Overview
When you're out and about having a fantastic time with your favorite pals, downing drinks and being crazy, skin care is likely the last thing on your mind. However, when you wake up the next day, ready to recover from that hangover and take on the world, your skin might be the first thing you notice. Okay, so the act of imbibing won't directly cause your skin to break out, but indirectly, you may end up with some acne issues because of changes in your regimen from excessive drinking.
Acne Causes
A number of factors can contribute to acne, including the overproduction of oil in the skin glands as well as the presence of dirt and other impurities left to clog the pores, to name a few. These factors may occur naturally in some people or may be the result of a lack of skin care, in which alcohol can play a role.
Indirect Effects
The direct effect of excessive alcohol and acne is that when you imbibe, you may skip right over your nightly skin-cleaning routine. A few too many days of this can lead to severe breakouts, particularly if it already takes a lot to control issues with acne. This is made worse when you get super made up for a night out and come home to crash after drinking, without taking any of those cosmetic products off of your face.
Remedies
If you know you plan to drink excessively, give yourself a good scrubbing before you even get started. While you might sweat more from the drinking and end up looking and feeling downright icky by the end of the night, at least you took some preventative measures to clean your pores and skin in general to stave off a breakout. You might also drink a ton of water at the end of the night to flush your body of those alcohol toxins, so they don't show up in the form of acne down the road.
Additional Tips
Go light on your makeup choices if you plan a night of heavy drinking with friends; this leaves less on your face at the end of the night. You might also keep some facial wipes handy so that you can wipe your face off throughout the night, particularly as the alcohol makes its way out of your body through your sweat.
