Dan's Blog at Acne.org

Human Microbiome Project - $1 million toward acne research

Dan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:05:04 +0000

Recently, the Human Microbiome Project was given $42 million in stimulus money to conduct in depth research into how microscopic organisms affect our health. Since the microscopic organisms which live in or on our bodies outnumber human cells by about 10 to 1, and are largely unstudied, this could be very interesting.

The Human Microbiome is defined as “all the microorganisms that reside in or on the human body, as well as their DNA, or genomes.” In short, scientists from around the country are going to sequence at least 400 microbial genomes in a first step at looking at how they may affect health and disease.

$990,000 is going to UCLA to look at possible connections between skin organisms and acne. Let’s hope they find something!

Ah, sweet sleep

Dan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:48:58 +0000

So the clocks turned back and we all got another hour of sleep. Guess what? That’s good for acne.

Lack of sleep is a huge physical stressor. It’s not just mental stress that can aggravate acne. Physical stress like overworking, overexercising, and undersleeping can also increase the symptoms of acne. Getting your eight hours, or however much sleep your body requires, is a great way to help keep your skin in check.

Working the night shift: Dr. Fulton, one of my big heroes in acne research has said in his classes, “I can get pretty much anyone cleared up, unless they work the night shift.” His comment has always stuck with me. While I have not had lots of experience with people who work the night shift, if his experience is correct, it is not just the amount of sleep that is important, but also when we sleep. Science has named our internal biological clock the “human circadian rhythm”. Melatonin levels rise sharply at night and fall during the day. Our hypothalmus and much of the rest of our bodies are hardwired to produce a natural rhythm of sleep and wakefulness.

So if you or someone you know works the night shift and can’t seem to clear up, this may be something to think about.

Tips to stay clear this Halloween

Dan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:44:48 +0000

Years ago I dressed up as a drowning victim for Halloween. I wore blue makeup all over my face…and broke out. Another time, I wore a scary mask all night…and broke out. Here are a few tips to keep you from making the mistakes I made.

Makeup: If you look at ingredients in Halloween makeup, it’s not always a pretty sight. They often contain pore clogging oils and other highly comedogenic ingredients. Choose oil-free varieties and look for the term “non-comedogenic” on the packaging. Also, stay away from makeups which have “iso” ingredients, including isopropyl myristate and isopropyl palmitate. Myristal myristate is another big offender to watch out for. When applying the makeup, apply it as gently and quickly as you can, and wash it off before bed, performing your usual regimen after washing it off.

Costumes: Masks and other creative costumes can rub the skin and cause irritation. One of the most surefire ways to initiate a breakout is to irritate and rub the skin. People who play sports see this phenomenon with chin straps. Masks create a similar scenario. Try to choose a costume that does not have a mask or anything that rubs on acne prone areas. If you already chose your costume and it contains a mask or something that will rub your skin, wear it for only short periods of time if you can.

Have fun you guys!!

Visualizing clear skin. Hocus Pocus or Hocus “Totally Worksus”?

Dan — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:05:35 +0000

I put up a page about visualizing clear skin a few months ago and asked for some feedback from you guys on whether or not it worked for you. You responded with some comments which are now on the visualization and acne page. I know trying this stuff can be a stretch, but if the mind and body really are one, which when you think about it…they really are to some extent…then perhaps it’s worth a shot. I personally enjoy and employ the whole concept of visualizing what I want to create, and it seems to work well in most areas of my life. Medical conditions are one area where I’m a little less convinced, but I remain open. If you decide to try this, please keep submitting your comments on the visualization page.

Product updates

Dan — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:19:26 +0000

New and improved moistuizer: I’ve been in and out of the lab a few times and we’re making some fantastic progress. I’ll hopefully be sending out samples to moderators and product testers soon to see if they prefer it to the current moisturizer. I prefer it quite a bit myself. The samples I’ve been developing have no tack, take care of flakiness, and feel amazing.

Spot treatment: I’m on the second round of spot treatment now and I’ve sent it out to some moderators and testers to see what they think. I’ll let you know when I get a response from them. I’m not settled on this sample, but wanted to get some feedback before taking it back for improvements.

SPF: I’m waiting to nail down the new and improved non-spf moisturizer first in the hopes of using that base for the SPF. The SPF is still a ways away.

Expiration date on new tubes

Dan — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:28:37 +0000

Some of you have been asking about where to find the expiration date on the new 8oz. treatment tubes. It’s up there in the crimp.

Big news, um, except totally not ;-)

Dan — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:02:09 +0000

There’s a paint-your-own-pottery store in my neighborhood called Terra Mia, and we go down there from time to time just to have fun. Well, guess who got design of the week!? Truth be told, I kinda asked the owner if I could be design of the week. I know, that’s totally cheating. Oh well. I still got it! Here’s my bowl:

Are you proud of me?

Product trial - safety razor

Dan — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:03:11 +0000

In my neverending quest to find the least irritating shave, I recently tried a safety razor. Safety razors are seriously old school. They are heavy metal contraptions into which you put an actual double edged razor blade. Since I read on a couple of shaving web sites that safety razors provide the least irritating shave, I decided to try one.

It was a horrible shave, and terribly irritating–one of the most irritating shaves I’ve ever experienced. I couldn’t even finish one shave with it. It felt like raking something sharp across my skin. Yuck.

People online say it takes some practice to achieve the skill needed to get the best shave possible with these things, but I felt quite clearly after my first shave that no amount of practice would change this frog into a prince.

I tried the Merkur brand because it was most highly recommended from people who use safety razors. It was quite expensive, but I figured if it worked out I’d save money on blades, since the regular double edged blades are so inexpensive. But alas, I’m just out the money I spent on this thing. I’d highly recommend saving your money and just sticking with the Gillette Trac II or the Gillette Sensor Excel.

Supps

Dan — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:49:13 +0000

Hey you guys. I wanted to show you the supps that I take each day. I’ve read enough evidence to come to the conclusion that supplementing with fish oil and zinc is prudent. I also supplement with some other stuff, which I thought I’d share. Here’s a list of what I take each day:

Fish oil: Three 1000mg pills. Fish oil is a potent anti-inflammatory. Acne is an inflammatory disease. Plus, fish oil is great for heart health and a bevy of other diseases. No-brainer. I take Country Life brand because they don’t give me any fish burps.

Zinc: There is probably more evidence backing up zinc for controlling acne than any other supplement. Study after study show about 40% reduction in acne lesions. Keep in mind that placebo is 30%, so zinc outpaces placebo, albeit not to an astonishing degree. I take one 30-50mg pill per day, depending on what’s on sale. Zinc becomes toxic at levels above 100mg/day.

Multi-vitamin: Just to cover my bases I take a name brand multi-vitamin. I prefer a large name brand because I figure they’ve got more to lose if they are found negligent in some way, such as not putting the required amount of vitamins in there. From what I’ve read, we don’t know if a multi-vitamin is definitely beneficial, and multi-vitamins do not contain polyphenols, the life-giving chemicals in plants. But taking a multi makes me feel better just in case.

Borage oil/evening primrose oil: Borage oil, or evening primrose oil both contain GLA (gamma linoleic acid). Their anti-inflammatory activity and efficacy are controversial and still up for debate. So why do I take it? Because I saw a naturopath a few years ago and she told me to, so I take them on occasion. Yeah, not a good reason. I’ll probably stop taking them soon But for full disclosure, I thought I’d let you know I take them. If you have recent evidence of their efficacy or non-efficacy please let me know.

Vitamin D3: I take one 1000mg vitamin D3 pill per day. I don’t eat vitamin D fortified dairy much at all, and my sun exposure is limited, so I make sure to take a D3 pill each day.

That’s it. It’s a handful as you can see, but I’ve become adept at gulping them all down in one swig. Have I noticed effects from them? Honestly, not really. But it feels good to take them just for bodily insurance. Hopefully evidence will mount regarding all of the above mentioned supplements so we have a better idea of which are truly beneficial.

Dairy and acne study

Dan — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:11:30 +0000

Cool news you guys. I’ve been working with Daniel, our intern, as well as a statistician, and a well known doctor to put together a “prospective dietary trial” on milk and acne. What is a “prospective dietary trial”? Well, it means basically that we’re going to ask people on Acne.org to stop eating and drinking dairy and to fill out surveys and take pictures to document changes in their acne symptoms. If we get enough people to volunteer and follow through, it could be seminal research on the topic. Pretty darn cool.

Daniel, our intern, has been amazing with all of this–big shout out to him. He’s basically running the show. But all of us can be involved too! I’ve decided to be a candidate for the study, which will be hard because it will mean no pizza, but I’ll do it in the name of science! I’ll let you all know when this starts and when you can sign up.

Getting tested for SIBO

Dan — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:06:00 +0000

In doing reserach on rosacea, I came across a fascinating study in 2009 where about half of the people with rosacea were found to have small intestinal bacteria overgrowth (SIBO). Upon administration of rifaximin, an antibiotic that does not penetrate the intestinal wall, thus staying within the intestine and eradicating the SIBO, many of the rosacea sufferers with SIBO were completely cleared. At a nine month follow up they remained clear.

Fascinating.

No such study has been performed on people with acne, but hey, who knows! So I’ve asked my doctor to refer me to a testing facility to see if I have SIBO myself, just for fun. It’s a simple breath test, and I’m hoping to find someone in the area who can perform the test. I’ll let you guys know how it goes. I am reseraching as much as I can about intestinal bacteria and skin disease, with acne as a particular focus of course. If you have any references for me, please let me know.

Quick update: what we’ve been working on this week

Dan — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:00:14 +0000

New ratings pages: Paul and Joel have been busy redoing our ratings pages to simplify them and create more sorting options. It’s going to be amazing when it’s finished.

Everydayhealth blog: Everydayhealth.com asked me to write a guest blog once a week and I’m on my third week. Feel free to check it out if you’d like. I’m having a lot of fun with it. I can just let my mind run wild once a week and get creative. Good stuff.

New videos: We uploaded new videos to the homepage, the regimen page, the personalized advice page, and the regimen advice page. Don’t tell anybody, but they’re taken in front of a white sheet that we taped up to the wall of my living room

Reading about tricotillomania and other cognitive treatments to help with picking related disorders, in particular a therapy called “acceptance and commitment therapy” which consists of not fighting against intrusive thoughts. I want our picking pages to be as amazing as possible. I find the subject fascinating.

Reading research on Epiduo, a combination adapalene and benzoyl peroxide topical prescription treatment. I’ll add that information to the medications page shortly.

Good stuff

We need some computer help. Hiring PHP/Javascript/MYSQL/Photoshop gal or guy.

Dan — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:11:10 +0000

Hey you guys. I’ve got multiple projects at the ready: a newly updated scars page, an interactive picking page, and several other fun new web pages which are designed and ready for implementation. But, Joel is back in school and too busy to handle it all! So, we need another Joel OK, that’s not possible. We’re all unqiue But let’s way it were. What is another Joel? Basically, someone who is amazing in PHP, Javascript, and who can also design stuff in Photoshop part time to full time. The work would be done remotely. Pay is commensurate with experience. If you’re interested, please email miriam@acne.org with a resume and cover letter outlining why you’d like to work for Acne.org in particular.

Thanks you guys!

Skin needling using a tattoo gun

Dan — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:34:40 +0000

As part of my ongoing scar research, I came across a tattoo artist here in San Francisco who uses a wide needle grouping on her tattoo gun with no ink to needle indented scars. Her name is Idexa and she’s the real deal. I called her up and she was nice enough to invite me in for an informational chat. Here’s what I found out:

- The procedure is for indented scars, not raised.

- She has experienced “minimal results”, but her clients say they are quite happy with the results. Follow-up, however, is not usually part of the process. She thus has no before and afters. Whether results are long term or not she is not certain, but no one in her six years of doing this has come back in for another treatment.

- It hurts less than a laser and is more irritating than painful. She says natural endorphins kick in and take care of the pain. A numbing cream can be used, but I got the impression that that’s for wimps I’d probably get the numbing cream.

- It costs $250-$350, and sessions can last anywhere from a few seconds for just one mark up to 10-15 minutes for a cheek, and more for the entire face.

- There is no color used, so you are not “getting a tattoo”. However, it’s important to ask that disposable plastic tubes are used just to be certain.

- Idexa owns Black & Blue Tattoo here in San Francisco on the corner of Guerrero St. and 16th St. Feel free to contact her if you’d like to try it out. I would love to follow along and document the process. If you do end up going in to see her, please let me know.

New, improved moisturizer

Dan — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:36:10 +0000

Hey you guys. I’ve been in the lab helping formulate a new and improved non-SPF moisturizer. While our current moisturizer is my favorite, it’s not perfect, so I’ve been trying sample after sample. I’ve tested 39 new samples in all and we’re getting some awesome stuff. I’m bursting at the seams to get the new, improved moisturizer into distribution. What has changed? We’ve moved from glycerin to methyl glyceth-20, which is a glycerin derivative with less tack and less sting. Also, we’ve added some cutting edge Japanese moisturizing ingredients that have me basically falling in love. I’m hoping to finalize a new formula soon and start testing it for stability. Best case scenario would probably be 6 months or so from now to get it out.