Acne sufferers will be glad to know there’s a surprisingly beneficial effect

No way.

You rarely hear acne and positive in the same sentence so you can imagine why this news had my full attention. Apparently, a very specific blemish strain entitled P.acnes can actually have the positive side effect of protecting our skin from free radical damage. At this stage, you might be wondering what exactly are P.acnes and why you need to know about them... This particular type of spot-causing bacteria is usually found under the skin, within the hair follicles and pores, and it thrives on sebum so those with oily skin are much more likely to experience P.acnes. Anyway, the good news is that P.acnes, and this is where it gets slightly complicated, contain a protein entitled RoxP and it can help to protect the skin against common skin conditions including psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. The research, which was published in Scientific Reports, found that RoxP is able to both reduce free radicals, protect molecules from oxidation and detoxify any free radicals that are present on the skin. However, there are both good and bad strains of P.acnes and when sebum production is high/pores are blocked, the bad strains only multiply. To avoid the 'bad' P.acne multiplying, keep an eye on hormonal imbalances and vitamin deficiencies as these have been known to irritate the P.acne strain. Acne can damage your confidence, takes a considerable amount of time to get better and is pretty horrible overall so we'll take any good news there is.