acne
Acne is a chronic skin inflammation. It is a nasty skin condition to have. I know. I was plagued with pimples in my late teens. It was so bad, when I went to a doctor with a bad flu, I came back with acne medication as well. The doctor felt my acne was worse than the flu.
Recently, I suffered another bout of bad acne, coupled with eczema. I looked so awful even my husband was terrified. He said I looked like Freddy Krugar. That was during a very stressful period and stress wreaks havoc on ones hormones which affect the skin and in my case, triggered another breakout.
Types Of Acne
There are different types of acne. How you treat your acne depends on the cause of the acne and the type of acne you are suffering from.
Acne Vulgaris
Acne simplex or vulgaris is the most common form of acne. That was the skin problem I was suffering from.
Most people get acne in their teens. Some get severe acne, while others might get a pimple or two. It usually clears up after the teenage years but most women still get it in adulthood just before their periods.
In acne vulgaris, your skin produces too much oil which fills the follicle. That sticky oil traps dead skin cells and bacteria, which clogs the pore, leaving a perfect breeding ground for the bacteria. This clog swells and breaks allowing the debris to escape into the dermis. What you now have is a battle ground between your white blood cells and the bacteria. The dead cells and bacteria form the sticky yellow pus you see inside your pimple. On the surface, that familiar red bump appears. If the follicle breaks deep in the skin, there is a chance youo might end up with a permanent acne scar.
That brings us to cystic acne which is severe acne. When the pore bursts deep inside the dermis and the debris seeps out, a cyst forms. On the surface, you see a hard, large lump that is very painful. The cyst would slowly move up to the surface, killing more healthy cells as it progresses. Cystic acne leads to acne scars which look like ice pits.
Acne Rosacea
Rosacea is the chronic inflammation of your cheeks and nose. When I went to see a doctor about my acne problem, his only good news for me was that I had acne vulgaris and not rosacea. According to him, there was no cure for rosacea.
Acne rosacea is known as adult acne as it usually emerges in a person"s 30s and peaks in his or her 40s to 50s. It looks like common acne but it is not. Even the exact cause of acne rosacea is unknown to the medical profession. It is more common in women and in people with fair skin.
Here is a rosacea support group that you might find helpful.
How To Get Rid Of Acne
Getting Rid Of Common Acne
The best way deal with common acne or acne vulgaris is to treat the root cause. Back acne can also be treated the same way.
- Unclog the blocked pores
- Reduce the bacteria in those pores
- Balance the hormones to prevent acne from forming
There are many acne treatments around. Some might just dry up the pimple to get rid of the excess oil. The pore might still be clogged by a hard plug. Others kill the bacteria. Few actually do anything about the hormonal imbalance which causes acne in the first place, so the typical acne care treatment involves fire fighting. See the pimple? Squish it.
A visit to the doctor might mean a prescription of antibiotics or retin A. The antibiotics would kill the bacteria, causing the bacteria to subside. The problem is once you have finished the antibiotics, the bacteria breeds again and acne often returns.
Retin A clears acne, but cannot be used by pregnant women. Also, with retin A, you have to avoid going out in the sun or at least use a sunblock if you do. On top of that, the condition gets worse for a month or more before your skin finally clears. I know. I went through it.
Accutane is one of the latest acne treatments, but side effects range from aching bones and joints to severe birth defects in babies of pregnant moms using accutane. It should never be used by a woman who may be pregnant. On top of that, accutane has even been linked to suicide. Here is a forum post by a guy who used accutane and experienced some of the side effects.
The best acne treatment by far is one that unblocks the pores, kills the bacteria and balances the body so that acne will not recur. The Healthy Pores System is one of the acne treatments which does all that.
Let"s start with the cause of acne vulgaris - overactive oil glands that block the pores.
Notice how acne starts after puberty, when the hormones become very active? How pimples break out before a woman"s period. How young men with acne get it very very bad. Hormones gone haywire. The meat and dairy products we eat often contain steroids or other growth hormones. Our fruit and veggies contain traces of pesticides. Add pollution to the mix and you"ll get an idea about the toxins our bodies deal with everyday. These toxins wreak havoc on our skin. The overactive hormones cause our oil glands to produce more oil than necessary. As a result, we get acne.
To get rid of acne, your first step is to detox and balance your body. Healthy Pores Acne Care System has herbal supplements you take to do just that. The herbal formula detoxifies your body and balances your hormones.
To be frank, with my recent outbreak, I was researching some other herbal supplements for women. I came across Pueraria Mirifica, a herb from thailand that the beauty industry is clamouring over because of its ability to increase breast size. It is extremely rich in potent phytoestrogens. While reading the research done on it, I found that test subjects noted an improvement in their complexion together with firmer, larger breasts, healthier hair and nails and fewer wrinkles. It is currently being used to deal with menopause in women in Thailand. I tried it. After taking the supplements for 3 months (following the dose required for breast enhancement), my skin started to clear. I"ve been taking the supplements regularly since then to keep the acne away. Unfortunately this herb is ONLY for women as it increases the breast size of men as well. Women need not worry about freakish effects with Pueraria Mirifica. Your breasts can only grow so much. If they are already large, they"ll only get firmer. You"d probably end up with breasts the size they would be at childbirth. I also tried Body Purifying Foot Pads to get rid of the toxins.
The next thing to do is to unblock the pores. That can be done through exfoliation. Either through grainy scrubs or through cleansers that contain ingredients like salicylic acid. Healthy Pores cleanser contains 2% salicylic acid which clears up the blocked pores effectively. That would get rid of the blackheads and white heads and by unclogging the pores, the bacteria would not be able to breed effectively and acne clears up.
The final thing you must do is to kill that bacteria. That"s where the antibiotics often prescribed by doctors for acne come into the picture. There are other ways to kill bacteria too. Tea tree oil is one of them. So is benzoyl peroxide, though tea tree oil is gentler on the skin. Healthy Pores contains tea tree oil which effectively kills the bacteria that caused the acne problem. I used a cleanser and a toner that contained tea tree oil and a toner with salicylic acid which helped clear my acne.
As long as you follow these 3 steps,
- unclog pores
- kill bacteria
- balance and detox
You should be able to rid yourself of acne vulgaris once and for all. The easiest way to do it is to use the Healthy Pores Kit, but you could do your own acne care treatment by combining various acne products and supplements as well. A clean diet, Pueraria Mirifica supplements (for women only) with the daily use of a good acne exfoliating cleanser and blemish acne cream, lots of relaxation and stress management might do the trick.
Please note. For guys, Healthy Pores Acne Care System is your best bet. The herbal supplement I tried is only for women as it has a very potent estrogenic effect on the body.
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