Skin Care Information

Remedies For A Smoother Skin.

Do you have acne? Acne maybe the scourge of adolescent years, but it can follow people into middle age and beyond.

Acne is really a catchall term for a variety of symptoms such as pimples, whiteheads, and blackheads. It’s a condition where the pores of skin become clogged and the person gets inflamed and non-inflamed lesions.

So what’s the cause of all the clogging?

Heredity - at least for the most part. Acne is genetic - it tends to run in families, it is an inherited defect of your pores. If both your parents had acne, three out of four of your brothers and sisters will get it too.

Factors that can aggravate an acne outbreak are:
Stress, sun exposure, seasonal changes, and climate can all precipitate an acne attack. Certain types of makeup and taking birth control pills can also cause a breakout.

Change Your Make-up.
In adult women, make-up is the major factor in acne outbreaks, especially oil based products. It’s the oil that causes the problem. The oil is usually a derivative of fatty acids that are more potent than your own fatty acids. Use a non-oil-based make-up if you are prone to acne.

Read The labels.
Cosmetic products that contain lanolins, isopropyl myristate, sodium lauryl sulphate, laureth-4 and D & C red dyes should be avoided. Like oil, these ingredients are too rich for the skin.

Wash Properly.
Wash your make-up off thoroughly every night. Use a mild soap twice a day and make sure you rinse the soap entirely off your face. Rinse six or seven times with fresh water.

Use Less Make-up.
Whatever make-up you use, try to cut down on the amount you put on.

Leave Well Alone.
Don’t squeeze pimples or whiteheads. A pimple is an inflammation, and you could add to the inflammation by squeezing it, which could lead to an infection. A pimple will always go away in one to four weeks if you leave them alone.

Know When To Squeeze.
Most pimples are best left alone, but there is one kind that you can squeeze to help get rid of it. If the pimple has a little central yellow pus head in it, then a gentle squeeze will make it pop open very nicely. Once the pus pops out, the pimple will heal more quickly.

Attack Blackheads.
You can also get rid of blackheads by squeezing them. A blackhead is a very blocked pore, and a gentle squeeze will help rectifty this.

Give Dry Skin Extra Care.
Dry skin can be sensitive to some over the counter skin treatments, so please use these treatments with care. Start with the lower strength products first, and then increase the concentration slowly.

Stay Out Of The Sun.
Acne medications may cause adverse reactions to the sun, so minimize you exposure until you know what the reactions going to be.

Use One Treatment At A Time.
Don’t mix treatments, use only one at a time because they may cause an adverse reaction if mixed together.

Stop The Spread Of Acne.
Apply acne medication about half an inch around the affected area, to help keep the acne from spreading. Acne moves across the face from the nose to the ear, so you need to treat beyond the inflamed area. Most people make the mistake of treating only the pimples and not the outlaying areas of skin. This is wrong.

If you are an acne sufferer, then I trust this information will be very helpful to you. Thanks for reading my article.

Author John H Moore - please use my link
http://www.acne-information-guide.com

Tags: acne, pimples, skin problems, spotsacne, pimples, skin problems, spots

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There are a plethora of acne medications currently on the market. Some of these are prescription medications, such as accutane. Others are over the counter chemical compounds, such as benzoyl peroxide. There are even herbal based acne medications, such as tea tree oil. However, many of them are not as effective as advertised.

Part of the problem with finding the right acne medication is that there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to acne. Different people respond differently to the various medications and treatments. However, there are several acne medications that have been clinically proven to be effective in treating acne, and these are the medications that will stop acne for most people.

Prescription Acne Treatments

Of the prescription medications, Accutane is one of the best. It is a chemical derivative of vitamin A, and is often referred to as the “miracle drug” for acne. Accutane is most effective in the treatment of severe cystic acne, and not to be taken lightly. For some people, the many side effects can be worse than the acne itself. However, this is one treatment that works.

Retin A and Renova are also prescription medications. These are topical derivatives of vitamin A, and are also good at clearing up fine lines, wrinkles, and slight skin discolorations. One of the biggest downsides is sunlight and other topical acne treatments must be avoided while using either of them. However, they are proven to reduce acne.

Birth control pills and antibiotics round out the acne medications most commonly prescribed. Birth control pills are used exclusively by women to help regulate hormones, and therefore lessen the hormonally related acne that many women experience. Antibiotics work by attacking the acne causing p.bateria as it grows deep in skin pores.

Over the Counter Acne Treatments

There are some over the counter acne treatments that work well. The two best are benzoyl peroxide, and salicylic acid.

Benzoyl peroxide works by penetrating the skin pores, and eliminating the acne causing bacteria that grows deep in the skin. Benzoyl peroxide is the most commonly used acne treatment because it is affordable, easily available, and nearly as effective as most prescription medication.

Salicylic acid works by removing the top layers of dead skin cells. This helps the skin renew itself faster, and decreases the chance for pore blockage and a subsequent acne breakout.

Herbal Acne Treatments

The vast majority of acne treatments fall under the heading of “herbal” acne treatments. The reason is because of the lack or regulation for herbal products. This can be very frustrating to the general consumer, because it is impossible to tell which herbal treatment will work to stop acne, and which ones will do very little at all.

Of every herbal treatment available, there are only 2 that are currently proven to stop acne. Tea tree oil will help get rid of acne, and so will green tea cream.

Tea tree oil is an oil derived from one tea tree plant that is unique to Australia. For several hundred years it was touted as a cure all, until penicillin was introduced to fight bacteria. However, tea tree oil has seen a recent revival due in part to study conducted in 1990 that proved it is as effective in treating acne as 5% benzoyl peroxide. Furthermore, it had none of the side effects that benzoyl peroxide does.

Green tea cream has been validated more recently, at the 2003 American Academy of Dermatology conference. It was proven that green tea is as effective in treating acne as a 4% benzoyl peroxide solution. Though the study has not been corroborated yet, it demonstrated that there is another herbal treatment besides tea tree oil.

These are some of the acne medications proven to work. For those who are experiencing acne, any of the aforementioned treatments would be well worth trying.

Greg Podsakoff is a former acne sufferer, and the editor of http://www.acne-treatments-guide.com

Tags: acne, acne treatments, pimplesacne, acne treatments, pimples

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My first education on how to buy acne skin care products came from Johnson & Johnson and Noxema. They had their models wash their clear complexions with the perfect acne cleanser and then, once the suds vanished, the models were dancing around so happy not having to worry about zits.

Alas, benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid and most other acne washes do not wash away zits.

One trap to fall into with cleansers is over cleansing, which can aggravate acne. The next trap, which is common, is to expect too much from one product.

For example, benzoyl peroxide works by destroying excess acne provoking bacteria. Salicylic acid exfoliates the skin and clears the pores, which reduces the chances for waste buildup in the pores and producing a zit.

If you have severe acne like I did, over the counter acne washes cannot provide the amount of bacteria control and exfoliation you need to keep acne at bay.

It’s like trying to empty a bathtub with a teaspoon instead of just unplugging the water clog. Severe acne requires regulating the skin on an internal and external level. You can regulate the growth of excess bacteria on the face and body in a number of ways.

1. Decrease or control your stress response.

Stress sets off a series of hormonal reactions that can ultimately produce excess oil on the face and provide an ideal environment for excess acne-causing bacteria growth on the face.

2. Moderate sugar consumption.

Excess sugar, like stress, moves the hormones to excrete more oil on the face. It’s not the chocolate the causes the acne, just the collective hormonal response of a sugar overload.

3. Take a multi-vitamin.

It may sound silly, or trivial, but taking a multivitamin can provide vital nutrients that boosts the immune system and help you manage stress better. Collectively, strong immunity and stress control help reduce acne breakouts.

I learned these three points the hard way. Trial and error and buying a lot of acne skin care products. If your at a loss about choosing an acne product, I can only say this, high price does not guarantee high quality. When I used Oxy 10 for instance, I found it worked just as well as products that costs 5 times as much. One drawback is that these drying products are not ideal for maturing skin. If you are battling acne and wrinkles, I suggest using essential oils to combat acne flair-ups such as tea tree or eucalyptus oil.

On a final note, if you’ve been using an acne cleanser for months with no noticeable improvement in your skin, I suggest trying to regulate you skin’s condition from the inside, with sound nutrition and relaxation.

Health author and Stanford University graduate Naweko San-Joyz lovingly writes from her home in San Diego. Her works include “Acne Messages: Crack the code of your zits and say goodbye to acne” (ISBN: 0974912204) and the upcoming work “Skinny Fat Chicks, Why we’re still not getting this dieting thing” (ISBN: 0974912212) for release in June of 2005. For useful acne self-help articles visit http://www.Noixia.com

Tags: acne, acne cleansers, cure for acne, how to get rid of zits, pimples, zitsacne, acne cleansers, cure for acne, how to get rid of zits, pimples, zits

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