10 Treatment Options For Acne That Really Work | Beauty Care slideshows | Well Being center

The Basic Rule Of Acne Treatment

If there is any single piece of advice everyone who has acne needs to know, it's this: Don't wash too much. You can't rub and scrub your acne away. In fact, using harsh, detergent soaps, basically any cleanser that makes big bubbles, can dry out your skin and clog your pores, with the ironic outcome of making acne worse rather than better. The best cleanser for your skin has no scent (so it is a lot less likely to trigger allergies) and makes only tiny bubbles (which don't dry out your skin). Washing your face once in the morning and once in the evening is optimal, and no amount of scrubbing will get acne out of your pores. Bruising your skin actually seals acne in place.

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www.mayoclinic.com/health/natural-acne-treatment/AN01716

What Your Mother Didn't Teach You About Washing Your Face

We all know how to wash our own faces, right? Well, if you have acne, a few changes may be in order. The first thing to remember about cleansing acne-affected skin is that washcloths wreak havoc. Any kind of rough cloth can injure pores, causing swelling that traps oily sebum and acne bacteria inside, and using the same wash cloth over and over can reintroduce the very bacteria you are trying to wash away back to your skin over and over again. Use warm water when you wash your face, not hot (which dries out your skin) or cold (which can shock your skin), and never, ever use a alcohol-based toner at the end of your cleansing routine. The alcohol in toner isn't strong enough actually to kill bacteria, but it is strong enough to dry out your skin. If a product makes your skin feel cool or tingly, it's damaging your skin. Don't use it.

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The Basics Of Natural Acne Treatment

Most people who have acne don't really care whether an acne treatment is "natural" or not, as long as it works. But it turns out that "natural" remedies for everyday, mild to moderate acne actually work better than many of their pharmaceutical counterparts. There aren't any really good medications for "itchy acne." But an herb called calendula, used in creams and soaps and washes, both kills acne bacteria and stops the itch and inflammation acne can often cause. The most common topical treatment for acne is a chemical called benzoyl peroxide. This product can kill up to 99% of acne bacteria in 48 hours or less. But the natural alternative treatment to benzoyl peroxide, as you will see in a later slide, doesn't just kill bacteria but also "gets the red out" at the same time.

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Tea Tree Oil For Acne

Tea tree oil is the natural alternative to benzoyl peroxide. Extracted from the leaves and twigs of a low-growing Australian coastal shrub known, as you might expect, as tea tree, this essential oil is a natural antiseptic that is almost as fast-acting as benzoyl peroxide. What tea tree oil can do that benzoyl peroxide can't is to relieve inflammation as it kills acne bacteria. Tea tree oil is also much less likely to dry out the skin. The reason manufacturers don't promote tea tree oil more aggressively is that it really can cure some cases of acne--while benzoyl peroxide dries out the skin just enough to keep the cycle of dry skin, clogged pores, whiteheads, blackheads, and pimples going on indefinitely. Tea tree oil products are not for use in children under 12.

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Citrus Fruit Treatments For Acne-Affected Skin

If you have blotchy, purplish, hard-to-cover pimples, eating one or two pieces of citrus fruit every day may be exactly what you need. The zest and pulp of oranges, in particular, and also grapefruit and lemons contain chemicals hesperidin and diosmin, which assist the normal circulation of blood through the skin. When blood doesn't clot and turn color, from red to purple to green, in the skin, acne inflammation is less noticeable, and pimples are easier to disguise with foundation makeup in skin-identical shades. (Do not, as many Internet writers suggest, try to cover up red pimples with green makeup. You will disguise any bleeding in the pimple, but unless your date comes from Mars, green pimples aren't really all that attractive, either.)

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Azelaic Acid For Rosacea

Rosacea is a form of acne that pops up quickly after the skin is exposed to changes in temperature from cold to hot. It can make the nose and cheeks break out in unsightly bumps just minutes after going out into the sun from an air conditioned room, or coming into a warm room from winter cold, or after drinking coffee or eating spicy foods. Not caused by acne bacteria, rosacea is notoriously difficult to treat, but one of the few remedies that works is a plant-derived compound known as azelaic acid. In rye, wheat, and barley, azelaic acid is the plant's way of healing injuries. In human skin, it acts a lot like a relatied compound, salicyclic acid, the chemical used to make aspirin. Azelaic acid relieves bumpiness and redness in rosacea and in many other cases of mild to moderate acne.

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Zinc Supplements For Acne Outbreaks

Zinc fights acne by reducing the activity of the immune system against acne bacteria. That may sound a little odd, but the fact is that a lot of the time in acne, the immune system keeps on fighting infections it already has controlled. The skin keeps on generating its own stress hormones and activating tiny packets of the stored inflammatory agent histamine. Adding zinc to your supplement regime helps the immune system make the enzymes it needs to stop the excessive production of inflammation that allows your skin to heal. Zinc oxide sun blocks can have this effect when applied directly to the skin, or taking up to 30 mg of a zinc supplement (not more) can also reduce the reactivity of your skin.

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Brewer's Yeast For Acne

Once upon a time, before about 1950, when teenagers went to see the family doctor for advice about treating acne, the prescription would be to eat a spoonful of crumbly, damp, moldy tasting brewer's yeast each and every day--and the prescription usually worked. Live brewer's yeast helps train the immune system not to over-react to harmless infections. The immune system learns that you'll live even if you eat yeast every day, and transfers this information to the white blood cells circulating to your skin so that they do not overreact to the presence of acne bacteria, which actually perform a useful function by feeding on excess oils in your pores and on your skin. Don't eat more than a teaspoon (5 grams) per day to avoid bloating and gas.

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For Women Only: Birth Control Pills For Acne

In the United States and Canada, it is not unusual for dermatologists to ask women who have acne and who are not already taking the contraceptive Pill to start taking it. (Guys, the Pill isn't for you.) Most formulations of the Pill contain a mixture of estrogen and progesterone. The extra estrogen stimulates the growth of the skin just enough to open up pores so that oils and bacteria don't accumulate inside. The results of taking the Pill are usually not dramatic, but over a period of several months to a year there can be a noticeable difference in the smoothness of the skin and the size and number of pores, the skin usually taking on a richer, deeper, more appealing tone.

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Side Effects Of Birth Control Pills

Not every woman can take the Pill, either for contraception or for acne. The Pill carries the same relatively small risk of side effects when it is used for acne treatment as when it is used for contraception. And not every woman who has adult acne responds to the Pill, anyway. Sometimes what is needed to suppress unusual production of testosterone by the ovaries. The doctor will probably prescribe a verson of the Pill that is a combination of drospirenone and ethinylestradiol like Yasmin, Yaz, or Loryna. But if the underlying problem isn't that testosterone levels are too high, the Pill isn't really a first-line treatment for acne, anyway. Other methods of treating the problem are likely to work better, cost a lot less, and present fewer potential side effects.