Let’s be real, acne is one of the most annoying first-world problems. What’s even more annoying, though, is not knowing why you’re breaking out. There are many things that can cause you to breakout. What you probably didn’t know is that where your acne is on your face can actually tell you a lot about what’s causing it.
Face mapping is a technique stemming from Chinese medicine that helps you identify the causes of your breakouts by dividing up the areas of your face into “zones” that correspond to specific organs. Wild, right? (Note: these are just guidelines and might not apply to everyone, so if you have severe, persistent acne I would recommend seeing a dermatologist.)
Zone 1: Middle/upper forehead
Acne here can be linked to your digestive system. If you’re someone who always seems to breakout on their forehead, you might want to reevaluate what you’re eating. Staying away from junk foods, greasy foods, and even dairy (yes, it’s true) can help a lot in this area. To support your digestive health, make sure you’re eating plenty of fiber, drinking plenty of water, and increasing your antioxidant levels.
Zone 2: Temples and between eyebrows
Acne here can be linked to your liver. As you probably could assume, reducing your alcohol intake can help relieve acne here. Drinking plenty of water and fluids after a night of drinking can help flush your liver. Undiagnosed food allergies can also be a reason for persistent acne here. From personal experience, I used to have tiny bumps in between my eyebrows, always. I started to cut out dairy and now my forehead is baby butt smooth!
Zone 3: Eye area
Acne here, as well as dark circles, can be linked to your kidneys. Dehydration is usually the culprit here so make sure you’re drinking plenty of water, cutting down on salty foods, and minimizing your caffeine intake.
Zone 4: Right cheek
Acne here can be linked to your lungs. Keeping up with aerobic and breathing exercises to strengthen your lungs as well as quitting smoking can be beneficial. Breakouts on this zone can also be connected to a high sugar intake, so, if you’re someone with a sweet tooth, you might want to cut back.
Zone 5: Nose
Acne here can be linked to your heart. If you constantly suffer from breakouts here it might be worth checking your blood pressure and making sure you’re getting enough Vitamin B and omega-3s. If you see little spots on your nose those could just be clogged pores. Try using a blackhead exfoliator, pore strips, and clean your makeup brushes regularly!
Zone 6: Left cheek
Acne here can be linked to your liver as well. Aside from watching your alcohol intake, try eating more alkaline foods like broccoli, beetroot, cucumber, and ginger. Also, reducing your intake of dairy and sugary foods can be beneficial. However, with all acne on your cheeks, make sure you keep your cell phone and pillow cases clean as these are the two things that constantly touch your cheeks and can carry a lot of germs!
Zone 7: Under nose/upper lip
Acne here can be linked to your large intestines. It’s important to eat plenty of fiber and try taking probiotics to support digestion. Eating late at night can also be a culprit here as your body’s digestive system is not working at its best during the night.
Zone 8: Around mouth
Acne here can be linked to your digestive organs like the liver and intestines. Acne here is usually diet related. Try to minimize spicy, greasy, and junk foods in addition to eating plenty of fiber for your intestines and drinking plenty of water for your liver.
Zone 9: Chin
Acne here is linked to hormones and stress. Hormones are really hard to control, but some tips to balance your hormones are: drinking spearmint and green tea, as they help balance your blood sugar and reduce inflammation; eating the good omega-3 fats, like avocado, coconut oil, fish, and nuts; and evening primrose oil, which has been shown to ease symptoms of PMS and contains gammalinolenic acid, an effective anti-inflammatory. All of this in addition to sleep, of course!
Zone 10: Neck
Acne here can be linked to your immune system. If you have acne here it can mean your body is fighting off an illness or you’re really stressed out. Aside from yoga and relaxation for your stress, try taking an immune supplement like Elderberry.
Whatever your acne problems, the easiest things you can do are drink PLENTY of water, sleep and relax, remove your makeup every night, exfoliate a few times a week, and keep your skin moisturized!
COVER PHOTO: Huffington Post
