Saturday, February 10, 2007

Acne Skin Care - What Works and What Does Not?


Tetracycline is the most popular conventional treatment for acne. It may be used alone or in combination with benzoyl peroxide. Food, antacids, iron supplements, and milk can interfere with the absorption of this antibiotic, so it is important to remember to take it alone. This medication must be taken for a minimum of three months, and it often needs to be continued for even longer. It will take at least two months before any improvement is noticed. Other antibiotics may also be prescribed if tetracycline is not effective. These include: trimetoprim-sulfamethoxazole, minocycline, doxycycline, and erythromycin. Antibiotics also kill the good bacteria in your bowel and can cause your teeth to turn gray.

There are many other adults that are finding they still have to fight the battle with acne - now coined "adult acne". It is estimated that more than fifty percent of adult women between the ages of twenty-five and fifty-eight have some type of adult acne, and those numbers are only getting larger.

Isotretinoin: Like the topical retinoic acid, this medication is a derivative of vitamin A and it works to prevent the blockage of oil glands. However, blocking the glands does not fix the problem.

Eye shadows, blush on, moisturizer, and other cosmetics we use should be free from oily substances to permit healthy acne skin care maintenance. Even hairstyling products in forms of gels or aerosols that come in close contact with the skin may destroy a healthy acne skin care practice. Choose hairstyling products, which are commercially labeled as non-comedogenic are products which do not provoke the formation and growth of blemishes and other related skin disorders.

Though acne is a common problem, it is also one skin disease that is very easy to treat and prevent. There are many products that a person could consider as the best acne treatment. The best acne treatment for a person could be not the best acne treatment for another. This is because the best acne treatment is determined by the type of skin a person has and the skin reaction on that treatment. The best acne treatment could also range from the medical ones which are proven best acne treatments that modern medicine has to offer up to herbal medicines that are also accepted as the best acne treatment to some people.

Although there are some topical skin care products and medications that can improve mild scarring and acne problems, almost all of them are artificial and invasive methods. For example, acne scars usually are treated with a combination of surgical procedures and skin resurfacing. On the other hand, natural products only have natural ingredients and biological substances. Such is the case with tea tree oil, green tea extract, Vitamin E, rapeseed oil, Aloe vera, and some of the essential oils, which had long been proven to act upon blemishes on the skin.

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