Say Goodbye to Acne

A SCENE FROM “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” where Professor Sprout, the herbology professor, asks the students to collect “bubutober pus” during a lesson to give to Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse:

“This’ll keep Madam Pomfrey happy,” said Professor Sprout, stoppering the last bottle with a cork. “An excellent remedy for the more stubborn forms of acne, bubutober pus. Should stop students resorting to desperate measures to rid themselves of pimples.”

“Like poor Eloise Midgen,” said Hannah Abbott, a Hufflepuff, in a hushed voice. “She tried to curse hers off.”

“Silly girl,” said Professor Sprout, shaking her head. “But Madam Pomfrey fixed her nose back in the end.”

Admit it—haven’t we all tried to pull off an Eloise Midgen and resorted to drastic measures to drive acne away? While we may not have the capabilities to curse pimples off our faces, there’s certainly a long list of worse ways to remove acne.

What exactly causes acne? While it is true that stress, cosmetics and detergents (such as harsh shampoos and toothpaste) aggravate acne, they are not the direct sources of your pimples. They will only make worse an already existing condition. And do not blame your diet—chocolate and French fries will not cause acne—or your crush for the huge blemish on your nose. They have nothing to do with it at all.

Hormonal imbalance

The usual culprit behind acne is an imbalance of hormones, which causes the production of extra sebum and therefore, pimples. This could be because of your genes (if your parents were pimply in their childhood, you know who to blame) or other circumstances that could lead to this imbalance—puberty, menopause, pregnancy and monthly periods among them. So if you have a friend who has effortlessly clear skin, curse the genetic lottery and take better care of your skin instead of trying to imitate his/her (lack of) routine.

While others go directly to the source and have hormone treatments in order to lessen their acne, this can be costly and impractical in minor acne cases—sort of like swatting a fly with a nuclear bomb. Some treatments, like birthcontrol pills, have undesirable side effects such as weight gain and headaches. The more dangerous side effects include clots in blood vessels and an increased risk of breast cancer. Males who take birth-control pills suddenly find themselves saddled with a pair of breasts (while some do this intentionally, that’s an entirely different story.)

A good skincare regimen will not only prevent more pimples from popping up, but will delay the onset of wrinkles and freckles. Simply washing your face just doesn’t do anymore. In our more polluted environment, you will have to learn how to cleanse, tone and moisturize your skin at least once a day. Applying sunscreen even when you’re not going out in the sun is also important because indoor lights also contain skin-harming rays. So if you’re planning to spend extended hours in front of the computer for a term paper, make sure you’ve slathered on some SPF.

Old staple

If you’re really going for a direct treatment of the pimple, you might want to check out an old staple: Benzoyl Peroxide.

However, Benzoyl Peroxide apparently isn’t just a spot treatment. According to Dr. Bernadette Arcilla of the Philippine Dermatological Society, when faced with acne, you should treat the entire affected area with Benzoyl Peroxide, but don’t overdo it! Too much of it (say, a huge dollop on top of the blemish) will dry out not just the pimple, but the surrounding skin as well, causing more damage. “The best way to apply it is to spread it evenly over the affected area, so that not only will the pimple dry out, but future breakouts will be prevented as well,” Dr. Arcilla said.

Before buying a tube of treatment, said Dr. Arcilla, take note of the concentration of Benzoyl Peroxide before applying it—PanOxyl, for example, has three variants: 2.5 percent for mild acne, 5 percent for moderate acne and 10 percent for severe cases. The latter is best left for body acne, such as pimples on your back and chest, while facial acne is adequately treated by the less concentrated variants. Again, overdoing anything will cause more harm than good so always start with a smaller concentration.

Dr. Arcilla also advised patients to use medication daily—not just on a pimple, but on the entire affected area. “You should treat the skin, not the pimples. Pimples are just a symptom of something bigger,” Dr. Arcilla said. “And if you treat it early, you can prevent scarring due to more blemishes.”

Instead of treating just the surface, go for an acne management program. In the long-term process (which combines a good skincare regimen and acne treatment), pimples won’t be gone in a week, but there is a significant 30- to 40-percent reduction of acne in one to two months. The process can be expedited with the help of your dermatologist, who can help you create an acne management program for yourself. This does take a lot more time than quick fix-acne treatments, but the results are permanent, at least.

Now, isn’t that better than cursing pimples off your face?

By: Kerwin Chang

There are a variety of acne treatments available these days for individuals who need help ridding themselves of this type of unsightly blemish. The difficult decision is what type of acne treatment will be right for you. There are a few factors to consider when choosing a treatment to rid yourself of acne once and for all.

Location of the Acne

The first thing you should consider is where the acne is located on your body. Certain types of treatment methods are better for one type of area than another. Therefore, determine where you will be using the treatment and this will help you to choose the best kind to use as some treatments are better for one’s face than for other parts of the body or vice versa.

Degree of Treatment Desired

You should also think about the degree of acne treatments desired. Treatments can range anywhere from topical creams to more in-depth dermatological treatments. Consider which type of treatment you would prefer. If you want to start out slow, then perhaps looking into acne treatment products available at your local drugstore first would be the best choice. On the other hand, if you feel that a visit to your dermatologist would be in your best interest then this may be a good move for you as the treatment options will be a bit wider in range.

Cost of the Treatment

Acne treatment options will also vary in price range. If you are on a budget then the cost of the treatment will often sway your opinion one way or another. You should look into the various costs associated with treatments as this will be a deciding factor for many. Some treatments will be similar in price range and therefore you can consider those which coincide with how much you want to spend and narrow down the options that way.

Effectiveness of Certain Treatments

When choosing the right type of acne treatment to fix your blemish issues you will also want to look into the effectiveness of certain treatments. Some treatments have a better success rate than others and this too will be a good determining factor to help you choose the right type of treatment for your blemish needs.

Length of Treatment

Certain treatments to get rid of acne will also work quicker than others will. When choosing a desired acne treatment consider how long they will take to bring you the results you desire. Looking at the length of treatment will help you to also narrow down the options since a treatment you are considering may take longer than you want it to. Therefore, focusing on a different type of treatment might be more advisable. The best way to learn more about acne treatments and the length of time it takes for desired results to be achieved is to read literature on the various treatments available.

By: Craig Thornburrow

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Solve your acne & skincare problems at http://www.acnepimplezits.com

Feeling frustrated after trying over countless acne medications ?Are you wondering why they never works on your acne but performs wonderfully on your friends or acquaintance acne? You might start to ask yourself what is actually wrong with yourself and ponder the reasons for your acne stubborn existence on your skin. Be patient. Don’t ever give up. There is actually a very simple method in treating your acne successfully.

We are recommending a combination of three steps to achieve an blemish-free skin.

Start off your treatment with a gentle cleanser.Don’ be bother if it doesn’t lather much. The ingredient that causes the foams is actually bad for your skin.It might provoke your acne lesions and cause more new lesions to form.What you want to achieve here is to remove dirt from your skin before applying the acne medications.

Topical treatment containing benzoyl peroxide is the most effective acne treatment that is available in the market. It kills the P. acnes bacteria that causes your acne lesions. By enriching the pores with oxygen, the P.acnes bacteria that stay at the base of the follicle get kill off. Plus the fact that even with continuous usage,the P.acnes bacteria won’t become resistant to it. That is why it is used in combination with various oral antibiotics to treat acne. As oral antibiotics can become resistant after prolonged usage, the medication containing benzoyl peroxide provides a good companion in minimising the resistance of the acne causing bacteria toward the acne treatments.

Most acne treatments fail in that acne sufferers often give up too soon and put too much of acne medications to their skin.You have to do it gradually.Do you know that your skin can adapt to the drying effect of benzoyl peroxide but it takes time.By now,you should have heard of the side effect of benzoyl peroxide which is its strong drying effecting on your skin. So select the lowest concentration of benzoyl peroxide n (2.5%) available in the market to minimize the drying and irritation it is going to cause on your skin.

We would like to ask you how long did you continue to try a new acne treatment before giving in? One week? Two weeks? Actually you should continue the usage for about a month before you can expect any significant results. Most people just give up too early. Initially,you might get a lot of new lesion breakouts which make you give up earlier.If you have many comedones (blackheads and whiteheads), using treatment containing benzoyl peroxide will drive the comedone contents consisting of dead skin cells,dead bacteria and sebum to the skin surface.Unless you belong to the 10% of the acne sufferers who are allergic to benzoyl peroxide,you should give yourself a try again at benzoyl peroxide.

The next question is how much of the medication should you put.Just apply a thin coating of the acne medication covering your acne prone skin. Do not rub the medications on your skin. A gentle sweeping motion will do as you wouldn’t want to irritate your skin to giving you more acne flare.

Benzoyl peroxide can come in gel,lotion,cream or ointment.It is best to use the gel type if you have oily skin.For people with dry skin,go for the cream.If you still find benzoyl peroxide is too strong for your skin, go for the cleanser.Even though the cleanser cream only stay on your skin for minutes,it is sufficient to kill off those acne prone bacteria.If you have sensitive skin which are easily irritated, first go for the benzoyl peroxide cleanser. See how is your skin react to it before switching to another products.

Another way to minimize the drying effects of benzoyl peroxide is followed by an application of moisturizer after the benzoyl peroxide medications.Use a moisturizer with SPF 15 or more during the day time while at night choose a more creamier moisturizer .A higher SPF rating only offer a slightly higher protection from the UVB from the sunray but can cause premature aging. So it is sufficient to use a SPF rating of 15.

As your skin can adapt to the drying of benzoyl peroxide, you should also adjust the frequency and quantity of usage in response to your skin reaction.We feel that applying benzoyl peroxide for twice a day is sufficient.In a nutshell,you can see that if you have mild to moderate acne, benzoyl peroxide will work provided that you adjust your frequency and quantity of treatment as you progress in using the treatments. Don’t let impatience fails you in treating your acne problems.

By: leo choo

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Solve your acne & skincare problems at http://www.acnepimplezits.com