Even when individuals with acne refrain from squeezing acne lesions, unless they are careful to keep their hands off their faces, acne symptoms can worsen. Unwashed hands hold bacteria that can easily spread from the hands to the face. Even clean hands can spread bacteria when they touch bacteria-infected acne lesions.

The bacteria is transferred onto the hands and then onto the face or body. Because many people habitually rest their chins on their hands, people with acne must make a conscious effort to avoid doing this. When the dermatologist told me to keep my hands off my face, I had to work at it. I was surprised how often I touched my face. It’s not something you think about until the doctor tells you to. It’s not easy to stop either.

But I don’t want new zits all over my face, so I really watch myself. This is something that we often overlook when we are trying to heal acne. While we may have the perfect diet and use the best medication, little physical actions like putting your hands on your face will cause bacteria to accumulate and inflammations to worsen. This will make it more difficult for anti-acne medication to work because it constantly has to deal with dirt in the environment being transferred from your hands to your face.

Here are some quick tips on how to avoid touching your hands.

Put up a post-it note where you can see it, telling yourself not to touch your face. This is really helpful if you work in an office environment or at home because you’ll be able to remind yourself all the time. Remember to change the post-it note every now and then so you won’t get too used to it and ignore the message.
Keep tissues around you. Always travel with tissues in your pocket and learn to use them when you feel that itch to touch your face. This prevents bacteria from coming directly in contact with your skin.
Ask for help. If you live with someone, ask him or her to watch you as you go about your daily chores. Tell them to tell you to stop touching your face whenever they see you doing it. Trust me, it really helps a lot. After a while you will be conditioned to not touch your face when you’re not aware of it.
Keep your hands clean! This is quite simple but often overlooked. Use hand sanitizers whenever possible to ensure that no dirt gets on your hand. And wash your hands every time after you eat or come in contact with public surfaces like elevator doors or railings.

If you follow these tips it should really help you to prevent acne from forming unnecessarily. Not touching your face will save you a lot of headaches in the long run, especially if you’ve been trying to heal acne for a long time but nothing seems to work. This is a simple trick that’ll help you considerably in your fight to prevent acne.

Emily Jameson hates acne. Her mission is to help everyone fight and cure acne forever. For more acne skincare tips and ways to prevent acne, check out her acne free blog.