Search icon

Beauty

31st Mar 2016

Do You Suffer From “Airplane Acne”? It’s A Delightful New Thing To Worry About

If you've noticed your skin gets worse after travelling, read on.

Megan Cassidy

At this point, we’re wondering what DOESN’T cause breakouts.

Chocolate, crisps, cold weather, hot weather, stress (the most frustrating of all?) and now… flying.

Yep, if you’ve ever noticed breakouts after travelling, it’s not just in your imagination.

According to the folks at Marie Claireour skin does not like travel at ALL.

This is down to the dry air, which exacerbates dry skin trapping oil underneath the dehydrated skin cells.

If your skin is oily, you’re not off the hook – your skin actually begins to produce MORE oil to protect itself from the low humidity.

So sad.

Dr. Neal Schultz, an NYC dermatologist told the publication that travel causes the skin more stress than we might realise:

“It’s very stressful to your body, which deals with stress by secreting cortisone from your adrenal gland, but every time the adrenal gland makes some cortisone, it also leaks a little bit of male hormone, androgen, out at the same time.

“In men who have normally high levels of male hormone, that little bit of male hormone doesn’t make any difference. But in women, who normally have low levels of male hormone, that extra little bit of male hormone makes a big difference.”

The only way to prevent it? Cleanse, tone and moisturise before, during and after the flight.

It might sound excessive (and a tad dramatic) but it just might have to be done.