Acne Control - Minor Outbreaks Can Be Treated Easily At Home
Posted on March 8, 2008
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Unless you are one of the lucky few, you have had to deal with an acne breakout at some point in your life. For some, acne is a daily, ongoing problem. For others, who only have the occasional eruption, it can still be a painful, miserable experience.
Research has turned up several contributing factors to acne, but the specific cause is still elusive. Factors that are believed to create acne include hormones, your own genetics, toxin intake, skin care products, stress, diet and exercise patterns, and some medications. A woman’s menstrual cycle can be a cause, as is the hormonal changes that teens go through. Tight clothing, excess sweating, pollution, and skin irritants can all be factors, as well.
A moderate or severe case of acne often needs the help of a doctor, or dermatologist. However, minor outbreaks can often be treated by you at home. Commercially available products that contain benzoyl peroxide, resorcinol, salicylic acid and sulfur, are all able to treat a current outbreak in some way. Should you choose to use one of these products, watch to make sure that you aren’t irritating your skin further, and stop usage if any rashes or other signs develop.
If you are a woman who gets outbreaks with your menstrual cycle, it is often advisable to see a dermatologist, to see if what you are experiencing is normal hormonal changes. You could be suffering from something more, such as pollutants or other irritants, and to chalk it up to your cycle without knowing for certain can lead you in the wrong direction. Certain types of birth control pill can also have an effect on your skin, if you are on such medication, be sure to mention it to your doctor as a possible cause of irritations.
To help treat your acne, you should first start with prevention. Prevention can take the following forms: 1) Clean your skin regularly. Using a mild soap two to three times a day, gently clean your skin to help reduce the chance of a flare-up. Using a stronger soap may seem like it is helping, but it isn’t likely to do much better than simple bar soap, and may actually do worse, if you wind up irritating your skin.
2) Avoid touching your face, if possible. Squeezing and picking at your skin will only make the problem worse in the long run, and can lead to scars or other marks. In addition, your hands are a fantastic carrier of oils, which may contribute to your problem.
3) Avoid excess sun. Tanning your skin may give you a temporary lift in your skin condition, as tanned skin can hide the impact of an acne outbreak. But tanned skin will dry out, flake and die, and will help to clog your pores, and give you another outbreak in the future.
4) Think about your cosmetics. Choose make-up that are noncomedogenic, and ideally oil-free, to keep your pores unclogged.
If you have a severe case of acne, you are better off consulting a dermatologist. But for minor occurrences, often simple, at-home treatment is enough. And the prevention steps listed above should be considered as a part of the daily regimen in the fight against outbreaks.
Dealing With Adult Acne
Posted on March 8, 2008
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Being afflicted with acne has been associated with teenagers for decades. It is common perception that it only affects adolescents, teens and maybe as old as college aged, but not older. This cause people to think that acne was a hormonal problem, and once one outgrew the “bad” hormones, you would also outgrow the acne problem.
As we’ve learned more about acne, it’s causes and effects, we know that this is only partially true. Acne is indeed influenced by hormones, and hormone levels, but not in a way that was previously expected. Hormones can and do promote oil secretion, which turn can clog pores and cause a outbreak. But it’s wrong in several ways. First, this hormonal effect is only one of the causes of a problem, but it can contribute to other factors throughout your entire life. And second, normal adults have hormonal fluctuation all the time, due to life events such as pregnancy, stress, eating habits, or other things. Because of this, having acne as an adult is not uncommon nor totally unexpected.
As an adult, your acne outbreaks can be caused by one or many factors. Finding and treating or eliminating these factors is important to solving the problem. Finding the root cause, and treating your skin, and yourself, properly can not only save you from useless (and often expensive) treatments, but will have a better, longer lasting result.
Adults can react similar to teenagers when it comes to an outbreak, and this is totally natural. Teens are usually affected by a desire not to be seen, or a lowering of self-esteem, or a reluctance to make their condition known. Adults are no different. This kind of feeling is normal, but it should be understood that rarely is an outbreak anything to be ashamed of, or the result of anything you’ve done.
Until recently, having acne as an adult was considered a fairly rare occurrence. This probably has several reasons, such as adults visiting the doctor less often, or adults having the ability and desire to treat it themselves by using home care products. It’s becoming clear, though the volume of sales of these kind of products, that adult acne isn’t uncommon at all.
In some ways, acne as an adult is worse, as your skin is less flexible, and less likely to return to form once an outbreak is over. Any scarring received as an adult is more difficult to overcome, and any prolonged outbreaks can cause skin damage that will remain. Because of this, it is even more important that, as an adult, you see proper treatment or otherwise attempt to solve your issues. As a teenager, you had the hope that you’d outgrow it, but as an adult, you should hold out for no such hope. Taking action is what’s needed, not waiting and hoping.
As an adult with acne, taking action has several powerful benefits. Not only are you working towards having clearer skin, but you are also taking affirmative steps to improve your life. In many ways, the steps are as important as the end result, as the way you feel about yourself will change along the way.
Water - The Easiest Natural Step for Acne Prevention
Posted on March 8, 2008
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While there are several causes of acne, there are two kinds that are easy to understand, and more importantly, easy to do something about.
The first cause involves what you have inside you. Over the course of a normal diet, your body collects toxins, and stores them for processing into something less harmful to your body. In normal situations, your body uses all methods at its disposal to attack these toxins, including your kidney, liver and digestive tract. However, there are some times when your body gets overwhelmed, and needs to secrete these toxins out of your body another way. Often, you will expell them out through your pores, causing clogging, and eventually, an acne outbreak.
The second cause involves body chemistry. Hormones, stress, and other feelings can cause your body to produce an imbalance, which in turn, can cause secretions through the pores. This is partially the reason why acne often affects teenagers, as they have this kind of imbalance naturally. But stress and hormonal changes are no strangers to adults, either. Time of high conflict can also be the times of worse skin for adults.
However, there is a simple way to mitigate both causes, water. Water, plain water, has two very important effects on both causes.
Your body is working hard to expel toxins, and one of the things it needs most is water. In fact, one of the easiest steps to take is the “Water flush” which is simply to drink enough water to let your body take care of itself. How much is enough? The rule of thumb is half your weight, in ounces. So, a 150 pound person should drink 75 ounces of water a day. By providing yourself with enough fluid, you are doing your part to rid yourselves of an acne cause.
But often overlooked is the effect of water on your other emotions. People often mistake hunger, stress, depression or exhaustion for simple thirst. Drinking water can often help you overcome these feelings which cause you to become imbalanced. And preventing stress or exhaustion will in turn, help your skin.
So, I hope this simple advice makes sense. Drinking water has so many benefits that it shouldn’t be ignored, but the impact on your skin can be great — and you can start doing it right now.
When Fighting Acne, Dry Skin Can Be Worse Than Oily
Posted on March 8, 2008
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It is true, that one of the major surface causes of acne is oil secretion. If your body is secreting oil, it may clog your pores, which in turn, creates acne outbreaks. Some well-meaning advice that follows this, is to apply products to your skin, in an effort to dry it out. Sometimes, however, doing that can make the problem worse. In all things, a balance must be maintained, and overall cleanliness is better than going to any one extreme or another.
For example, f you use a harsh, drying product on your skin, you run the risk of drying out your skin too much. When this happens, your sebaceous glands excrete more oil, in an attempt to compensate. Yes, your skin knows when it is too dry, and does what it can to rectify the problem. In addition, dry skin dies faster than healthy skin, causing you to have an abundance of dead skin cells. This is a recipe for exactly what you were trying to prevent in the first place, more oil secretions and dry skin cells will result in blocked pores, and more acne. Dry skin can be just as harmful as skin that’s too oily.
When looking for a cleansing agent, and there are many good on the market, there are some ingredients you want to stay away from. They include Alcohol, lanolin, isopropyl myristate, sodium lauryl sulphate, sodium laureth sulphate, propylene glycol, mineral oil and parabens, as well as Benzoyl peroxide. Many of these ingredients are good for treating current acne, or in taking care of an outbreak you are currently suffering from, but should not be used as a cleansing agent on areas that aren’t broken out (unless you want them to break out, of course!)
It’s also okay to use products that have oil in them, especially oil that is similar to the body’s natural oils. Using these oils can actually be beneficial, even if you have oily skin, as it can rebalance your skin’s oil production. The kinds of natural oils that will help include Tea Tree Oil, Lavender Oil, Jojoba Oil and Coconut Oil. Coconut and Jojoba oils are often used as a base for other products, but they can be used on their own. Tea Tree ad Lavender oil are excellent antiseptic and healing oils, that also can serve to soothe your skin. No matter what you use, it’s important to exfoliate your skin often, to slough off any dead skin cells that have collected. Remember, dead, dry skin is just as bad as live oily skin!
While it is definitely true that oil can cause an acne outbreak, that doesn’t mean the way to not get an outbreak is by having no oil on your skin at all! Keeping a balance, or replacing unhealthy levels of oil with natural products that mimic the body, can be a benefit to your skin.
Three Kinds Of Detoxifying Diets That May Help Improve Your Acne
Posted on March 8, 2008
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It has been thought for centuries, that what you put into your body has a direct result on how healthy you are. You are what you eat, and all that. In medieval times, sick people were treated with herbs and teas, and things that we generally now classify as a detoxification diet, as a way to both make them feel better, and to actually cure them of their ills. Some modern studies have shown a correlation between a poor diet, and problem acne. The problem is that different diets have different effects on people, and some have different abilities to conform to those diets.
Before continuing, let me mention that the things we are about to discuss should be talked over with your doctor, or a dietitian, to ensure that what you are about to do wont have an adverse affect on you in some other way. No two people are the same, and no general health advice can ever be specific enough for any specific person.
Okay, let’s look at the three major classes of acne-improving, detoxification diets.
First, Lectin-Free diet. Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins, which are present in plants, animals and humans. It’s also the major ingredient in the chemical weapon Ricin-B. The act of carbohydrate binding causes your body to work against itself, which creates swelling, inflammation and irritation. Predictably, this can lead to more acne breakouts. To cut lectins from your diet means cutting out grains, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, and many starches.
Then there is the Gluten-Free diet. Roughly ¼ to 1/3 of all people have shown to have some kind of intolerance to gluten, and some cases are severe. The severest form is named separately, called Celiac Disease. You could have a mild case, and not know it, but your body could be feeling (and showing) the effects externally. This intolerance creates problems in your digestive tract, which may escape your body in the form of skin irritations, or acne. Gluten is also the cause of Dermatitis herpetiformis, or Duhring’s Disease, which is another kind of skin irritation syndrome. Gluten-rich foods include wheat, barley, rye and some cereals.
Finally, and probably most difficultly, is the Dairy-free diet. This means no milk, cheese, yogurt, cream, whey, or anything else that would come out of a cow. Dairy cows are often given drugs and hormones to make them better milk producers, and are given antibiotics to keep them from getting certain diseases that are specific to cows. All these things, the drugs, hormones and antibiotics are passed to us when we consume milk, cheese & butter, and can cause other problems. There is a significant industry created around the lactose-intolerant. Lactose makes up as much as 8% of the solids in milk, and in Latin, literally translates to “Milk sugar.”
Now, I’m not suggesting that you try all of these at once, or even any of them. They are all difficult to follow, as it encompasses things we eat a lot of every day. In fact, if you were to try to do more than one of them at once, you wouldn’t know what was working and what wasn’t. Some people have had success by following one of the diets for 3 months, and watching the results. If they don’t see any changes, drop that and try another one. Eventually, you’ll hit upon a combination that works, and can be followed without too much difficulty on your part.
The link between what you eat and your skin has been made repeatedly in studies, but there is no way to give a general proscription for specific people. In this article, we looked at three kinds of detoxifying diets, why they could be causing your acne, and what to do to follow them. They aren’t right for everyone, but they may be right for you.
Acne Natural Cure - An Easy and Effective Way to Stop Acne
Posted on March 8, 2008
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Over and over again I keep reading about different cure-all remedies for Acne that people can get from regular household products. This never ceases to amaze me, although some people really believe in this stuff, and who am I to say, some may have actually benefited from it, but according to medical doctors acne is not a disorder that comes from being a dirty person or having dirty skin. As a matter of fact, continual face washing is proven to only irritate the condition more, not help it.
I used to suffer from acne somewhat while I was is in school. I had my good days and bad, although my condition was moderate at best. There were some individuals that I felt genuinely sorry for. It’s amazing how cruel children can be to each other. For some acne sufferers there was absolutely no escape from their disorder because it was so visible to everyone else.
Some people actually suffer from acne all the way up into their 30s and 40s. This is not very common of course, but it does happen to some people. Some acne sufferers tend to have specific areas where they break out worse than others. For some it’s their face, for others it’s their back, for some it’s their groin area and so on.
There are many different acne medications that are on the market, some of which have proven to work very well for some people. If you’ve tried everything on the market, but still are having difficulty, I highly recommend that you see a physician. There are some types of medications that you can take, such as oral medications that have been known to help acne sufferers a lot. Bottom line here is don’t trust home remedies to the point where you’re avoiding seeing a physician about your problem. Old wives tales are called that for a reason. Call your doctor.
Acne Control : What You Need To Know About Glycolic Acid
Posted on March 8, 2008
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Glycolic acid has been used for many years as a metal parts cleaner, but in recent years has been refined and made suitable for human application as a way to control problem acne. In its refined or medical grade state it has been found effective as a light to mild strength skin peel acid. Glycolic is natural and based on sugar cane and is similar to other alpha hydroxyl acids (AHA) like malic acid. There are stronger skin peels like TCA Peel and the Obagi Blue Peel, but the glycolic peel is a good starter and touch up skin care treatment.
Some people when they hear of acids thing of hazardous and caustic chemicals that can permanently burn and scar. This is not the case with glycolic acid. When used as indicated or by doctors in their offices it has been found to be effective on light acne (pimples and blackheads)and light skin problems like freckles and light sun damage. Glycolic acid is good at reducing oil on the surface, restoring the skins natural pH and causing the outer layer of skin to exfoliate. Glycolic acid is highly soluble and when applied to the skin it breaks the intercellular bonds in the outermost skin layer. The skin will eventually peel or flake off and result in fresher skin. Regular exfoliation has been proven to make the skin healthier and have less of a chance for pore blockage.
Glycolic is not as effective on deeper skin issues like mild to severe acne, cystic acne, acne scars, wrinkles, etc. Deeper conditions like these require a stronger acid peel like the TCA peel or Obagi Blue peel by Dr. Obagi. Both of these have been found very effective against many deeper skin conditions. This is why, along with glycolic acid, doctors recommend a form of TCA peel skin peel in office or for in home skin treatments.
Many people have found glycolic acid added to an astringent like Sea Breeze, makes it 10X more effective in reducing acne-related problems like pimples and light breakouts. Medical studies have proven that glycolic acid, TCA peel and the Obagi Blue Peel greatly enhance an astringent in acne reduction when applied daily as a cleanser. Of these the TCA peel was found most effective for reducing all forms of acne.
There are more powerful and effective skin peels available and most are now available for in home use, but glycolic is a good starter skin peel and should not be overlooked. It is also a good maintenance treatment for in between stronger TCA peel applications.
Natural Ways To Detoxify Your Insides, To Cure Your Acne On The Outside
Posted on March 8, 2008
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At some point in everyone’s life, acne becomes a problem. For some, it happens as a teenager, for others, it can strike in adulthood. For the more unlucky, it’s a problem that starts young, and continues throughout your life. It’s a problem no matter how old you are, how long you’ve had it, or how many times or ways you’ve tried to rid yourself of it.
Normally, people treat their acne on the outside. Creams and ointments, scrubbing and exfoliating. I’ve written about these in the past, and I agree, they are very important for controlling the acne you have now. Much like taking cold medication will help with the cold you have right now. But topical creams may not stop acne from occurring, if the problem you face is deeper down. While this isn’t true for everyone, in this article, we’ll talk about some examples of what you can do for your insides.
There are many causes of acne, from blocked pores, to oily skin, stress and hormones. (It’s that last one that strikes teenagers the most.) However, it can also be caused by toxicity inside you. I’m sure you’ve seen products on the shelves of natural food markets (or on television), claiming to detoxify your body and helping you to reclaim yourself. While I wont recommend any specific product, I do agree that the key to a healthy outside is a healthy inside.
The three easiest things to do to help detoxify your body involves what you eat.
First is to eat fresh vegetables, such as broccoli, broccoli sprouts, cauliflower, onions, garlic, artichokes, beets, red and green vegetables. If you are familiar with the “color wheel” of vegetables, then this is what I’m talking about. . Most of these foods are things you probably already eat on a normal basis, just focus on eating them more, and eating them well. Eating plenty of fresh, whole foods, will help you in two ways. Not only are you eating foods that will help cleanse you, you aren’t eating foods that are bad for you in the process. It’s better for you in both directions.
Second, is the things probably not already in your diet. These include items like Ginger, Kelp, and many teas, such as Chickweed or Green tea. Ginger is good for the kidney, bowels, and blood circulation, and helps to remove toxins from the body. Kelp is often cited for helping in a variety of ways, and it a good source of vitamins and minerals in it’s own right. Kelp has been called “nature’s multivitamin” and can be treated as such. Finally, teas can be used either as a drink, a rub, or as a way to soak in a steam bath when brewing.
Third, and probably most basic, is water. Drink plenty of water per day. I’ve often heard the idea of drinking 8 cups (64 oz) of water a day, but I’m not convinced that makes sense. I’ll bet you and I have different weights and measures, so there’s no way that you and I need the same amount. The closest advice I’ve heard is to drink half of your body weight, per day. So, if you weigh 150, try to drink 75 oz of water a day. It seems like a lot, but your body needs it. Your body needs the circulation to clear waste from your bloodstream. And, if tolerable to you, drink it at room temperature or warmer.
This covers the basics of how to treat your acne by detoxifying yourself. Sometimes, curing the inside is the way to cure the outside.
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