Acne can be a deeply frustrating, uncomfortable and unwelcome sight, but whenever it shows up, there are plenty of treatments that can help relieve the redness and irritation, and a skin clinic can help with complications such as acne scarring.
The root cause of acne is the blockage of hair follicles by a mix of sebum and dead skin cells, something that can be fixed and cleared up in a handful of ways.
However, one of the big debates surrounding acne is exactly when it is most commonly seen. People get flare-ups all year round, but is it more common to see it in the winter cold or during the height of summer as a consequence of the body’s attempts to cool down?
Here is what we know about the seasons, how they affect acne and what you can do to help during it.
Summer Or Winter?
There have been a few small studies on the prevalence of acne, but they have been limited by using wildly different locations and groups of people, making it difficult to draw any real conclusions.
Even if this was possible, the studies available are still largely inconclusive; five studies claim it gets worse during the summer and better in winter, four claim the opposite, and five claim there is no correlation.
Typically, spring and autumn are not really considered to be major hotspots for acne, although obviously there can be flare-ups, irritation and spots at any time in the year.
Summer seems like an obvious time for acne to appear more often and be more intense than during the winter, particularly on hot, humid days when the body tends to sweat a lot.
This humidity weakens the skin barrier, leads to greater growth of bacteria on the skin, and the sweat itself that lingers on the skin has a habit of making both parts of this just a bit worse.
As well as this, hot summers increase the risk of sunburn, which causes skin damage, and skin irritation, and from existing irritation often comes acne breakouts.
However, as long as you protect your skin, the summer sun can also clear up acne by killing the bacteria associated with it and by reducing inflammation in general, although more research needs to be undertaken to confirm both aspects.
By contrast, the winter months can be exceptionally perilous for the skin. The combination of biting cold rainy days and freezing cold days with no humidity, combined with the moisture-sapping effects of most heating systems can lead to damaged, cracked skin.
A lack of skin hydration damages the skin barrier, which can leave it more vulnerable to acne.
However, at the same time, winter weather reduces sweat, which can serve to make acne worse, less intense and variable weather conditions allow for a reduced imbalance in bacteria, and less of a chance of weather-induced skin irritation can lead to fewer breakouts.
The studies are rather inconclusive, but keeping moisturised, maintaining a strong cleansing routine and going to a skin clinic can all help to reduce the risk of flare-ups.