Hey all - first time sharing anything about my skin online. But I felt the need to after looking into the cause of years of city skin struggles (this is just my story, first time posting on this sub, but sharing in case anyone thinks this could be them too)
I'm early twenties, been living in NYC ~4years. Less than six months in, my skin (which had always been fine, minus a pimple on occasion) started breaking out uncontrollably(see pic 1)..
- I cut out dairy, then sugar, both for multiple month intervals. But very clean diet in general, hardly ever eat out. Don't really drink.
- I cleaned up my routine (gentle cerave cleanser, gentle cerave moisurizer (SPF in mornings)
- Pillowcase swaps, clean towels, cleaning my phone every night, etc
- Multiple types of shower filters
- Stress was LOWER than my college years where I had better skin
Nothing worked, spent $1,000+ on random fixes over the years.
The experiment: I go home (suburbs, ~2 hours from the city) for stretches of 5–14 days every so often. Same diet (I cook the same way), same skincare, same sleep, same water (I've used a filter both places).
Every. single. time. My skin would visibly calm down within 3–4 days. After a couple of weeks at home I’d look like a different person (see pic 2). Then I'd go back to NYC and within a weekit was back to square one. But I couldn't put my finger on what was triggering it.
What the problem was (for me):
So I went down a rabbit hole and kept landing air quality as the culprit for city skin woes is fine (mainly particulate matter PM2.5) and the cocktail of crap in city air.
Here are some of the things that I learned (most of which came from a personalized skin report tool i stumbled on, screenshotted my score as well)
- NYC subways (i take the subway at least twice a day, every day) have PM2.5 levels that NYU researchers measured at 10x+ the EPA's outdoor air standard (wtf..) steel dust, rat poop, mold, brake particulate, diesel residue. I mean the more I think about it, the more obvious this one was.. most people I know spend 30–60 min/day commuting on subway. This one I think was taking the biggest toll.
- Active construction sites (I have two multi-year sites on my block).. They push ambient PM2.5 in a 2–3 block radius up significantly, and NYC has 40,000+ permits issues almost always.
- Public restrooms (I know) have measurable aerosolized particulate from flushing — toilet bioaerosol studies are really gross. Pretty much a guarantee you’re breathing a stranger’s sh*t, and almost NO public restrooms have toilet seat lids!!! I use public bathrooms 4+ times/day.
- PM2.5 lodges in pores and triggers oxidative stress at the skin barrier ++ there’s a growing body of dermatology research linking ambient particulate exposure to acne.
I know the air quality in NYC is "passable", but the real exposure came from the subway which I always take, >twice a day. When I stopped, took different walking routes away from constuction, covered my face when i flushed (i know, crazy), and refused to go near a hand dryer, my skin improved drastically.
I’m posting this beacuse i spent two years thinking my skin was broken/something was messed up with my hormones, or just being confused all the time about why my skin was so bad. The environment was the ONLY variable I wasn't controlling for, and hardly anyone on reddit/articles/derms bring it up (or at least none of the ones i went to)
Happy to answer questions. Curious if anyone else has noticed the city vs. home pattern? Found a personalized skin report tool among other resources that i found to be pretty interesting.