Say Goodbye to Acne

When reaching the age of puberty, acne can be a menace to both boys and girls aged between 12 up to 25 years old. However, men and women in their 30s and 40s are sometimes not spared of this skin problem that look as ordinary as blackheads, whiteheads, red or yellow spots, or greasy skin to scars.

Acne typically affects the skin of the face, back, neck, chest and arms and the severity of the condition can vary. It affects people of all skin colours and the processes that cause acne are exactly the same in people with black or brown skin but the impact is altered by the skin pigmentation.

The surface of the skin has lots of small sebaceous glands just below the surface. These glands make an oily substance called sebum that keeps the skin smooth and supple. Acne is caused by the over activity of the sebaceous glands that secrete oily substances onto the skin.

In more severe inflammatory acne, cysts develop beneath the skin surface. These acne cysts can rupture, spreading the infection into nearby skin tissue and can result in scarring.

Acne is easily recognised by the appearance of the spots, and by their distribution on the body.

There are several varieties of acne and your doctor will be able to tell you which type you have after examining your skin. For most teen-ager and adults alike, acne may cause considerable emotional distress but there is a range of acne treatment options to help you tackle the problem.

No acne treatment will completely cure it but the aim is to prevent new spots forming, to improve those already present, and to prevent scarring.

For simple acne treatment at home, it is important to keep spot-prone areas clean, so wash the affected area twice a day with an unperfumed cleanser. The skin needs a certain amount of oil to maintain its natural condition, so avoid aggressive washing with strong soaps.

There are a number of over-the-counter remedies available from pharmacies to treat mild acne. These usually contain antibacterial agents such as benzoyl peroxide and along with its antibacterial effects, it can dry out the skin and encourage it to shed the surface layer of dead skin. Together, these effects make it harder for pores to become blocked and for infection to develop.

Benzoyl peroxide can cause redness and peeling, especially to start with but this tends to settle down if you reduce the number of times you use it. You can then build up your use gradually.

Remember that no home acne treatments will work immediately. It can take weeks, if not months, for significant effects to be noticeable. If home treatments have not worked after two months, or you have severe acne, you should visit your dermatologist or physician, who may start again your treatment by prescribing a preparation containing benzoyl peroxide. If this does not work, or if you have more severe acne, there are a range of other treatment options that you can either rub onto your skin (topical) or take in tablet form (oral).

An alternative to benzoyl peroxide is azelaic acid and this may not make your skin as sore as using the former. There is also the topical retinoids that are based on vitamin A, which are rubbed into the skin once or twice a day. They work by encouraging the outer layer of skin to flake off.

A topical antibiotic lotion applied to the skin can be used to control the P. acnes bacteria and the treatment needs to continue for at least six months.

Finally, there are several oral treatments you may be prescribed including oral antibiotics (tablets), such as tetracycline for inflammatory acne. They should be taken daily for around three months, although it might take four to six months for the benefits to be seen. The success of this treatment can be limited because the strains of bacteria are often resistant to the common antibiotics. Antibiotics do not prevent pores from becoming blocked so treatment to prevent blackheads, such as benzoyl peroxide, is often also prescribed at the same time.

By their mid-teens, nearly 35% of teenagers have acne severe enough to require some treatment from a medical professional. While it is easy to find acne treatments, finding the just the right treatment or treatment product for you is what is important.

There are times when one has to think about alternative, natural, effective treatment methods to get the best cure or solution to their acne, zits, pimples and blackhead problems.

People of all races and ages get acne. The most common type of acne is acne vulgaris. For most people, acne goes away by age 30, but people in their forties and fifties still get acne. In a survey conducted in Great Britain, 95% of 16-year-old males and 83% of 16 year-old females had acne. Acne is a group of skin rashes that have different causes.

Acne, zits, pimples, blackheads, whiteheads and many other skin disorders are usually, but not always, the result of a bad diet. There is still much to be learned about what causes acne. It’s not true that dirty skin and stress cause acne. The cause of acne is really unknown.

You want to be good to your skin and never pop or squeeze a pimple no matter how tempting. Stay out of the sun if you’re taking any acne medicines.

Raw apple cider vinegar application is a cheap, alternative acne treatment that has worked for many adults, teens and children with acne, zits, pimples, or blemishes. The treatment plan for acne includes trying to heal the pimples, stopping new pimples from forming, preventing scarring and helping reduce embarrassment.

A new treatment using red light and blue light has been extremely successful on severe acne. One helpful remedy seems to be to use ice to reduce the swelling caused by inflamed pimples: rub it over the blemishes for 2-3 minutes. It just takes motivation, a willingness to try it, and diligent application of coconut oil several times a day and at bedtime to see its benefits.

Acne scars can give the skin an aging look. Acne is not a serious health threat but, it can cause scars. Healed acne leaves scars in some people however, and it isn’t easy to predict who will end up with scars after an acne outbreak and who won’t.

Whether you eat a natural diet with living fruits and vegetables or eat dead junk food, what you eat may have a direct or indirect affect on the male hormones which may play a part in acne. When you change your diet, your lesions should be getting better within 30 days. Besides external acne treatment it’s best to work from the inside out too. People with skin disorders such as acne, rosacea, and psoriasis often suffer from constipation.

For an easy fiber boost, mix in 2 tablespoons of ground up flaxseeds in raw applesauce, from 2-3 apples, made in your food processor. Use flaxseed oil or walnut oil in your salad. Concentrating on a diet of lots of fruits and vegetables (preferably uncooked) and no junk food, should give you an observable improvement within 30 days.

Unclean skin favors the development of pathogenic organisms – the dead cells that continually slough off of the epidermis mix with the secretions of the sweat and sebaceous glands and the dust found on the skin to form a filthy layer on its surface.

The skin must be regularly cleaned or it’ll become cracked or inflamed. You should see the results of your acne home treatment remedies with improved skin within just a few days.

With cheap, safe, simple, natural, effective, alternative home treatments for acne and pimples, your skin should be well on its way to recovery. One should always think about alternative, natural, effective treatment methods to get the best cure or solution to their acne, zits, pimples and blackhead problems.

Acne and blemishes affect a person’s quality of life more than we would like to admit. Parents hope and pray that their teens won’t be plagued by these problems, adolescents who have problem skin can’t help being stressed about it, and the scars from difficult cases can last a lifetime. No one likes acne.

So what can be done about acne and blemishes? Blemishes may be upsetting for a young lass on the morning of her prom when she wakes up with a zit on her otherwise perfect face. But these can be treated topically with ease and covered up before she slips on her stunning gown. Most of the products sold over the counter in drug stores work better in clearing up blemishes than with more severe forms of acne. (Americans spend well over $100 million on over-the-counter acne treatments each year.) It’s really the heavy-duty acne that causes the heartbreak.

Acne includes pimples, blocked pores (blackheads and whiteheads) and cysts and nodules that are deeper in the skin. While it occurs mostly in teenagers, adults can be plagued by it too, even into their 40s. Interestingly, young men tend to have more severe cases of acne than do young women, but it’s the women who seek help from the dermatologist to clear things up. Often for females the acne is hormonally related. Sometimes just taking birth control pills can help clear it up. Of course, the long term effects of taking birth control pills are really unknown, so it’s a good idea to check think carefully about the possible side effects before you use birth control to clear up acne and blemishes.

Some people think that acne and blemishes are caused by poor hygiene, but this is not the case. And often, washing more frequently just exacerbates the problem, causing your oil producing glands to work harder, producing even more oil than your skin can handle. Also, if you wash too vigorously, thinking this will help, it will do the opposite. It will irritate your skin, compounding the problem.

Some people say that acne is caused by diet. Mainstream medicine says this is hogwash for the most part. But M.D.s, dermatologists included, have minimal training in nutrition for maintaining health. They’re trained in treating disease. People who have studied lternative healing modalities say that diet can be a big factor in whether you get blemishes and acne, and it can be a big factor in clearing up the skin. The link between diet and skin problems is something that will be further explored as time goes on, and more information is likely to be available on just how much our diet plays a role in our skin’s health.

By: Keith Londrie

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