Respect My Face!

Magazine/Issue:  Allure / Body News (January 2006 issue, p.58) ~ by Kristin Cobb

Skin Experts often discourage women with acne from wearing makeup, but a new study shows that certain cosmetics can improve acne sufferers’ quality of life without aggravating their skin. Dermatology professor Nobukazu Hayashi and other researchers at Tokyo’s Women’s Medical University instructed 18 women to apply makeup formulated for blemish-prone skin (from a Japanese cosmetics line) as they began an acne treatment regimen. (Treatment, which varied by individual, consisted of oral antibiotics, topical antibiotics, chemical peels, or a combination of these.) After two to four weeks, the women in the study reported feeling more attractive and less embarrassed, anxious, and depressed, and despite the makeup, they had fewer breakouts than they had initially. Rather than covering acne with oil-based foundation, Hayashi recommends applying noncomedogenic makeup, which is designed not to clog pores.