Given the current climate with coronavirus (COVID-19), I thought it would be a great time to put the spotlight on our hands – and the impact they have on our skin and overall health. Touching your face throughout the day is an absolute skin care no-no, and with this intractable virus in our midst, we need to keep our hands as far as possible from our visage. From door knobs to cell phones, laptop keyboards and more, we are coming in contact with millions of bacteria, viruses, and allergens transferred from our fingertips onto the skin.
If you have oily skin or acne prone skin, pay extra heed to the no-face-touching rule
When you have oily skin to begin with, you’re more susceptible to clogged pores and breakouts. Touching your face just adds more oil, debris, and dirt – which can make matters a lot worse. And if you have acne, well, no-face-touching should be one of your commandments. It’s probably the most offensive thing you can do other than excessive exfoliation.
Acne is caused by a combination of excess sebum, hormonal factors, clogging of pores, and P. acnes (also known as C. acnes) bacteria. P. acnes feeds on the oils of our skin and can overgrow in the relatively low-oxygen environment of a clogged hair follicle, causing redness and swelling, and leading to papules, pustules, or even cysts. So, pressing your oily finger pads onto your face creates a wonderful breeding ground for inflammation.
Hands off your eyes, it may lead to hyper-aging and dermatitis
Many of us not only touch our faces with reckless abandon, but we also tend to rub our eyes incessantly. The area within our orbital bone is so delicate that rubbing them can create microscopic tears in the tissue, exacerbating fine lines and breaking capillaries in the process, thus intensifying dark circles.
Our eyelids are particularly sensitive to contact dermatitis as well. According to Elisabeth Novak, our Physician Assistant and allergy expert:
“The skin of the eyelid is much thinner than the rest of the face and body, making it prone to irritation and or allergic reactions. The skin may react with very little exposure to an offending agent and or be the only area of skin that cannot tolerate certain contact exposures. Other skin of the face may tolerate a make-up remover wipe, for example, but the eye lids may not! In addition, our hands can transfer allergens to our eye when we forget and inevitably touch them during the day, also provoking dermatitis limited to the eyelid skin even though the hands do not break out. Once again, hands off eyes!”
Don’t pick at your face – it can cause scarring!
Some of us are much bigger face pickers than others. We can’t resist taking a stab (pun intended) at a pimple. We just can’t let it be; we have to set it free. Popping pimples and the like can cause some serious damage to our skin in the form of scarring. The more superficial ruptures may not scar, but if there is a deep break in the follicle wall, then debris may go deep into the dermis and cause redness, swelling, discoloration and even permanent scarring.[1]
SMD tips for keeping your face protected from hands
We’ve been pawing at our face since we were born. It’s a quirk of human nature so we can’t curtail it easily. I checked-in with our doctors to see what we can do to lessen the pathogen load, especially in light of the coronavirus outbreak.
- Wash hands – the right way. We recommend following the CDC’s 5-step hand-washing routine. After wetting your hands with cold or warm water, apply soap and lather well. Rub your hands vigorously for at least 20 seconds – and make sure you cover all areas including the back of your hands, between fingers, and under your fingernails. It’s the friction that effectively eradicates all the bacteria. Then make sure you rinse your hands well and either air-dry them or use a clean towel.
- Carry Kleenex or nitrile (non-latex) gloves in your bag and use if you feel a monstrous facial itch coming on.
- Hand sanitizer is great when you’re on-the-go, but make sure to check the label to ensure the product contains at least 60% alcohol.
- You’re smartphone is a mobile petri dish. Don’t forget to clean it after you wash your hands. The coronavirus can survive on smooth glass and plastic for up to nine days. The CDC recommends using cleaning spray for all “high-touch” surfaces.
Written by Maya
[1] Tanghetti EA. “The role of inflammation in the pathology of acne”. J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 2013; 6(9):27-35.