Why do we need to continuously treat our acne?

I bet this question will pop up on any acne sufferer who has acne pimples for a while. Do we really need to treat acne until it decides to go away? Do we really need to apply those topical acne gel or cream diligently? Couldn't we have some control over its popping up all over our face and body? Can't it be cured?

Well, if you read my post on the What is the true cause of acne?, you would know that there is indeed a solution to keep acne at bay. In the Is acne contagious? post, we know that acne bacteria can thrive only if they are being nurtured with the right environment. The act of applying acne gels or creams to the acne zits or spots meant to kill the bacteria that are proliferate there.

So you see, as long as we keep on applying the topical solution to the affected acne prone skin to kill off those acne bacteria, acne won't get a chance to develop. The moment we stop doing so, the acne development process will restart and acne will return will soon. This is unavoidable since we are treating the symptom, and not the actual root cause of acne.

That's why we often heard that acne is treatable but not possible to cure. We are not tackling the actual root cause of acne which is hormonal imbalanced and  toxins accumulation. Therefore, if one is really committed to keep acne away away for good, we need to tackle these two causes. But most acne sufferers just don't have the patience, faith  and time to travel this route as it really takes a long time to take effect. Even the time duration of seeing the effect of acne subsiding by the application of topical medications (a week or two) is too slow for them. After all, when one has acne, one is very anxious and embarrassed and want to get rid of it as soon as possible.

Most acne sufferers want instant result. Apply the medication today and see the acne pimples vanish the next morning. Believe me, this is not going to happen. The expectation of instant gratification in anything we do including getting rid of acne makes us concentrate on using medications to treat acne.       

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Is acne contagious?

I guess this question will be on the mind of every acne sufferers. Is acne contagious? Could acne be transferred from one person to another simply by touching or making contact with the acne prone area? Or is it possible acne can be transferred from one spot of the skin to another spot simply by touching both areas with a hand or finger?

In my previous post on The True Cause of Acne, we know that acne is caused by hormones imbalanced and congestion of toxins from our blood. Hormones imbalanced causes our sebaceous glands to excrete an immense amount of sebum. Congestion of toxins coupled with excessive skin shedding in the pilosebaceous unit (hair follicles) provides a conducive area for the acne bacteria to breed and multiply. With the presence of bacteria, the excessive sebum will become hardened and finally form what we known as acne.

That's why you often heard people said acne bacteria aggravates acne condition. It is only with the right condition (excessive sebum and a congestion of the toxins from our internal body system) that acne bacteria can thrive and cause acne to spread.

Therefore, simply touching one area of your skin free acne with your hand or finger laden with acne bacteria won't simply make that area infected with acne pimples. And do you know that some area of our skin (even with an enormous amount of acne bacteria population) won't have acne? Have you noticed your hand, fingers, and feet simply won't have acne?

So that means perfect skin person has acne bacteria on their skin but without the proper environment, acne won't get a chance to proliferate. Even though the acne bacteria are there, acne pimples are no where in sight. That's why I often say acne bacteria don't cause acne.








       

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What is the true cause of acne?

Whether one is looking to treat or to cure acne (yes, that right, I did mention the word cure), it would be a lot easier to do so if we understand what causes it.

Most of you might answer bacteria. Unfortunately, bacteria doesn't cause acne, even though it might aggravate acne. If bacteria causes acne, then how do you answer when there is certain place in our skin that acne just won't grow no matter how much acne bacteria you transfer to it.

Some of you might say genetic plays a big role. True to a certain extent but that it not the actual cause either. If it is, then one whole family would suffer acne. Do all your brothers and sisters have acne? And when there are two or three members in the family who are prone to acne, they said it is genetic. Have they ever paused and think that there might be something else that causes acne? Maybe there is some external trigger that causes acne. Something like one's lifestyle or the environment one live in.

Aha, now some of you might say overactive oil glands. Very close, as most of the acne sufferers were in their teens. In this stage of life, one's sebaceous oil glands secrete lot and lot of oil  and cause blockage to the follicles and eventually the accumulation of the hardening of oil there is known as acne.


Hmmm, seem like we have our answer there. Or is it? Let me ask you one question. Why do our sebaceous oil glands are so active in that stage of our lives? Why do pimple, acne, blackheads, zits, or whatever you like to call it, pop up at those unwelcome period?

Well, the answer lies in the imbalance of hormones. As hormones control the amount of sebum excreted by the sebaceous glands, an imbalanced hormones condition would make one's skin very oily. That's why most people will oily skin have acne. Most people but not all. Why? To have acne, we would need another ingredient. And this ingredient is none other than the congesting toxins in the sebaceous units originating from our blood and lymph. 

So now you know that an imbalanced hormone condition coupled with blood toxins cause acne.
 

     

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Birth Control Pills to Treat Your Acne

Birth control pills for acne? It's won't come as a surprise if we fully understand how acne begin in the first place. Caused by a blockage of pores in the hair follicles by excessive shedding of dead skin and secretion of sebum, acne pimple begin to take shape.

What causes an abnormally high amount of sebum secretion by the glands in our skin? It is mainly due to the excessive amount of male hormone, androgen and testosterone presence. When one is in teenage years, the female and male hormones are normally out of balance. And yes, the male hormones also made themselves present in a female body.

Birth control pill is used to bring back some stability of these hormones in the woman's body. Women normally experience great hormone fluctuation before their menstrual period. When these hormones are regulated and become more balance, acne outbreaks would not only become less severe but also less frequent.

A visit to a dermatologist for those with severe case of acne would normally lead to the prescription of isotretinoin. This medication, usuall come in the brand Accutane, is a risky drug to treat acne.       


To say that Accutane is risky to a pregnant woman is an understatement. It is a well known fact that Accutane causes great harm to one's fetus. Therefore, federal regulation are in placed to confirm one is not pregnant before taking Accutane. Also, screening of pregnancy is required for each refill of Accutane medication.

That's why your doctor normally prescribed birth control pill be taken together with Accutane to minimize the chance of getting pregnant during one's acne treatment using Accutane. However, as with all other acne medications, once you stop taking them, acne will come back to haunt you and might even be more severe than before.

One final note I must stress that when birth control pills are used to control one's acne, its effectiveness on its main function, ie. to avoid pregnancy, is greatly reduced due to the presence of Accutane. It still have its effect but it pays to get another birth control method in place to further reduce the probability of getting a baby.      

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How to prevent acne: is it possible?

I guess everyone who have acne would look for ways to prevent it. But is that possible?

To answer that question, you got to know why acne occur in the first place. It is not due to dirt or, the stuff you eat (though there're lots of debates going around about this point). It is mainly due to the hormonal change in our bodies. For teenagers, this hormone change is unavoidable. So is acne that come together with it.

Next, you may ask, "Since everyone experiences hormonal changes in their bodies, why not everyone get acne?" Interesting question. I guess by now, you already known that everyone of us is different. That includes our bodies. For most of us, our sebaceous glands will secrete more oil as a reaction to our hormonal changes while a small number of us do not show such symptom.

And when too much oil (sebum) is produced and coupled with the abnormal amount of dead skin shedding , our hair follicles will be blocked. When this takes place, it only a matter of days that acne lesions will pop up on our skin.

Though acne can't be prevented, it can be minimized. Taking steps to minimize the acne occurrence in our skin will save us tons of problem in dealing with our skin appearance later on in our life. So let take a look at ways to do so.

Remember I said earlier on, acne is not caused by dirt. So there is no need to wash your face repetitively daily. It won't make your pimples go away. Instead, it would only worsen your skin condition and makes it more acne-prone as over washing makes it drier. When your skin become too dry, the sebaceous glands will secrete more sebum and as a result, more acne breakouts will occur. Usually washing your face two times a day is sufficient in keeping your skin hygiene.

And do pat dry your skin after washing instead of rubbing with rough towel. Why? Surely you don't want to give your existing acne a chance to infect the skin area which is free of acne.

Some skincare companies give the misconception that hard scrub is good for our skin. Hope that you didn't tag along the same line. Remember our skin (especially the part that is on the face) is very delicate. To keep it clean, you don't have to scrub it vigorously. Such action would only "puncture" and injure it which would pose more problem to your acne condition.

Remember the age old saying that it is not wise to squeeze your pimples? Guess it is true that such an action would result in more breakouts. Squeezing or picking your pimples pushes the acne bacteria deeper into your skin and bacteria can also be transferred from your fingers to the respective skin area. Squeeze too hard and you increase the risk of having an acne scar. So it is best to leave your acne lesions alone unless you know what and how to do it properly.


As most of us have a mild case of acne, over the counter acne treatment would do fine. Get something mild (usually those medications contain benzoyl peroxide and go for the lowest concentration available) and give it a few weeks to work. Use it sparingly in the beginning to give your skin a chance to adapt it. More application of the treatment will only aggravate your acne breakouts and pose the treatment unsuitable for your skin. The moral of the story, more is not always better!
     

   

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Why Is My Skin So Greasy?

Having a greasy skin is definitely not a beautiful sight to behold and it also creates an uncomfortable feeling that our skin is not clean. Come to think of it, possessing a greasy or oily skin definitely makes dirt easier to stick to it in comparison to a dry skin.

Why do some of us have greasy skin while others have a dry to normal skin? The answer lies in the way our sebaceous glands that lie beneath our skin surface respond to our hormone fluctuation.

Most of us, while in our teenage years, will produce immense amount of androgen hormones. For a greasy skin person, the sebaceous glands will become overactive and excrete large amounts of sebum (oil) which is being excreted from his pores. Hence, the skin will always be covered with a layer of sebum.

I know it is uncomfortable to get oil covering our skin and also the fact that one might have a higher chances of developing acne from such an occurrence make us want to get rid of greasy skin at any cost but looking at it in another angle, people with greasy skin will age slower. Most of us with greasy skin will try to remove the sebum on our skin especially in the face by washing or using blotting paper but the oil will return in around 30 minutes. There is a product known as seban pads which when use on our skin will keep those oily patches away for as long as 4 hours.

Another school of thought states that hydrogenated oils which when oxidized by our bodies will become rancid fats. These rancid fats are toxins to our bodies and that is the reason why we have greasy skin as our system will try to excrete these toxins through our skin.

This is also the reason why some acne sufferers reported that they are having great success in using large doses of Vitamin A in treating their acne.

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Could Acne Be Cured?

I believe that you been told countless times; be it at by the dermatologists, friends, relatives or even by many acne sufferers out there in the net, that acne cannot be cured and that it can only be treated.

Actually I even told the readers of my blog the same thing but if I tell you NOW that acne can actually be cured, would you believe me ? Well, I am not pulling your legs but it is indeed true that acne can actually be cured.

Why do we have a general consensus that acne cannot be cured? It is due to the method we use to tackle our acne problem. Most of the acne problems out there are being tackled with medicines or drugs that focus to remove acne symptoms; be it topically or orally. These acne treatment methods are recommended by dermatologists, health care practitioners and also by those acne sufferers who have successfully keep their acne at bay. Surely they can't be wrong, can they?

Of course, treating acne with focus on the acne symptoms such as the pimples, zits, blackheads, whiteheads or cysts could successfully get rid of the acne lesions as long as we continuously and stick to our acne treatment regimen day in and day out of our lives. The moment we stop our acne treatment, the acne lesions will pop out all over our face and skin unless the system in our bodies have decided to pop those acne lesions out on our skin. So that is the reason why we always say that acne cannot be cured.

If we really want to cure our acne, then we have to shift our focus in tackling acne to the root cause that makes acne to break out on our once flawless complexion. Most of the time, pimples are caused by high level of toxin accumulated in our bodies and for most acne sufferers, these toxins are being released to the external through the skin in the form of acne lesions.

To get rid of the high level of toxicity in our blood and lymph node systems, we need to conduct a cleansing and detoxification process. Here, a good cleansing colon system coupled with a liver and kidneys strengthening regimen would not only able to detoxify our bodies but also able to restore and strengthen our immune system.

A herb combination that consists of Burdock, Chickweed, Yellow Dock, Cascara Sagrada, Oregon Grape, and Fenugreek would be able to do an excellent job in cleansing one's badly toxified body. So is a liver cleansing formula that consists of Dandelion root, Parsley herb, Chamomile flowers, Gentian root, Black cohost root, Birch leaves, Horsetail herb etc. This liver cleansing formula can cleanse, detoxify and nourish our immune system and restore one's digestive system.

Once we are done with the detox system, we can further build up our immune system with probiotics, vitamins and minerals.

You might ask, "if detox system is so effective in curing acne, why don't professionals recommend it?" Well, it will work if and only if you have the confidence and patience to stick to the regimen for months. To tell you the truth, it is not an easy thing to do as during the course of the regimen, it is best to restrict our diets to mostly fruits and veggies and drink plenty of water. Coupled with the fact that we don't see instant result ( I really mean that as it might take a long time - months for the result to be seen), most acne sufferers would ditch these sort of magical acne cure!

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