A Look At Toothpaste in Treating Acne

You must have heard many contradicting views on using toothpaste in treating acne. Some people reported that toothpaste performs miracle for their acne while others swear that they would never ever try this acne home remedy again for treating acne as it only produces more irritation and burning to their face.

Why is it some of us are having great success in treating acne while for others, toothpaste do more damage to their skin? To have a better understanding, let's take a look at a toothpaste typical ingredients.

In most toothpaste, you will find fluoride or a variation of it such as Sodium Monoflurorophosphate or Sodium Fluoride. Fluoride is the ingredient that is used to prevent tooth cavities. If you ever suffer burning or irritation when using toothpaste to treat your acne, it is due to fluoride and it might also cause skin allergies for some of acne sufferers who have sensitive skin. However for acne sufferers who have less sensitive skin, they might find that it works for their acne as fluoride dries up the pimple contents and that's why people say that it works for their pimples.
Sorbitol, hydrated silica, titanium dioxide and Polyethylene Glycol which are found in toothpaste do appear in some dermabrasive products used to treat acne but their minute presence in toothpaste are too insignificant to render their effectiveness in clearing acne.

Glancing further at the toothpaste contents, you will note that the presence of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. This ingredient is also present in many toiletries products such as your shampoo, body wash, facial wash etc. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is the ingredient that produces bubbles in most of the toiletries products and you can bet that these foamy bubbles won't do anything to improve your acne condition.

To minimize tartar deposits on the tooth, Sodium Pyrophosphate is added to toothpaste to remove calcium and magnesium from the saliva. In the skin, calcium promotes skin cell growth and causes more hair follicles to grow.

When Sodium Pyrophosphate is applied to the skin, calcium reduction lowers skin cell growth which leads to less activities in the hair follicles. Bear in mind that one of the factors that leads to acne formation is the abnormal shedding of skin cells in the follicle unit and by having less cell growth activities, you will get less pimples on your face.

Now that you know more about toothpaste in treating acne, would you still like to use it to treat your zits? If you decide to proceed, make sure you only apply toothpaste to your acne spots (spot treatment) and don't leave it overnight. In fact, you should only leave it for 10 to 15 minutes. Never ever apply toothpaste to your pimples which has been popped as you will experience extreme stinging and burning sensation.

If you feel that toothpaste makes your skin too dry, apply a mixture prepared from three teaspoons of honey and one teaspoon of cinnamon powder. This mixture will make your skin feel soft and less drying. On a final note, treating acne with toothpaste will make your skin ages faster due to its drying effect.