Posts Tagged “Acne Treatment”

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What is the best acne treatment?I get asked often what is the best acne treatment and as you have probably seen by many of my post good diet and correct methods of facial cleaning is all it takes for most people to treat their acne.

When I have looked at products in the past I have always tried to cut through the hype and the crap and concentrated on which products are going to work from the inside to cure acne. Creams and soaps and lotions are fine for basic, simple acne but you need to make some real changes in order to cure the tough acne problem that you are dealing with.

In the case of those that have struggled with acne for many years as I did though, there are two different products that I think both qualify as the best acne treatment. I have reviewed both Acne No More and Acnezine in the past but wanted to again bring these up to answer the question that I get asked so often: Read the rest of this entry »

Skin care advertisements are found all over television and magazines. Dewy-faced women (and sometimes men), with glowing complexions, luminous eyes, no pimples or  wrinkles. This is the main advertising tool for most companies selling skin care products in today’s market.

However, is it true the more expensive department store brands are better than the products sold in drugstores, often at three times less than their makeup counter siblings?

Students could consult all the parties in question to find the answer. Stacy Adams at the University Mall’s Dillard’s was on the side of the products sold in her department.

“Their products were much better, definitely,” Adams said.

Kasi Freeman, a freshman in human development and family studies, uses Clinique and was certain the price was more than fair when compared with the prescription brand she used before, and for her, it actually seemed to have a better effect. Freeman also said the drugstore brands did nothing for her. Read the rest of this entry »

By its very nature, skin of color is considered sensitive skin by dermatologists who regularly treat darker-skinned patients for a wide range of skin problems. Acne and rosacea can be especially problematic skin conditions for people with skin of color, as any skin irritation in these patients can cause pigmentation problems that can result in the lightening or darkening of the skin.

At the American Academy of Dermatology’s Summer Academy Meeting 2008 in Chicago, dermatologist Valerie D. Callender, MD, FAAD, clinical assistant professor of dermatology at Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., discussed the importance of early intervention in treating acne and rosacea in patients with skin of color.

“As we become a more diverse population with lots of different skin types and tones, we also are seeing an increase in skin concerns that, while not new, are affecting more and more people with darker skin,” said Dr. Callender. “Even skin conditions like acne and rosacea can create pigmentation problems in these patients, which can be very hard to treat. However, these problems can be improved by seeing a dermatologist who is trained to properly diagnose these conditions and to carefully consider a patient’s potential risk of skin irritation.” Read the rest of this entry »

Two of the most commonly used chemical peels for acne treatment produced similar results in a small clinical study, but one led to more durable improvement and caused fewer side effects than the other.

Both salicylic acid and glycolic acid produced similar statistically significant (P<0.05) improvement after two treatments, Dee Anna Glaser, M.D., of St. Louis University, and colleagues reported in the February issue of Dermatologic Surgery.

But at two months of follow-up, there was more sustained improvement with the salicylic acid peel. Also, patients reported more adverse effects after the first treatment with glycolic acid.

“We expected to see a significant difference in effectiveness between the two peels owing to their different lipophilic properties, but out study did not prove this supposition,” the authors said. “Efficacy of chemical peels beyond a few weeks post-treatment is not well documented in the literature, but our study found that patients demonstrated significant sustained clinical improvement on the salicylic acid peel-treated side [of the face] at two months post-treatment.”

Inducing partial-thickness skin injury, superficial chemical peels are frequent adjuncts to treatment of facial acne vulgaris. Glycolic acid, a hydrophilic a-hydroxy acid, causes desquamation that reduces corneocyte cohesion and keratinocyte plugging, enabling extrusion of inflammatory contents. Salicylic acid, a lipophilic ß-hydroxy acid, also reduces corneocyte cohesion and works well on sebaceous areas of the face, the authors said.

To address a lack of comparative data, Dr. Glaser and colleagues studied 20 patients ages 13 to 38. The patients had mild or moderately severe facial acne, averaging 27 lesions at enrollment.

In accordance with the split-face, double-blind, randomized design, one half of each patient’s face was treated with glycolic acid and the contralateral side was treated with salicylic acid. The agents were applied every two weeks for a total of six treatments.

By the second treatment visit, both chemical peels had demonstrated similar and statistically significant decreases in acne lesions. The reduction in acne lesions continued through the first month of follow-up, averaging 43% with glycolic acid and 47% with salicylic acid (P<0.05). Blinded assessment revealed good or fair improvement on both sides of the face in 19 of 20 patients.

At the two-month follow-up, blinded evaluation demonstrated 75% improvement on the glycolic acid-treated side of the face and 81% on the side treated with salicylic acid. However, patients had developed more new acne lesions on the side of the face treated with glycolic acid. In contrast, the lesion number continued to decrease on the side of the face treated with salicylic acid (P<0.01 versus baseline).

Patient self-assessment showed that 41% of the study group thought the glycolic acid peel had led to more improvement compared with 35% of the salicylic acid side of the face. The remaining patients thought both peels worked equally well or that neither side of the face had improved (12% each). Additionally, 53% of the patients though the glycolic acid side “looked the best,” compared with 47% for salicylic acid peel.

The two types of chemical peels were associated with a similar number of adverse events, occurring most frequently during the first two treatments and then declining thereafter. The most commonly reported adverse events were peeling, redness, and scaling. Patients reported more adverse events on the glycolic acid side of the face after the first treatment but the difference was not significant from treatment with salicylic acid.

“The different lipophilic properties of the peels did not appear to impact their clinical effectiveness,” the authors concluded. “Our findings suggest that either a- or ß-hydroxy acid peel may be effectively used to treat mild or moderately severe facial acne vulgaris.”

There are a few supplements that will help your acne. I found the following list at PR-USA.

The smart first step to any new diet is identifying the habits of one’s current routine that are not healthy, and the same is true of a skincare diet. This includes over-consumption of coffee, diet soda, and processed foods, or not eating enough fresh fruits and vegetables. Believe it or not, a diet consisting mainly of processed foods is as bad for the skin as it is for the health. In order for the skin to function optimally, it is important to consume foods rich in vitamins, minerals and botanical ingredients.

Vitamin A for Acne Treatment

Vitamin A, a potent free-radical scavenger, helps the skin heal from wounds, and in the manufacture of new skin tissue. In addition, Vitamin A helps the skin fight blemishes and breakouts, and has been shown to slow the aging process. Necessary for the formation of bones and teeth, Vitamin A is an extremely important part of any skincare diet and can be found in: green and yellow fruits and vegetables, squash, beets, peaches, pumpkin, red peppers, spinach, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, asparagus and apricots. Deficiencies in Vitamin A can lead to dry skin or hair, acne, night blindness and possibly even respiratory infections.

Vitamin C for acne treatment

The next vitamin, Vitamin C (ascorbic acid), is probably one of the most well known vitamins, universally acknowledged as critical to good health and well being. Involved in at least 300 metabolic functions, Vitamin C is a potent anti-oxidant, helps repair and grow tissue, protects against the harmful effects of pollution, boosts the immune system, assists in healing wounds and burns, and may even help to lower blood pressure and LDL (or bad) cholesterol. However, the body cannot produce Vitamin C, making supplementation of this substance through the diet necessary. Luckily, there are dozens of tasty foods that contain Vitamin C, including the most obvious: citrus fruit. Vitamin C may also be found in: broccoli, strawberries, tomatoes, asparagus, pineapple, radishes, avocado, beets, berries, green vegetables, spinach and freshly squeezed orange juice.

CoEnzymeQ10 for acne treatment

CoEnzymeQ10 is a vitamin-like substance sometimes called ubiquinone because it is present in every cell of the body. Reputed to be more potent than Vitamin E, CoQ10 is an extremely powerful scavenger of free-radicals, and is necessary for the production of energy in all cells-skin included. CoQ10 also assists circulation, increases tissue oxygenation and has promising anti-aging effects. Because production of this substance slows down with age, supplementation is suggested by eating peanuts, spinach, beef and especially oily fish such as salmon, which has the highest natural amounts of CoQ10.