Coconut Oil for Acne?

I often have clients ask if it's okay to use coconut oil on their skin to treat acne. Here's a post from my favorite acne clinic, "Face Reality". Face Reality is an acne clinic in Northern California that only deals w/acne clients. Our office trained w/them in January of 2011 on treating acne and we currently offer their line of acne products in our clinic.

I actually can understand why someone who is desperately looking for relief from their acne might turn to cocout oil. It contains lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid, which have antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, and antibacterial properties. It can help to kill yeast and parasites which improves digestion, and it can also boost your immune system to fight infections. HOWEVER, the molecule for coconut oil is very small and will CLOG pores. It is highly comedogenic; and clients that I have had who used it came into our clinic with a terrible mess of acne where they slathered it on day in and day out. Here’s a review from the acne.org website: I read all the fantastic reviews and was stoked (I ignored the few reviews that warned against using it). I attributed the initial breakout to the “purging,” only the purging didn’t stop. I even emailed the author of “coconut cures” when I started to get concerned. His wife responded saying to keep with it… and so I did (I was still hopeful). Finally, a month later (I used it three-ish months) I accepted the reality that this highly comogenic stuff was not purifying my skin… oh no. It was clogging it in the worst possible way. Fast forward two months and I am still dealing with this nightmare. I have officially gone from “mild” to severe. All in all, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So, in the words of the review “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Sorry boys and girls….