Interesting discovery about acne? Face Mapping?

Achieving beautiful, flawless, acne free skin! Every day on MUA questions are asked. Some are desperate and just want to find a solution while others are just ranting. There are success stories and those always bring positive reactions, compliments. Many want to know how these glorious results where obtained. Since we are all different, the routines described are often quite personal and would not agree with everyone. Now, every once in a while, someone will come up with a blog entry. Some make sense but others, well...

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Young Girl with Daisies 1889

A fine example of beautiful, perfect skin.

Today on MUA this post appeared:

It's about this blog entry, "What is your acne telling you?" from The Beauty Gypsy. All I can say is hmmmmm!

"Face mapping, which is fast taking centre stage at most clinics nowadays, combines Ayurveda and ancient Chinese medicine with cutting edge dermatologists’ prescriptions to explain how certain parts of your face are connected to other areas of your body. Put simply, think of your face as a map and blemishes as X’s on that landscape. Spots in different zones correspond to different problems. So, with this “map” as your guide, you can address the underlying causes of blemishes and not only make the unsightly zits vanish but also treat the underlying health problem in time."            (from What is your acne telling you?)

Really???

Some of the comments on this blog are quite interesting. One did make me think. In a way it's true that this resembles reflexology, practiced in ancient Egypt and China. Based on the belief  that reflexes in hands and feet correspond to every part of the body, it remains quite popular to this day.

Hieroglyph depicting people massaging hands and feet of others.

It brought me back to my studying days, seeing Ozias Leduc's painting for the first time and learning about phrenology, the study of the human skull. Developed by German physician Franz Joseph Gall in 1796, it was quite popular in the 19th century. It examined the relationship between morphology of the brain and a person's character. Although it was considered to be an important historical advance toward neuropsychology, it's glory days have long gone.

Ozias Leduc, La Phrénologie, 1892

So, back to that acne chart. A new fab or are they on to something? In response to a comment the author, Anubha writes this:

"Um, actually it’s not my claim as such but that of Chinese medicine and Ayurveda – both of which have been saying it for some 5,000 years. In fact, it stems from exactly the same stream of thought that believes in reflexology, acupressure and acupuncture. The only reason it’s not as well known in the Western world just now is because dermatologists are (re)discovering it as we speak.In fact, clinical nutritionist and renowned beauty expert Kimberly Snyder has written a whole bestseller on this recently, while cutting edge brands like Dermalogica are using this method to solve customer’s skin problems. You can see that link here:http://www.jerseybeautycompany.co.uk/face_mapping.php – this is for the Face Mapping program developed by the International Dermal Institute exclusively for Dermalogica. Hope this satisfies some of your wariness about the topic."                                                                                             

Seems to me like a new way to sell more Dermalogica products.

Remember "Manic Panic!!!"? Those who will believe just about anything to achieve perfect younger looking skin! Remember this is Utopia, it doesn't exist. Nobody has flawless skin!

I so sympathise with acne sufferers. I did suffer from it in my teens and 20's and unfortunately I know some still have to deal with it in their 50's. The "Manic Panic!!!" entry was mainly about wrinkles and aging but does have some correlation. It shows to what extent we are prepared to go to get that glowing young, and again, perfect complexion.

Acne is a serious matter and goes beyond a perfect wrinkle free face. I know that for many it can be quite simply, paralyzing. Not wanting to go out, wanting to hide and feeling lonely, ugly. If only treating acne was as simple as face mapping. It's not! I can understand that when you're feeling lower than low, you want to believe in the next best thing. But is this it? I honestly doubt it. Achieving good skin is not easy but it is possible. It takes patience, trial and error. True, nutrition has incidences as well as one's general health but I don't believe that face mapping will enable anyone to pin point the problem. Systemic or product related or even a combination or the two, that's what has to be determined first.

Careful where you get your information. I've said it before, the internet is a great resource but there's a lot of s**t out there as well. Apparently peddlers are still around....

The Great Yaquis Snake Oil Liniment, 

George Forgler & W. J. Brown, Portland, 1903