Does Touching Your Face Cause Acne?

You've always touched your face with your hands and never given it a second thought. That is until your friend told you that touching your face with your hands causes pimples, and if you stopped doing it, your acne would go away.

Could it really be that easy to clear your skin? 

Simply Touching Your Face Isn't Causing Your Acne

Touching your face with your hands isn't helpful for your acne but simply not touching your face anymore isn't going to make acne go away.

Acne Is Caused by Several Factors; Fingers Are Not One of Them

The reason you have acne is not because you brushed your fingers across your cheek last week, and it's not even because you like to rest your chin in your hand.

The real acne-causing culprits are.

• Over-active sebaceous glands (also known as oil glands)
• Abnormal shedding of skin cells
• Certain bacteria (specifically propionibacterium acnes)
• Hormonal influences

Touching, or not touching, the skin isn't going to impact these causes all that much, if at all.

Squeezing or Picking at Pimples Is Never a Good Idea

Of course, this all depends on what type of touching we're talking about. There are things your hands can do that will make acne worse.

Picking at the skin, squeezing blemishes, and scratching off scabs will definitely make acne look worse. When you pop a pimple or pick at a blemish scab, you're creating more inflammation and damaging your skin.

So, in this case, a hands-off approach is absolutely the best bet.

Touching Your Face Isn't Necessarily Helpful, Though

This isn't to say you're now free to start touching and rubbing at the skin with abandon. Your hands aren't always the cleanest things in the whole world, so you may not want to be touching your face a ton anyway.

It's also a good idea to wash your hands before touching your face, even if it's not to reduce acne. Hands can harbor germs. Touching your mouth, nose, or eyes with dirty hands can spread things like cold and flu viruses.

And sometimes lotions or creams on your hands can irritate the skin on your face, leading to breakouts or an allergic reaction.

Other Things Touching Your Face Can Trigger a Breakout

Although touching your face with your hands isn't a huge acne-causing trigger, some things touching your face can actually make acne worse. These are items like sweatbands, hats, football helmets, and more.

In these instances, it's friction that's causing the breakouts. Acne that is caused by friction is called acne mechanica.

So, you might not want to spend a lot of time with your face resting in your hands for just that reason, too. If you do this a lot (like every day during a boring class period) you may notice an increase in breakouts in that area.

For some people, irritants in cosmetics, hairspray, or other products can trigger inflammation and blemishes too.

Not Touching Your Face Won't Clear Up Acne, But a Good Treatment Product Will

Even if you were to never, ever touch your face from this point on, you might still have acne. Because acne isn't caused by simply touching your face, acne can't be "cured" by not touching your face.

If you want to see real improvement in your skin, you need to get on an acne treatment regimen. This may include over-the-counter products, and it might mean prescription medications too. A good daily skincare routine using a proven acne medication can make a huge difference. Hydrocolloid acne stickers/pads can be helpful to heal acne cysts and prevent picking. Consistent treatment and a bit of time will likely banish those breakouts—and keeping your hands off your face is a good idea too.