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Have you heard of Thermaclear? It is expensive acne treatment. Not sure how well it works but it is now going mainstream to a mall near you.

Therative announced today that their FDA-cleared Acne Clearing Device, ThermaClear, will expand retail distribution into Sephora stores nationwide. Once exclusively available on the web, including Sephora.com, ThermaClear’s new widespread partnership with the leading specialty beauty retailer will mark its first availability on store shelves.

“The decision to move from online to in-store distribution has been a natural progression for the company,” said Sandra Lawrence, CEO of Therative. “We hope that by maintaining our accessibility on the web and bringing ThermaClear to over 200 Sephora store locations, we can better serve our customer, the millions who suffer from acne and breakouts.” Read the rest of this entry »

When we think back to our teenage years, we can all agree that at some point and time, we all had to deal with acne. Over the years, new products such as Proactiv Solution, Clean & Clear and Neutrogena have advanced the fight against problem skin.

Of course as I have mentioned before I hate Clean and Clear and in my mind Proactiv is not a very clean product and finally Neutrogena, is good if you use their cleanest product.

According to Proactiv.com, the product “treats acne safely and effectively by attacking it at the source, where a build-up of dead skin cells and bacteria clogs your pores.” Their three-step system includes the Renewing Cleanser, Revitalizing Toner, and Repairing Lotion. If purchased from an infomercial, the trial offer includes the cleanser, toner and lotion, along with a Refining Mask, for emergency spot treatment. The trial offer of a 30-day supply costs $19.99. Afterward, the regular price of the three-step system is $39.95. Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to acne issues, women sometimes have a larger burden to bear. Lament it as we might, they’re often judged more on looks than men. Their hormonal systems make them more prone to developing acne at certain times. Treatment options can be more expensive for them and costs harder to meet.

During the teen years, girls tend to develop acne sooner than boys. On average most girls will start to develop acne by about age 11, as contrasted with age 13 for boys. The reason isn’t hard to find. Girls mature sooner. They tend to enter puberty a few months to a couple of years before boys. Read the rest of this entry »

Good skin care practices play only a minor role in whether a person develops acne. But they are essential to treating it, and to good skin health in general.

Some believe, mistakenly, that a thorough scrubbing will help prevent acne. Actually, washing has little effect on whether acne develops or not. The effects occur mostly afterward, once acne has occurred.

Scrubbing doesn’t help, in general, though. It merely roughens and often dries out the skin. Harsh treatment of skin exposes lower layers, which then have to develop a protective coating of oil and outer dermis. In the interim, the skin is exposed to airborne and contact bacteria. The skin is our first defense against pathogens of all kinds. Removing multiple layers of it doesn’t promote good skin health.

Instead, a gentle washing with a mild cleanser is the answer. Be thorough. Since acne can occur on shoulders, back and chest as well as the face, take care of those areas in the shower. During mid-day and in the evening, a mild cleaning from underneath the jaw to the hairline is helpful. Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone know that you are not supposed to pop a zit but for all of us it is a very difficult thing not to do. I have lots of scars from having big zits over the years but most of those scars are because I would have a deep cyst and as it swelled my skin it stretched it.

So if you want to pop a zit then there are a few rules and a good way to pop it as well.

First of all the zit needs to have a whitehead on it. If there is not whitehead then what are you going to pop?

Next Make sure that the center of the zit seems to be very soft.

Okay her we go. Time to take out that zit.

1. Disinfect a needle with 99% rubbing alcohol. You should find a very thin needle for this as you do want to minimize the size of the hole
2. Slide the needle in just a little. You want to pierce the skin but don’t want to go deeper than that.
3. Get two pieces of toilet paper and dip them in the alcohol.
4. Squeeze by trying to force the pus and watery substance to come out

Once you have done this, remember that the stuff in the zit should slowly leach out. Try to give a warm or hot water compress to help the stuff out of the head for about 2 or 3 minutes and then again use a compress of that rubbing alcohol. The biggest fear that I would have for that zit is that being exposed it can become infected and then you will definitely have a scar.

So as you see there is not much to worry about. If the zit is read to pop then pop that zit. Just make sure that you take the proper precautions and protect your skin in the process.

A few weeks ago I decided to change face soaps. As I have mentioned before I use some stuff from the Body Shop, the tea Tree Oil face soap, it comes in a green botle and kinda smells but it seems to have worked pretty well for a long time.

Well I hunted around the grocery store to find something new. One of the things that i was looking for was some kind of exfolliant and clean and clear has these little balls in it that are supposed to scrape off that top layer of dead skin so that your pores do not get clogged. Another strong desire was something that would take off the oil and heal my skin at the same time, neither of these is easy but anytime that oil is pulled off your skin you are drying it and making it more susceptible to more acne.

So exfolliating, cleaning, healing, that shouldn’t be too tough, right?

I ended up with Clean and Clear and because it seems to be popular I thought it would work well. You see one of the things that I do not do since my time back with tetracycline and Accutane is by brands becuase the marketing is expensive nad usually leads to an inferior product. Read the rest of this entry »

Acne, it’s a double whammy this time of year.

When it’s the beginning of October, teens and tweens are “faced” with a problem. It affects 85 percent of all teenagers, making it the prevalent problem of adolescence.

“Everyone gets it, but I have a lot of friends who have it worse than I do,” said 12-year-old Johnathan Trent of Valparaiso.

“The best thing to do is to wash your face as much as you can and watch what you eat.”

But according to Dr. Hilary Baldwin, dermatologist and president of the American Acne and Rosacea Society, lifestyle changes and new products can help young people reduce acne.

“This is one of the worst times of the year, because once you hit October, students have been dealing with the stress of the first month of back to school, and the result is acne breaking out,” she said.

Baldwin said ideally, the best hope is to stop problems before they start. She cites stress as a factor that sets off specific chemical and hormonal reactions in the body. Read the rest of this entry »

Posh Spice also known by her real name, Victoria Beckham, tries her best to keep her skin clear and I am apt to think that this story is wrong but…It is just to ugly an idea not to print.

Bird droppings!

If you thought the whole gloves-and-socks-in-bed thing was weird, wait till you hear Victoria Beckham’s latest beauty fix.

The former Spice Girl reportedly has bird poo facials.

Lovely!

Posh regularly treats herself to £100 Geisha Facials, which use a paste made from nightingale droppings, in a bid to combat acne she has suffered since her teens.

‘When Victoria was in Japan recently she was admiring the local women’s clear skin and discovered to these facials,’ reveals a pal to Closer magazine.

‘She was intrigued and when she got back to the US she found that some New York beauty salons now offer the treatment.  She tried it and loved how great her skin looked. She also uses a cream derived from nightingale poo at home.’

Read the full story in Closer magazine, on sale tomorrow

After last weeks post that I wrote about the effectiveness in using progesterone to cure acne or at least control acne I have found a report by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that seems to show that the active ingredient in birth control pills, progesterone, is in fact good for helping acne in your women.

To assess the efficacy of the combined oral contraceptive containing 3-mg drospirenone/20-microgram ethinyl estradiol (3-mg drospirenone/20-microgram ethinyl estradiol) administered as 24 consecutive days of active treatment after a 4-day hormone-free interval (24/4 regimen) compared with placebo for the treatment of moderate acne.

METHODS: Healthy females aged 14–45 years with moderate acne were randomized in this double-blind study to 3-mg drospirenone/20-microgram ethinyl estradiol or placebo for six cycles of 28 days. The primary outcome measures of acne lesion counts and Investigator Static Global Assessment scale ratings were assessed at baseline and during cycles 1, 3, and 6. Read the rest of this entry »

Pimples, blemishes and acne may seem difficult to deal with, but with proper care you should be able to get rid of blemishes quickly. The most expensive treatment may not always be the fastest way to get rid of acne. If you have tried the expensive acne treatments, with very little results, why not try simple home remedies for a change.

There are some very simple and common home remedies that can give you a clean clear acne free skin. Before we take a look at these home remedies, make sure you visit the site given in the article below to know mind blowing techniques to get rid of acne permanently. Read the rest of this entry »