermatologist the next week and he was going to cancel the appointment.
I emailed him back and said not to cancel the appointment so that I could go with him to see what the protocol is like now. He agreed, and I accompanied him and his mother to the appointment.
The consultation was almost identical to the 1970's appointment I had gone to. The only real difference was the prescriptions he gave him were a little different. All he really did was diagnose that he had acne, then, he prescribed drugs to remedy the problem.
Before we went in I told him at some point to ask the doctor a question about diet. He asked that question and the doctor's response was pretty much what I thought it would be.
"Diet has nothing to do with acne, that's just a myth. Just make sure you eat a healthy sensible diet and you'll be okay." One new little twist, the doctor said acne was a disease.
After all these years instead of a cure it's now a disease, how sad. I paid for his office visit and as for the prescriptions he got, I told him to just throw them away, you won't need them.
A month or so later I received an invitation to have dinner with him and his mother. I got there and rang the doorbell, at first I did not even recognize the young man that opened the door. The last time I saw this kid he had pretty bad acne, now his skin was smooth and healthy. I walked in and his mother took one look at me, then at her son and started crying.
That's what it's all about for me.
By: Cameron McKenna
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