Hormones Role In Acne

Do you know that without hormones, you wouldn't have acne? But then again without hormones, you won't be able to live as hormones control every function of our bodies, from regulating our metabolism to enable us to grow and produce off springs.

I bet you have heard of the hormone named androgens. Androgens is the hormones that give us a masculine feature. It is also the hormones that cause facial hair growth, increase of muscle mass and other sex characteristics in a male. By now, surely you would have the term testosterone. The androgen testosterone is the main male hormone. However, females also have androgens too, except that the quantity present in them are less than those in males and also these hormones are weaker.

The bad news about having androgens in your body is that these hormones can cause acne. Even though the primary female hormones, estrogen and progesterone, that control menstrual cycle, also have some effects on acne, their effects are far more weaker if compared to the androgens hormones.

All acne developments start with blocked sebum in our skin follicles. And the tendency of a follicle getting blocked is vastly increased if there is an increase in the production of sebum by the sebaceous glands in our skin. By now, you might be asking what androgens got to do with the sebum production. Well, androgens regulates the production of oil in the sebaceous glands.

Don't ever think that acne sufferers have more androgens compared with non acne sufferers. Actually it is their sensitiveness of their sebaceous glands to the hormones' message that leads to an excessive production of sebum on our skin.

As your face, chest, shoulders and back contain the highest amount of sebaceous glands, you will stand a very high chance of getting acne in these areas.

During your adolescence years, your androgens production will increase tremendously and make your sebaceous glands larger and producing more sebum. After the adolescence years are over, the amount of androgens will also decrease and with less androgens, you get less sebum and for most of us, acne will be a problem of the past in this period.

Of course, some of us, males and females inclusive, will continue to have acne well into our adulthood due to our bodies retain their androgens sensitivity. Yet, there are some of us who only get acne when we are adults.

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Benzoyl Peroxide Benefits On Acne

Glancing through your local drugstore, the term benzoyl peroxide will show up very often as the active ingredient on the label of the acne medications there.

By now, you must be wondering what makes benzoyl peroxide so widely used and whether it is really so effective in fighting acne.

Aside from being a very potent anti bacterial agent that kills P. acnes ( the bacteria that causes acne), benzoyl peroxide drying effect does a great deal on clearing your acne . It dries and peels the skin and also removes dead skin cells. By clearing the blocked follicles your skin, P. acnes bacteria won't have a chance to multiply and thus the further development of your acne is being stopped. That means comedones which are blackheads and whiteheads won't have a chance to develop on your skin.

Unlike antibiotic, prolonged usage of benzoyl peroxide for months, or even years, won't make your acne become resistant to it. Up to date, there is no known dangerous long term side effects and it is even safe to be used even if you are pregnant.

Bear in mind that benzoyl peroxide that comes in creams, lotions and pads are more effective than those in the form of soaps, scrubs and washes. You probably won't need those high concentration of benzoyl peroxide that is available as a prescription as it is wise to go for the lowest strength of benzoyl peroxide available. So far, Neutrogena-On-The-Spot contains 2.5% benzoyl peroxide which is the lowest concentration of benzoyl peroxide that one can get in the market.

It is a misconception that most acne sufferers have in thinking that a higher percentage of any active acne formula ingredient will treat their acne successfully and at the shortest time possible. In contrast, the higher concentration will only irritate your acne prone skin and cause excessive dryness to your skin. It is also due to this perception that makes acne sufferers can't find a suitable acne medication that works for their acne.

Start with using the lowest available concentration of benzoyl peroxide and use it sparingly. As your skin is the best feedback on the result of the application, observe and take note of its appearance. You will get more acne initially after you start to apply the medication as the medication is working to bring the existing acne from "underneath your skin" to the surface.

You can increase the application frequencies gradually if you don't developed extreme dryness on your skin.

Use to treat existing as well as preventing new acne from developing, benzoyl peroxide should be continued to be applied on your acne prone face and skin even if your acne has cleared to maintain an acne free skin.

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How To Treat Acne - The Unconventional Ways!

The bad news about acne is that we can't cure acne but that does not mean we cannot treat it. Before you resort to prescribed products or seek a consultation with a dermatologist, there are many topical treatment as well as unconventional products available to treat acne.

The problem lies in finding and identifying the suitable products that works on your acne. Don't be surprised and puzzled when you find out that the products that your friends use to treat their acne successfully do not work on your skin.

As each of us is different, the acne on our face and skin will react differently to the thousands of acne treatments available in the market. Some might also find successes in treating their acne with unconventional method such as using toothpaste, honey, lemon, rice powder or even turmeric!

Some of us claim that honey treats their acne successfully. Even though honey is known to possess antibacterial properties, the properties of the active ingredient in honey that kill the staphylococci bacteria, hydrogen peroxide, is easily destroyed by heat and light.

Go for Manuka honey if you like to use honey to treat your acne as manuka honey possesses additional anti bacterial properties beside hydrogen peroxide that is derived from the enyzme added by the bees. Be prepare to face the stickiness and messy condition that you will face when you apply honey on your acne. Manuka honey is very effective in fading those post acne red marks left by acne rather than clearing acne on our face and skin.

Why don't we recommend table honey for your acne? As table honey contains so much sugar, it will make the honey anti bacterial properties less effective.

Have you ever heard that some acne sufferers are finding some successes with toothpaste in their quest to treat acne? Toothpaste does indeed work in treating cysts and red blemishes as they dry up the acne pimples and then tighten the acne pores and its surrounding skin area to make them easier to come off. However, be careful when you pick on your acne after the toothpaste application as blood may be oozing if you do so.

You will get a slight burning and stinging sensation after applying toothpaste to your acne spots. Therefore, don't ever apply tooth paste to your open pimple wounds.

Even though we don't recommend using tooth paste to treat your acne, if you want an instant home remedy to reduce your pimple swelling, use tooth paste that comes with the white content. And don't ever leave it longer for more 15 minutes on your acne spots due to its strong drying effect. After removing the tooth paste from your face, apply C & C Oil Free Moisturizer to your skin.

Here is more information on toothpaste used in treating acne.

There is some truth to the statement "lemon juice clears my acne" as lemon juice contains citric acid which is a form of Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHA) that is commonly use in many topical acne treatments. This ingredient will slouch off dead skin, promote skin elasticity and rejuvenate your skin by enabling new skin cell that grows to rise to the skin surface. You will feel that your skin is very fresh as it flushes your pores; clearing the sebum and dead skin in them.

In contrast to tooth paste, lemon juice will need about 3 to weeks to clear your acne. Applying a dab of lemon juice soaked with cotton pad to your acne pimples and leave overnight. Lemon juice also fades scar spots.

It is no wonder that some of us will turn to garlic to treat our acne. Garlic is a well known antiseptic, anti viral, anti fungal , anti bacteria as well as anti inflamatory product all roll into one.
Even though it is so potent, you must be prepared to wait for weeks for garlic to show its effectiveness on your acne. The way to apply garlic to your acne pimple (not face) is to apply the garlic juice from the crushed cloves. For lighter complexion acne sufferers, they might find garlic is too harsh on their skin that causes slight burn and stinging sensation while darker complexion individual should experience next to no of these effects.

Should you find the stinging and burning sensation is too extreme for your acne, wash the application off from your face in order to prevent redness and swelling. It might be that you are one of those who are allergic to the active allicin ingredient of the garlic.

All is not lost even though you belonged to this group of people or someone who does not want to go through all the hassle to prefer the garlic juice. You can use Garlic Oil 500mg 250 Softgels from Source Naturals. Apply the oil from the punctured garlic softgels to your pimples. These treated garlic does not contain allicin as allicin is a very unstable compound and further more allicin is not biologically active in the body. Actually it is not the allicin ingredient as claimed by many so called "professional" that clears your acne.

Not only could garlic be applied externally, they can also be taken internally. In the long term, garlic will not only treat your acne, but also boosts up your immune system. A weak immune system will cause us to catch cold easily and always falls sick and feeling tired.

For this, it might worth your time to take a look at Kyolic aged garlic extract. Kyolic aged garlic has been around for many years and it is known to be the best garlic product available in the world. you would be surprised to find out that Kyolic aged garlic goes through a 20-month cold aging process before it is sold. This lengthy process preserves most of the natural ingredients inside the garlic and remove the pungent smell and irritating allicin contents from the garlic.

Ever wonder why most Indians have smooth and flawless skin complexion? Do you know that they not only apply turmeric on their skin but also drink it with milk daily? Beside, they also often consume curry which is cooked with this curry spice in their daily meals.

The yellowish curry spice turmeric , also known as haldi, possesses anti inflamatory and anti oxidant properties that reduces pigmentation and also has an ever lasting effects on treatment on scars, acne and pimple marks. Turmeric also prevent the harmful UV ray of the sun on our skin.

So how do we prepare turmeric to be applied to our acne? First mix turmeric with cucumber or lemon juice. Then apply this mixture to the acne prone area and leave for 15 minutes. Then remove the turmeric on your skin by cleansing milk.

Instead of the above mixture, you can also mix turmeric with sandalwood and rose water.

You will be overjoyed after a few weeks of applying the mixture of turmeric and cucumber or lemon juice daily when you see your new radiant and stunning skin glows without any trace of acne lesion.

One note about turmeric that we would like to stress is turmeric can cause yellow stains to your clothes, tubs or basin if you accidentally spill it onto these parts. However, do not be alarmed as you can remove it by sprinkle some lemon juice on the affected area and let it dry in the sun. You will notice that the concerned area will turn to red before the stain finally disappears.

As with garlic, there is also a commercial available cream for turmeric in the form of Vicco Turmeric Skin cream. This cream will dry up your acne blemishes over night and fade away all those unsightly red marks in two weeks. It is more suitable for those who have oily skin due to its drying effect which may be too much for people with dry skin. But then again, most acne sufferers have oily skin.

The Chinese have been using rice powder for years to keep their face and skin blemish free. As rice has a very cooling effect on our skin, applying them on a regular basis to our face will sooth and prevent acne lesions from developing. Just mix a few pellets of rice powder with water and apply the solution to your face. After a minute or two when the mixture dries, you will notice patches of white powders on your face.

Finally, there's another unconventional method to treat one's acne. However, it can only be used by the softer gender. Females, whether they are teenagers or adult women, can use birth control pills to control their acne outbreaks. Not only it works, it does wonder on severe and stubborn case of acne.

To those guys with severe acne that are thinking of trying out the birth control method, please don't do it at any cost. It will cause havoc to your system as these pills are just not meant for the hormones in your body.

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Do Chocolate Or Greasy Foods Cause Acne?

We all like to eat chocolate and greasy foods, don't we? Bet your parents will say that these foods cause acne and advise you not to consume them. But do they really cause acne?

Luckily there is no scientific evidence that links acne and these foods up to today. But before you lay your hand on those yummy and delicious chocolate bars, consider this. If you note that every time after you consume those foods, you have an acne breakout, it is better to avoid them.

And to those of you who have practically no acne breakout after consuming these foods, moderation is still the best way to go in eating them. Anything that is consumed in abundance will be detrimental to your health in one way or another. The effect might not show up in your acne but definitely it will show up in your waistline.

Luckily the high amount of carbohydrates and fat in these greasy foods does not increase the production of sebum in the sebaceous glands in the skin and cause an acne breakout.

There are reports there dairy foods cause acne. Some people claimed that they have significant improvement in their acne after they eliminate or consumes limited amount of milk products in their diet. Studies indicated that girls have a more prominent effect of milk consumption on their acne compared to boys.

Why is there a linkage between milk or dairy consumption and acne? It might be due to the fact that the 75% to 90% of the milks and dairy products in the market are produced by cows, especially pregnant cows. The hormones in these milk and dairy products when consumed by us might cause some of us to experience an acne flare.

Therefore, should you decide to try a dairy free diet, do take a supplement of calcium and protein to keep you healthy. Surely you wouldn't want to risk contracting other diseases in your struggle to keep acne at bay.

Yet there are some people who find that lots of acne pop up on their face and skin after they consume seaweed and seafood. This is due to the reason that these seafood are rich in iodine. Iodine, if consumed in large quantity, does indeed cause acne.

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Is Sunlight Good For Acne?

People used to say that exposing one self to sunlight is good for one's overall health but does that include acne? Well, people with inflammatory acne will derive the benefit if they don't expose to sunlight excessively.

As sunlight kills prophyrins which are a part of the P. acnes bacteria that causes acne, it means that we will have significant improvement in our acne condition. However, do remember that sunlight contains ultra violet rays such as UV A and UV B that can cause premature aging as well as skin cancer.

Initial exposure to sunlight will dry up the acne by making the sebaceous gland less active. However, the accompanied sweat and heat can worsen one's acne condition. To get around this problem, some people think that tanning salon is a way out. Here , one must still bear in mind that tanning beds still emit the same harmful ultra violet lights as natural sunlight even though their compositions are slightly different. UV B is the light component that causes sunburn while UV A does not cause any sunburn, it has very deep penetration power to one's skin and indirectly damages our DNA. Therefore, it is wise to buy a sunscreen that blocks out not only UV B (as indicated by SPF rating) but also UV A.

Ulta violet light UV A UV B
Natural sunlight 90% 10%
Tanning bed 95% 5%


Excessive exposure to sunlight will increase one's comedone ( blackheads and whiteheads). This means that you will get more acne in due times as comedone is the earlier stage of acne. Not only that, collagen production on our skin will also decrease and drier and more inelastic skin plus slower healing of wounds will become more noticeable. This in turn will slow down our acne recovery and also make one's skin more prone to scarring after an acne is healed.

In summary, a decent amount of sunlight exposure is good for our acne if it is accompanied with a sunscreen moisturizer such as C & C Oil Free Day Moisturizer. As in everything in life, moderation is the key to a successful acne treatment; be it in food intake or topical treatment when it comes to improving one's acne condition.

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How Soon Is The Result After Taking An Oral Antibiotic?

The most commonly prescribed type of oral treatment in treating acne is by taking antibiotics. Antibiotics have been proven effective and safe in treating acne. Oral antibiotics reduces the P.acnes bacteria that cause the formation of inflammatory acne by as high as 90% or more. Systemic antibiotics also stop certain pro-inflammatory chemicals action and reduce inflammation in moderate to severe acne.

Some improvement in the acne condition can be seen in four to six weeks after starting the oral antibiotics medication. During the early stage of taking oral antibiotics, the acne sufferers have to take the medications regularly. Irregular taking of oral antibiotics will cause the treatment to fail. The dosage of antibiotics will be reduced as times goes by when the inflammatory acne becoming less and less. Inflammatory acne usually take three to six months to clear.

As the safety of systemic antibiotics in acne treatment is well established, there is no worry to be concerned in taking the medications for such a long time. Once your acne stop, your doctor will stop the treatment and put you on a maintenance topical medication. Some doctors also recommend that you take a topical medication together with a oral antibiotic.

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How To Prevent Acne Scar or Make It Heal Faster?

Preventing yourself from picking or squeezing your pimples is the best method to prevent scarring. Another method is to treat acne lesions early in order to prevent acne scars from developing. That's why it is alway said that prevention is better than treatment in tackling acne problems.

Acne lesions normally take weeks or months to heal and can still leave red or brown markings even with no picking or squeezing of the acne. This is especially common for people with skin that is genetically prone to scarring or hyperpigmentation. Fairer skin acne sufferers often have red marks that stay on their skin for months. These marks may remain red or turn to brown while darker skin patients experience increased pigmentation when the acne finally clears.

The red and brown marks left from acne lesions will eventually goes away as these discolorations are not true scars; with no depressed pits or different skin textures. However, it may take months for the marks to fade . Therefore, many acne sufferers use fading cream to lighten it.

While creams are used to lighten the skin, laser can be used to reduce the redness. Most lightening creams contain hydroquinone as its active ingredient used to lighten the markings. Some products combine hydroquinones with glycolic acid, tretinoin, sunscreens, moisturizers and antioxidant. The difference between over the counter and prescription medications is that the over the counter formulations can contain up to 2% of hydroquinone while the prescription type can go up to 4% only.This is important as to minimize the effect of over-bleaching the skin colourations.

You should use the product on the whole acne prone area instead of just the spot itself as this will create a patch of lighter skin around the spot.

Hydroquinone normally doesn't cause any side effects in comparison to the accompanied ingredients that are used to increase the absorption of hydroquinone such as glycolic acid and retinoids. These two ingredients can be irritating to the skin. A skin reaction known as exogenous ochronosis in which dark brown or black spots that can occur in the skin after treated with hydroquinones inlarge doses or for extended periods is very common in African Americans.

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How Long Does It Takes For An Acne Medication To Work?

We bet that one would be impatient in getting rid of her unwanted acne after applying an acne medication to her acne prone face. Therefore, one would expect something like instantaneous or over night disappearance of the acne blemishes on one face after application.

However, in the real world, thing does not work out in such a way. It takes time for acne medication to show its effectiveness. Furthermore, as each of us is different, results can only be seen in days and significant improvement on our skin can only be seen in 4 to 6 weeks. Therefore, it is important to continue a new treatment that we try for at least 6 weeks before we decide that the treatment is not working for our acne problem.

At the initial stage of the acne treatment, the pimples will dry up. These pimples will leave marks or pigmentation that will be visible for days, if not weeks or months. Acne treatment that we use won't have any effect on these marks as they are remnants of the acne that we have earlier. The important thing to stress here is not to touch or pick on these marks on one skin so that they will recover as soon as possible.

With the continuation of application of the acne treatment, one will get less and less acne lesions and the new acne lesions will clear up faster and appeared less red. As time passes by, the red mark will turn to brown and if one is impatient to wait for them to disappear, one can choose a fading cream to make it fades faster.

One should always stick to the instructions on the label of the medications during the whole period of acne treatment. Don't ever think that applying more in volume or more frequent will quicken the results that one seek. In contrast, it will only irritate one's skin and make her face to have more acne breakouts.

Finally,keep this in mind!

Most people fail in seeking a suitable acne medication due to the fact that they give up too early.

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Why Are There So Many Type of Acne Treatments?

If you visit the pharmacies, you will be at loss in choosing what type of acne treatment that is suitable for your acne. Do we really need the multitude of acne medications out there in the markets? Aren't they all the same?

Well, to be frank, as each of us are different, be it in our skin or the factor that causes our acne, we do need to seek the acne treatment that works for our skin. Your friend might be having success with a particular type of acne medication that works for her acne but that doesn't mean that it will work on your acne as well.

Furthermore, as our skin and the acne causing bacteria learn to adapt to the treatment that we use, we need to rotate or alter the type of acne medication that we use in order to keep a blemish free skin. Therefore, there are times that topical treatment is used in conjunction with oral medications to prevent an acne breakout on our skin.

Nowadays, the best acne treatment that is often recommended is to use a combination of acne medications. It is no wonder that combination treatments such as Clearpores and ZENMED® Derma Cleanse System are now the standard of acne treatment therapy as these system consists of a multitude of acne products to treat our acne. They are developed to treat our existing acne, and prevent new acne from developing by tackling the source of acne internally.

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Why Do Our Pores Keep Getting Bigger?

Pores are the openings of the follicles in the skin surface. We all have them. We need them to excrete toxins in the form of sweat from our skin.

Pores are more obvious in some people than in others. As big pores size make us look unsightly, we are very concerned with pores sizes.

Genetics, sun exposure and hormones affect our pore size. As we age, our pores appear larger and more prominent due to increase inelasticity of our skin. There are treatments available to help minimize the appearance of pores. Regular exfoliation used with retinoids can help the skin cells regenerate more and control the sebaceous glands activities that make the pores look larger.

Sun ray is one of the most harmful agent that can cause our pores to become bigger and make our skin ages faster as it intensifies the loss of moisture from our skin. Therefore, protecting our skin against harmful sun rays by using a sunscreens such as Clean & Clear Oil Free Day Moisturizer,SPF 15 go a long way in making your pores appear smaller. In addition to this, many cosmetics companies are marketing powders, creams and lotions that help conceal our pores. This is the simplest way to manage the pores size problem.

Topical treatments containing retinoids improve the pores appearance as they affect the sebaceous glands activities. However, this treatment can cause extreme dryness and irritation to our skin and might not be everyone cup of tea. Another temporary method to control our pores size is to have regular facials treatment.

Lasers and intense pulse light treatments do offer long lasting, safe result in minimize pore appearance over time. However, multiple treatments are necessary and result vary from person to person.

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Are there any difference in creams, gels, lotions or foams in topical treatments?

The base of the product that frames the active ingredients determine how well the active ingredients are being absorbed in the skin. It can also make the active ingredients stronger or weaker.

If our skin is very oily, gels are much better for it. When the skin is dry, creams or ointment products are more suitable. Lotions and oils are usually used in the summer months where humidity is higher.

Products that are more moisturizing are normally greasier, making it unsuitable for most people. While a more drying product will make our skin irritated. Sometimes, a combination of more drying and more moisturizing products can be used to achieve good results as in acne treatments. As most acne treatments are drying, we recommend them to be used with moisturizers to make them less irritating for the skin to achieve an acne free complexions.

Benzoyl peroxide is known to be more active when used in the gel formulation than in other forms. However, it may be too irritating for some people. Hence the options are to use a lower concentration of benzoyl peroxide in the gel formulation, choose a higher concentration in a cream or use the cleansers in various strengths.

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What are the factors that can make acne worse ?

There are a myriad factors that can worsen acne. It can be a change of seasons or residence. Acne can be worsen from makeup or moisturizers that we used or cleansers that we don't use. However, individual might share the same acne triggers as well as different triggers with one another.

We list down the most common factors that leads to the worsening of acne below :

• changing of hormone level in adolescent girls and adult women about a week before the menstrual cycle.
• friction from bike helmets, backpacks or tight gears.
• pollution and hot, high humidity climates.
  Pollution causes dirt which can clogged our pores leading to acne flares.A hot and high humidity climates causes our outer layer of skin to swell tremendously. The pressure from swelling could clogg our pores that cause acne.
• squeezing at pimples.
• hard scrubbing of the skin.
• stress.
  Acne often worsens during period of stress, tension and anxiety. A study by Stanford University published in the Archives of Dermatotology reported that acne suffering students worsened in hte examination period. This indicates changing hormone level during stress may have a significant influence on acne. In additon, acne flares during this time is made worse due to failure to use acne medications regularly.
• durgs
  Drugs such as corticosteroids given orally or by injections, lithium for treating manic depressive illness and testerone pills or injections used by professional athletes and bodybuilders may acts as acne aggravators. Danazol which is sometimes given to women for endometriosis (promote growth of tissue from the uterus on other parts of the body) has a similar effect as testerone which worsen acne.
• poor skin hygience.

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How Often Should I Wash My Face?

Washing the face keeps it clean and oil free. This lessens the chances of having acne flares due to clogged pores and bacteria infection. For this reason, acne sufferers tend to wash their faces excessively to reduce the oiliness of their skin. However, there is no scientific data to show that the lack of face washing causes acne or frequent washing improves the acne condition.

However, over washing or scrubbing your face will not only make your skin irritated and redden but also worsen the inflammatory stage of acne.

Normal washing actually does not affect the reservoir of oil in the follicle which is the place where acne originates. Furthermore, antibacterial soaps that contains triclosan and chlorhexidine which can be irritating to your skin and do not kill P.acnes bacteria. However, a benzoyl peroxide wash does reduce and kill P. acnes bacteria even when used as a cleanser but even with a benzoyl peroxide wash, over washing still irritate the skin.

Sometimes, you may not get acne but an irritant dermatitis (a skin inflammation) that look likes acne. When you treat your face with acne medication, the rashes can get worse. So in these cases, what you should do is wash your face less; twice a day by using a gentle surfactant free cleanser followed by a moisturizer.

Generally, washing in the evening is more important than in the morning. However, if you have heavy exercise and sweat a lot during a particular day, you should get your face wash. Do you know that you should use different products according to the season. A gentle, moisturizing product is more suitable during the winter, with only occasional exfoliation. For the warmer and more humid summer, use a more drying, foaming cleansers and more frequent exfoliation.

Cleansers come in various forms. Some are foaming washes which are drying and irritating while others are nonlathering that is less irritating and foam. Microbeads cleansers exfoliate while they clean and some other types comes in cleansing cloth use with or without water which are great for travel use. Finally, medicated cleansers generally contain benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid or AHA.

Put in mind that an exfoliating cleanser should be used only once or twice a week or less depending on the sensitivity of your skin. For some acne sufferer, cleanser is the only acne treatment that is needed.

For acne sufferers who are allergic to topical benzoyl peroxide based products, a benzoyl peroxide cleanser may be the ideal solution as their acne treatment. As the benzoyl peroxide is only left on the skin for a few minutes before being rinsed and then followed by a face moisturizer, the chances for getting a skin irritation is very low. However, benzoyl peroxide is still effective in killing the acne causing bacteria even with such short time of contact with the skin. Thus, a benzoyl peroxide cleanser is successful in treating acne with minimum irritation.

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How Do Hormones Affect Acne?

Teenagers normally get acne. Why? This is the time they experience a change of androgen or sex hormones in their body. An increase of androgen hormones in teenagers cause the sebaceous glands to enlarge and increase the sebum production. Excessive sebum production, abnormal shedding of dead skin cells, the "stickness" of the follicle walls and the presence of P. acnes bacteria cause acne flares.

As you can see, the presence of androgen hormones such as testerone, DHEA and 17-Hydroxyprogesterone plays an important role in getting acne on your skin. If there is no androgen hormone, you might not get acne at all. In some acne sufferers, a high hormone level circulating in the blood triggers acne. But for most people, the level of androgen hormone is normal in the blood.It is the abnormal response of the pilosebaceous unit of over accepting the hormones from the normal amount of circulating androgen hormones that make us getting acne.

By blocking the effects of androgens on the sebaceous glands with oral contraceptives, women who are affected by acne and yet show normal amount of androgen level in their blood test can be successfully treated.

In addition to androgen hormones, cortisol hormones also affect acne. Cortisol hormones are released by our body when we are under stress, such as in encountering a dangerous situation. As cortisol suppresses the immune system, it gives the chance for P. acnes bacteria to multiply, leading to a flare of inflammatory acne.

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What Are The Type Of Oral Antibiotics Available?

The most common antibiotics are tetracyline,doxycycline, minocyline, erythromycin and cotrimoxazole. Oral antibiotic can change the normal bacterial flora of women vagina which leads to an overgrowth of the superficial fungus Candida. Women in this condition will discharge a white vaginal fluid for several days to weeks after starting the therapy.

Tetracyline has been proven safe and effective in treating inflammatory acne. The initial dosage prescribed is usually 500 mg for twice a day.This dosage will be maintained for about six weeks by which a significant improvement can be seen. Thereafter a lower dosage is prescribed. As tetracyline absorption is affected by the presence of food and dairy products, it must be taken on an empty stomach or at least one hour before meals.

The side effects of taking tetracyline includes mild gastrointestinal problems such as diarrhea and vomitting. It can also cause discolouration of teeth in children and should not be used during pregnancy.

Doxycyline can be taken with meals as its absorption is not affected by the presence of food. The initial dosage is usually 100 mg for twice a day, taken after meals with water to reduce gastric problem. It also causes a photosensitive rash that is worsen by sun exposure.

Minocycline is a newer version of tetracycline that can be taken together with food. The initial dosage is 50 mg for twice a day. Its side efffects includes dizziness,nausea and a bluish pigmentation of the skin.

Erythromycin is an alternative to acne sufferers who are allergy to tetracycline and for pregnant women. It is as effective as tetracycline. The initial prescribed dosage is usually 500 mg for twice a day. Its side effects include gastrointestinal problem, diarrhea, vomiting and farting. If you are taking carbamazepine to treat epilepsy or theophylline for asthma, you should inform your doctor as these medications might react with erythromycin.

When the above oral antibiotics cannot be taken, it is time to try cotrimoxazole (trimethoprim / sulphamethoxazole). However, cotrimoxazole can cause severe skin rashes. The usual dosage is two tablets for twice a day. Look out for skin rashes or mouth ulcers when you take cotrimoxazole for the first few weeks.

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How Long Does A Pimple Last?

Indeed it takes time for pimples to clear, sometimes months. Comedones (whiteheads and blackheads) can last for weeks or months if not treated. Inflammatory acne lesions clear within a few days to a few weeks. However, red marks that was left after the pimple subsized later on turn to brown color can stay for months; sometimes for as long as 6 months.

In certain case, when an acne heals, another one starts to develop at exactly the same spot. So it appears that the acne can last for months. Cysts have a tendency to occur in the same spot and you may notice that they may have various sizes as time progress. No matter how great the temptations to pick on this lesions, do not ever give in to it as it will only make the cysts prolong and worsen it as well as causing scars on the spot.

Why is it so bad when we pick a pimple? The irritation caused by picking or squeezing your pimple may give you an immediate feeling of satisfaction as you have done something to clear the contents of the pimple and make your skin feel smoother. However, in the short run, what you have done is making the spot redder and prone to having a brown marks or a depressed scar. And it doesn't prevent the pimple from reoccurring at the same spot again.

The main purpose of treating acne is to prevent it from appearing. However, once acne appears, our priorty is to clear the acne in the shortest possible time. Early treatment of acne and avoidance of picking of acne go a long way in keeping scarring at bay. To properly identify what cause acne in your case, try to avoid applying acne medications that irritated your skin. Note down anythings that you do differently that cause the acne flare. It can be due to new cream or gel that you use, or certain medications that you stop using. Or is it exams just around the corner ?

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Are We Supposed To Pop Blackheads and Whiteheads?

In general, it is recommended that you does not squeeze or pop your pimples. Squeezing pimples make them worse and can cause scarring as you might cause damages to the surrounding skin tissues and pushing the pus content and bacteria deeper into the skin. Of course there is exceptional case in which you can squeeze pimples such as when they are ready to pop.

Whiteheads are a type of comedones which contain inactive P. acnes bacteria. The sebum content are blocked under the pores with no opening to the surface. That means they don't have any "heads".

Whiteheads content can only be removed with popping with extreme force as there are no opening on the spot. This might leads to inflamed lesion being developed and skin tissues damages. Therefore, whiteheads should never be squeeze at all cost.

Even though the above rule for whiteheads apply to blackheads as well, there are cases where the blackhead should be squeezed. Maybe it shouldn't be done by you but by a dermatologist.

Squeezing of blackheads contents only provides a temporary solution to clear the sebum in those particular spots, they will come back again very soon. A typical example is the blackheads that are located in your nose.

For self help acne sufferers, you can squeeze the blackheads with a blackheads remover tool. Follow proper procedures carefully when squeezing the blackheads with this tool.

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Why do my acne have no reaction to the standard treatments?

Specific medical conditions that you have may cause and aggravate acne. Acne sufferers with these medical conditions normally have more severe acne that do not respond to standard acne treatment.

Women who have an excess of androgen hormone normally have irregular periods, excessive hairiness and oiliness, male pattern baldness and deepening of the voice. They may show no improvements at all when treated with the standard acne treatment.

What causes the excess androgen hormone in women? Having polycystic ovarian syndrome in women is one of the most common causes. Women with polycystic ovarian syndrome have large and cystic ovaries, resulting in an imbalance in the hormones produced by the ovaries. The concerned women have oily skin, acne and irregular menstrual periods and usually obese, hairy and sub-fertile.

Another cause is due to Cushing's Syndrome in which the body contains too much cortisol (a glucocorticoid hormone) that results from an excess production by the body or from prolonged ingestionof steroid tablets such as prednisolone and dexamethasone) or from repeated injection of steroids for other medical conditions such as eczema and asthma.

Cushing's Syndrome causes face obesity "moon face", neck obesity "buffalo hump" and body obesity.Limbs won't be affected. Being hairy, skin thinning, easy to bruise and having purplish stretch marks (striae) are signs of Cushing's Syndrome as well.

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My Acne Medication Doesn't Work Anymore!

Is it possible? Could acne medication that worked in the past stops working ? You have been expecting the acne spots to be cleared but instead they grow larger as each day passes by.

As with anti dandruff shampoo, acne medication can fail to clear our acne lesions one day even if it worked so well in the past. Our acne can become resistant to the medication being used over time. However, once you find an acne treatment that worked in clearing your acne lesions, you should stick to it till it fails in its job. By then, you should seek another acne medication that is suitable for you. You can also try using the acne medication that you have not used for quite some time but was effective in clearing your acne spots in the past.

Taking oral antibiotics for your acne indefinitely will surely make your acne resistants to the medications. So what you should do is to take the oral antibiotics for 3 to 4 months and then stop. At the same time, you should also apply a topical treatment that contain benzoyl peroxide such as Neutrogena-On-The-Spot for your acne. Doing so can minimize the resistance of the acne to both medications. You can also use retinoids in conjunction with oral antibiotics but most of us will find that our skin will become more irritated.

People use oral antibiotics in order to get a quick result in treating their acne. When the oral antibiotics treatment is stopped, continuing application of a topical medication will maintain an acne free skin . As topical medications have to be applied gradually in terms of frequency as well as quantity over time, applying oral antibiotics can assure the result we seek in clearing our skin to materialize quickly.


As our skin is the best source of feedback on the acne medication that we applied on our skin, always observe the reaction we get from our skin after application. If after application, we feel that our skin is dry and irritated, use less of the topical medication. On the other hand, when our acne breakouts increases or when our skin is oiler especially during the hot summer, we should use the medication more often.

In short, we have to continue experimenting to find out the right amount and frequency of acne medication that we should use for our skin.

Most people fail in finding a acne medication that works for them as they give up too soon and applying too much of the medication in the initial stage. We should only apply

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Could facial treatment clear your acne?

Some of us have a habit to go to salons and spas to give ourselves a luxury treat. Our facial treatment at these places could include cleansing, massaging, heat wrapping and blackheads extraction.

Even though extraction of blackheads is a relatively simple process, when it is being done by a beautician at the salon who usually uses a tissue paper or a blackhead extractor to extract the blackhead content, it might do more harm rather than good. After a typical session, the face will appear red and swollen. Furthermore, the pores will be clogged again in a the next few days.

In addition to that, some of us might have skin that are easily irritated by the creams or lotions that are applied in these salons. This will only lead to more acne and blackheads!

As the skill of a beautician or aesthetician can vary tremendously, it is recommended that one should ask a dermatologist or a friend for a reference when she decides to go for such a course. To lessen the chance of getting your sensitive skin irritated by the lotions or creams used in a new salon that you are visiting, try them one at a time.

Your skin is your best feedback indicator and if it doesn't show any sign of irritation after usage, you can safely assume that the cream that you have tried doesn't have any adverse effect to your skin.

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Oops! I have acne!

Don't worry. It is not the end of the world. Most of us will get acne in some stages of our lives. Some get it in their teens while for others, acne only appears in their adulthood.

Even though acne is not a disease (why is it not a disease? Well, do you get sick, ill or not feeling well  having acne around and not treating it?), it makes us dread to have any acne spots on our face. Why? Because it affects our looks. It makes us feel miserable and causes embarrassment in front of our friends. These pimples on our faces or other parts on our bodies, especially the shoulders, neck, back or arms are definitely not a beautiful sight. It affects our self esteem. Look is paramount especially in our teens.I know many people say beauty is only skin deep but I wonder would they say the same thing if they have acne, especially the type with severe condition?

And even if it is not a disease, it has to be treated. Ignoring it might lead to scarring for the rest of our life. you don't have to head for a dermatologist once you have acne as most of us will have mild to moderate acne which can be treated with OTC medications.

Ge this fact right! Acne can be treated but cannot be cured. Yup, that is the common saying which the medical profession has been ingraining into our mind about acne but personally, I think  acne can be cured. However, it is definitely not any easy task as it takes a long time and tons of discipline and patience.

Don't despair.If we don't use the route to cure acne, we can still treat it. But we would have to continuously treating it till acne outgrow itself (believe me, one fine day, it will come). I know it causes great inconveniences to your life but would you like to have permanent scarring on your face for the rest of your life? Beauty is only skin deep but it is human nature to go for beautiful thing as well as look.

One thing for sure. Acne definitely need to be treated!

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