Wash the face twice a day with a gentle soap. Washing your face more often than that may irritate and dry your skin. Avoid hot water. Using hot water can make your acne worse.

Do not use facial scrubs, astringents and masks unless your doctor has recommended them, because these generally irritate the skin and aggravate acne.

Do not squeeze, pick, scratch or rub your skin. Squeezing pimples often leads to infections, worse acne and scars.

Avoid extreme stress � if necessary, seek counselling and follow a stress management programme. Stress cannot cause acne, but may aggrevate it.

For non-inflammatory acne (blackheads and papules) the treatment of choice is the prescription drug tretinoin (Retin A, retinoic acid), a vitamin A derivative, or adapalene (Differin), also a vitamin A derivate prescription cream, or benzoyl peroxide 5% (Panoxyl) in the evening.

Both Retin A and Panoxyl may cause redness, burning and scaling (the irritation effect), and sensitivity to sunlight. When this occurs, apply the medication every second evening until the skin settles.