A proper search in Google should include the correct keywords – you don’t need superflous words like ‘and,’ ‘or,’ ‘with,’ etc. Google should be showing us the most relevant results when it comes to diet and acne when we query ‘acne diet.’ Now let’s dissect the results.

Result # 1: EveryDiet.com says…

Foods with saturated fats and trans fats can contribute to oily skin. Saturated fats are found in most animal products – such as meats, dairy, and pulty. However the body does still require other essential fatty acids – such as from fish, flaxseed, or hempseed oil.

From the get go, this website is trying to claim that saturated fats from animal products can contribute to oily skin. Wrong. Saturated fats from animals (pork fat, e.g.) contain many necessary nutrients for health – our ancestors have been consuming these fats for thousands of years. In fact, the fat of the animals was considered sacred, and the most healthy part of the animal along with animal organs. The prevailing theme of this website has it completely wrong – lets scrap this one and move on.

Result # 2: FreeAcneBook.com says…

Acne is cause by the combination of a high sebum production and pinched off sebum canals. If the pinching off of sebum canals is eliminated, you will get NO new pimples whatsoever. Most foods contain such substances that make the skin pinch.

The overall theme of this site scares me from the start. The domain name screams ‘i’m selling something!’ despite it claiming to be free. But maybe this free eBook is useful, let’s read their first statement:

Acne is caused by high sebum production. It’s true that acne is caused by superfluous sebum production but this isn’t the main cause. This site is implying that this is the true cause, which is wrong. This cause is only one step on the ladder of causes. They go on to talk about pinched off sebum canals – i’m not sure what they are trying to get at here (Accutane, perhaps?) but it’s obvious they are not getting at any true cause. Pinched off sebum canals are not natural. Our skin plays many natural functions – one of which is to create sebum to promote supple skin. Pinching off these canals is like saying, if your having erectile dysfunction, pinching your pee hole will solve all your problems! It isn’t natural.

Result # 3: About.com says…

So, is diet alone going to clear your acne? Probably not. However, a health diet will certainly improve your overall health.

OK, we finally have a self touted authority in information. They have to know what’s up, right?

They start off by citing some references to studies showing some correlation between diet and acne. Good! But then I see what you see above: ‘is diet alone going to clear your acne? Probably not.’ Probably not? It’s a yes or no question. We aren’t politicians here trying to dance on a fence to make sure we don’t upset anyone. We want hard cold answers – and we want it now. We are suffering everyday! ‘Probably not.’ does not answer our questions. Here is your answer: Yes, your acne has everything to do with your diet, and diet alone will clear and cure your acne.

Result # 4: Care2.com says…

Why is it that teens in New Guinea and Paraguay have no acne? Or in Kenya, rural Japan, or Malaisia, for that matter? The reason goes against the commonly held viewpoint of most dermatologists who think acne isn’t caused by diet.

A seminal study on acne published in the Archives of Dermatologs in 2002, reported that there was no one single case of acne–zero–in two non-Westernized populations studied for a diet-acne connection. One population was in New Guinea and the other Paraguay.

What do these two cultures have in common? They were eating the diet of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Foods you could hunt, gather, plush or fisk, what Loren Cordain, Ph. D, author of the audy and book by the same name, calls The Paleo Diet.

Hmm, this seems interesting. They start with a question, ‘Why is it that teens in New Guinea and Paraguay have on acne?’ – I used to wonder this myself. Then they state ‘a seminal study…reported that there was not one single case.’ – Can’t argue with hard cold facts, right? Lasty they state ‘What do these two cultures have in common? They were eating the diet of our hunter-gatherer ancestors.’

Let’s take a moment to step up from our computer chairs and give a round of applause. Bravo care2.com. You have it right! Our ancestors did not have acne because they were not plagued by the ill effects of processed foods. So you have the reasoning right, the only thing left is to figure out exactly what was the diet of our ancestors and what parts of their diet correlate to our skins health. The Focus:Acne Formula answers that question in extreme detail.

Result # 5: Acne.com says…

Sponsored by ProActiv

Sponsored by ProActiv? I wonder how much they paid to acquire such a straight forward domain name. This just goes to show that acne is a business. It’s not even worth our time to read the propaganda on this website.

All in all, i’m actually quite happy to have found at least one result out of the so called ‘top 5′ that has the true cause of acne correct. Now try to search some common terms such as ‘acne,’ ‘acne treatments,’ ‘acne medications,’ – you’ll be hard pressed to find any in the top 100 which can show anything promising. The fact is, most acne information on the web is useless.

UPDATE: Google Now Likes Focus:Acne

Just recently Google has decided to put us in the top 5 results for the search ‘acne diet.’ Kudos Google, looks like you are becoming more aware, and helping others become more aware in the process!

About the Author: George is a former acne sufferer who has cured his acne through dietary means. He is the head coach behind the scenes, in the Focus:Acne Members Area. He, along with it’s strong growing community have helped several people cure their acne through diet.

• What Passes for Food In America by Cheeselave talks about how she recently traveled with her family to discover the turmoils of eating healthy while traveling. It's tough not to be able to cook your own food using the ingredients of your choice. Maybe you've noticed your skin get worse even when you eat at someone else's house - or when traveling to another country. Processed foods are everywhere you go - white flour, high fructose corn syrup, eggs which come from chickens cooped up in factories, etc. The strongest concept of this article which you should grasp is 'there is no such thing as cheap food.'

• High Soy Diet Shatters Boyhood Dreams of Football Glory by Hartke is Online! talks about how diet effected the authors teen years. Low and behold, he makes a direct link between eating habits and skin problems. I'm glad there are other bloggers out there who share this same sentiment!

• Gluten Free Sourdough and Weston A. Price Principles by The New Homemaker tells about their experiences making healthy bread that does not cause constipation. The bread recipe follows the principles of Weston A. Price. Once you become more familiar with what foods are healing and what foods are damaging to your skin, you'll want to create your own recipes for healthy eating.

• Healthy and Anti-inflammatory Fats by Nourishing Hope is a short excerpt which holds lots of weight in our hearts. They talk about how certain fats can cause inflammation on the skin.

Acne is a business, and business is flourishing.

There are thousands upon thousands of acne products, both prescription and over the counter, that cycle in and out of drugstore shelves. At any given time, there are hundreds of different products that are available to the acne sufferer. They all have similar formulas with the same major ingredients. There are only a few active ingredients 'shown in studies' to be effective in 'managing' acne - those are Benzoyl Peroxide and Salicylic acid.  In essence, mostly all OTC acne products are the same thing with a few different inactive ingredients.  Figuring out which one is best is overwhelming for the common acne sufferer. The fact is,  none of them are effective at curing your acne.

Greed, misconception, and its relationship with acne

To understand the acne business model, you must first understand that humans are greedy, and greed in the ecosystem of today's society directly effects health in many ways.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. - Mahatma Gandhi

In a system where people are rewarded through the accumulation of money, the health of the unsuspecting results. Enron is a classic example of humans greed to accumulate money at the expense of others.  The healthcare and pharmaceutical industries are no different.

Every year, a dozen new acne companies are created. According to the American Acadaemy of Dermatology, 40-50 million people suffer from acne. and each year 85% of teenagers will have acne. [1] This creates a huge market with lots of opportunities for business men to make money.

Common sense will tell us that most of these business men don't understand the true nature of acne - hell, most dermatologists don't even understand it's true nature. Their beliefs are based off of misconception.

The #1 Misconception: Acne is not curable, but treatable and manageable.

This is because the roots from which all acne treatments stems from is an effort in futility. All acne products treat the symptom (acne) and do not treat the true cause (health and nutrition). [3] (see Ladder of Causes)

The fact that the acne market today is based off an effort in futility happens to be very good for business. Understand the cycle of events that take place in an average acne sufferer consumer:

Big acne business and the many unknowns

The pinnacle of business in terms of the acne product market came at the advent of  ProActiv, a sister company of Gunthy Renker Corporation, a direct-response marketer known primarily for selling products in the United States via infomercials. [4]

Right now, we own acne. - Greg Renker, a chief executive of Guthy-Renker

The idea was quite genius, in business terms. Bring together the marketing powerhouse abilities of Gunthy Renker with the preconceived expertise of Dr. Katie P. Rodan and Dr. Kathy A. Fields, the two dermatologists who founded ProActiv. Now you have an image with the capability to market it effectively. From this point, there is no need to put more money into improving product effectiveness.

We are told very little about how these two dermatologists created their products. The FDA will tell us that topical products should be built and tested in a lab by capable human beings  doing their due diligence, who understand the function of each and every chemical used. Where is the line between dermatologist and chemist drawn? Bottom line, it isn't - the consumer has no idea how these products were created and who they were created by. How are we able to surmise the effectiveness of a product we cannot understand completely? Are we to blatantly believe what we see on television infomercials and obliviously consume and apply drugs that are supposedly helpful for us?

Built in Consumer Advertising vs. Commercial Advertising

In most business models, built in consumer advertising is a huge part of the success of an advertising campaign. For instance, when someone buys a Honda Civic, and is happy with their purchase, they will tell their friends and family that they are having a good experience. Another example would be Apple. When someone is on the bus using their new iPhone, the apple logo stands out on the other side. Someone else who randomly looks sees this logo and is effectively advertised by the consumer.

The acne business model is inherently different. When someone is able to effectively improve their acne, it isn't common for the sufferer to tell his friends and family that 'Hey, this Murad acne cream is working pretty well!' No one can see what type of acne medication/treatment you are using at the time. Acne is a sensitive subject that isn't talked about publicly. Therefore, built in consumer advertising is not an important cornerstone of the acne advertising model.

What's far more important is commercial advertising. Getting the idea out there that the product they are selling actually works and convince the consumer that it is proven to work. Jessica Simpson was paid six figures alone to appear in Pro Activ commercials to help convince the consumer.  The company spends about $125 million a year buying time for its infomercials on channels like VH1 and MTV as well as Web sites like Facebook. [2]

Millions of dollars are put into lobbying the government and FDA for approval of acne products.

The money doesn't end in advertising. Most over the counter products and all prescription products must go through the FDA if companies want to access this multi-billion dollar industry. The FDA, or Food and Drug Administration, is a federal agency in the Department of Health and Human Services established to regulate the release of new foods and health-related products. [5]

Wherever there is a billion dollar industry, there will be corruption. The acne market is no different. Every year, health care, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic companies alike put millions of dollars into lobbying the government for 'ease of passage.' This means, making the flow from lab to drugstore shelf as seamless and easy as possible. Despite the obvious fact that this goes against the very reason why the FDA exists in the first place, it just goes to show how important money is in the overall scheme of things as compared to the actual effectiveness of the product and whether it helps people or not.

Drawing conclusions from the fundamental concepts of the acne business model

Acne Business Model Concept #1: Acne is not curable, create products that succeed in managing acne as a disease.

The whole acne product scam is based off the misconception that acne is not curable but only manageable, yet they want to give the impression that there is a possibility of a cure with their products. The fact is, there is a cure for acne, and that is through health and nutrition, which is devoid of any need for any specific acne treatments.

Acne Business Model Concept # 2: Money spent on commercial advertising is much more important then drug effectiveness.

As stated earlier, commercial advertising yields far higher returns then would be product effectiveness, because built in consumer advertising does not exist with the acne business model.

Acne Business Model Concept #3: Health of sufferers comes secondary to product effectiveness and profit margins. The FDA is more of an obstacle then a safety.

Understand that acne drugs, whether it be Accutane, or topical acne treatments, are not healthy and can severely impair your health in many cases. This doesn't matter to acne companies, as long as the product passes FDA regulations and the superficial symptoms are treated. This falls within the business model because acne sufferers are so desperate at fixing their skin that they are blinded by the ramifications of consuming man made drugs and applying man made topicals made from unnatural chemicals.

Understanding the greed and business model of acne products on the market today can open your eyes to many things. Be wary of any acne products or drugs on the market because they were not created with your health in mind.

Also realize that the products promoted by these companies cannot cure your acne - the only way to cure your acne is through changes to your diet, as discussed and tackled with the Focus:Acne Formula.

George McCumiskey, ND

1. http://www.aad.org/public/publications/pamphlets/common_acne.html
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/fashion/18skin.html
3. http://focusacne.com/ladder-of-causes/
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guthy-Renker
5. http://wordnet.princeton.edu/

We can classify three types of people who produce acne information on the web.

Type 1: Money Makers

Acne is a huge business, and business is flourishing. Google gets several thousand search queries for the keyword acne, everyday. Web developers see this as an opportunity to produce eBooks, blogs, and products dealing with acne for the sole purpose to make money.

I would bet you that most of these 'money makers' never had to deal with a serious case of acne in their lives. Their main intention is not to help people, but to make money. Can you really believe what someone says when they have their hand in your pocket?

Type 2: Acne Sufferers

When there is agony, there is activism. Most people don't create websites, they join forums. The acne.org forums is the largest acne forum on the web. The forums are a place to share experiences and offer support. This is great, in theory, but it isn't an efficient solution to finding a cure.

Acne.org is based off the belief that topical medications are efficient tools for healthy skin. They even have their own e-store to prove it. The forums mimic this belief, yet there are thousands of the same acne sufferers visiting the site everyday. Does the acne.org benzoyl peroxide topical really work?

Forums are a great learning and support tool. However, when it comes to curing acne, answers need to be direct, and they need to be correct. If forum moderators can't provide the correct information, then mostly useless information will circulate.

Type 3: Cured and Happy

There are many who have cured their acne. Do you think most of them spend more of their time talking about acne when they just spent the last 5 years dealing with it? (I ask myself this question, sometimes) Acne is a depressing subject. All the people who cured themselves are continuing on with their lives and singing a happy tune while doing so. They are no longer reading studies, excerpts, and forum posts about pimples, blackheads, pustules, and cysts.

If you can find someone who is promoting correct information on curing acne, please let me know. I only know of one other person that deals specifically with the diet and acne connection. Her name is Fran Kern, and her blog can be found at High On Health. Thanks Fran for helping the community out!

The Avalanche of Misinformation

Think about the first type of information you came across dealing with acne. You were told to cleanse, apply an acne medication, and moisturize. You were told that if you do this for 30 days, you won't deal with acne anymore. You know now that this isn't effective, but maybe you didn't realize it back then. Many unsuspecting acne sufferers bought into this notion, and reached deep into their pockets to buy the products that were claimed to work.

Now there is money involved. Webmasters realize this, and attempt to replicate the same business model. They take the information one site has given you, rephrase it, re-brand it, and resell it.

What you get is thousands upon thousands of websites selling the same information, with a different name. Cleanse, apply, moisturize. Cleanse, apply, moisturize. It's all the same, and it's all wrong. I would break down the acne web info like this:

• 99% Incorrect information on blogs, eBooks and forums
• .5% Correct information in forums
• .5% Correct information on blogs

Point being, it is very difficult to find the correct information on actually curing acne. So what would you say? You've actively searched for viable acne information on the web. Do you agree with my claim?

George McCumiskey, ND

Dear Acne Sufferer,

Would you say diseases like acne, rosacea, boils, bumps, and scars are very interesting to anyone? How about that rash on the back of some guys scalp that Gold-bond wont help? Fuck no. It's downright depressing. Reading the obituaries everyday has more pleasantries.

So why would anyone want to become a dermatologist and deal with it day in and day out?

I'm sure many soon to be dermatologists had the thought "I'm interested in skin, and I want to help people."

For 99% of them, this thought came second to the money they could acquire, the status they could achieve, and the opportunities they would have the rest of their life. Generally speaking, humans are selfish.

Ask yourself, why are you here in the first place? It's not because your brother has some pimples on his forehead and you want to help him get laid – it's because you are dealing with this shitty disease everyday and you want to help yourself. Everyone does.

The Road to Dermatology

Let's depict the story of a hypothetical dermatologist.

He went through high school, probably got pretty good grades. He got into a good college – and he worked his ass off. Somewhere along the way he realized he wanted to get into the medical field - or maybe his parents forced him into it. He heard about dermatology, he knew peoples vanity is important to them. He then saw opportunity in this profession. . .

So, now this soon to be dermatologist makes it into a school of dermatology. He's fed bullshit studies and textbook information that was written in the 80s. He's convinced that this information is all true – because it's backed by studies and proofs – because it's written by knowledgeable professors and dermatologists alike.

Compare that to you, the acne-sufferer. You deal with this shit everyday. You hate it. All you can think about is how you can get rid of it. Sound about right?

You have a deep desire and passion to figure out what's wrong and how to fix it. You've studied more about acne then dermatologists. Dermatologists study about every skin disease – we specialize in one. We are one step ahead of the dermatologist.

How Do Dermatologists Make Money?

Maybe you don't care much about money. If you've grown up in Capitalist America, chances are that it has atleast some importance in your life.

Dermatologists are no different.

Remember, this was the main reason the well studied college kid decided to become a dermatologist in the first place - money, status, opprotunity. This is how they achieve it

1. When patients come in for checkups, treatments, and prescriptions.
2. Every time the patient fills his prescription

Maybe #2 didn't cross your mind?

Do you know what the largest business industry in the world is? It's not one that deals with Microsoft or Google - it's the pharmaceutical industry! I could go on for hours about how the pharmaceutical industry tries to fuck us over, but that isn't within the scope of our topic.

Pharmaceutical companies make money by selling drugs. They are more devious, more notorious, more greedy then the heroin dealer on the street corner of the ghetto.

Pharmaceutical companies offer incentives to doctors and dermatologists to prescribe their drugs over other rival companies. These incentives come in the form of money - and no, this isn't illegal!

Lets use antibiotics as our main example. There are literally several dozen types of antibiotics on the market. Not all of them come from the same company. The dermatologist has many poisons in his arsenal to mess you up with, but how does he choose? It's that green cotton paper, of course.

Now, you may be thinking i'm devils advocate. That i'm making out dermatologists to be evil gremlins with horns and the pharmaceutical companies are the devils themselves.

Remember that the dermatologist is convinced that the studies hes taught in college are true. The studies told him that clarithromycin worked on 67 out of the 93 patients studied. How would he know, he's never taken it himself.

In his mind, not only is he prescribing 'proven to work' drugs, but he's making good money at the same time. A win-win situation!

The Cycle of Futility is Good for the Dermatologists Trust Fund

After years and years of work, dermatologists must have figured out that all these drugs only treat the symptoms, that they don't provide a permanent cure - and in many cases, cause more harm then good.

Dermatologists accept the concept of 'There is no cure, there are only ways to manage it,' and they greet this concept with open arms.

Dermatologists would be out of business if there was a widespread known cure to acne. Whether it be in their subconscious, or conscious, dermatologists want more and more people to get acne so they have more patients to 'help.'

Do any of these dermatologists realize that many, many people are curing heir acne through healthy dietary choices?

Find me a dermatologist that will accept the diet and acne connection openly, and you've got yourself a free lifetime membership!

In the meantime, stay away from dermatologists. Your money and your time can be better spent elsewhere.

George McCumiskey, former acne-sufferer