Acne in the Olden Days

When most people hear the word acne, they think of those occasional teenage pimples. True acne, alas, is a much worse condition that does cause pimples, but not all pimples are acne. It comes about due to the acne vulgaris bacteria, which causes changes in pilosebaceous units. How you wind up with that bacteria to start with seems to be a mystery, but guess what -- I'm one of those lucky souls. I even get to enjoy the cystic kind, meaning if I'm off my prescription medication what I get is even worse than the poor lady at right.

What did the pretty girls of the past do when their complexions were ruined by this disease? Well, one thing to note is that the affliction seems to have been commonly referred to as "worms" which probably gives insight as to what they thought was causing it (in the middle ages, dental cavities were also thought to be caused by worms getting into the mouth.) Then as now, there was a mistaken belief that it was caused by uncleanliness, and the primary advice was to wash more carefully and deeply, and during the Gibson Girl days this also meant using good oils to wash the face, since water was thought to be harmfully drying. "A French physician and skin-specialist, Mme. Pokitonoff, considers almond-oil, lanoline, vaseline, and pure fresh lard the best fats to use upon the face-skin," reports Fletcher, "and for acne and comedones she commends the following:

POKITONOFF ACNE OINTMENT. 

Ergotine 3 grammes 

Oxide of zinc 7 grammes 

Vaseline 30 grammes 

COMEDONE OINTMENT. 

Resorcin (dissolved in alcohol) 5 grammes 

Lard (pure and fresh) 100 grammes 

 or this: 

Salicylic acid 50 grammes 

Lard or vaseline 50 grammes 

The substances are thoroughly blended by stirring or beating; and the ointment is rubbed into the skin like any cream."

This final recipe with salicylic acid is probably the nearest to most common modern treatments -- though nowadays Vaseline is usually not encouraged as a beneficial ingredient (though, I can attest it's used... for me, it's the only moisturizer heavy enough to counteract the intense drying effect of the salicylic acid and other chemicals, and used correctly it is non-comedogenic.)

I doubt I'll be testing any of these out in the future (I'm no fan of home remedies for acne) but it's interesting to see what was being employed in bygone days!