Natural acne treatment information: Try a safe natural alternative healing ways to help with facial acne. People often try to treat acne by de-oiling and drying the affected skin with products that include harsh soaps, strong scrubs and mass-market medicated (drying) cosmetics. This approach to treating acne can cause intense drying of the skin, and provides only short-term benefits. Acne is a disease now affecting hundreds of thousands of people in north america, this is a great starting point for natural acne treatments with no side effects from prescription or over the counter drugs.
“If you go to your doctor, they will often also start treatment for mild to moderate acne with a preparation containing benzoyl peroxide. If this does not work, or if you have more severe acne, there are a range of other treatment options that can either be rubbed onto the skin or taken in tablet form.”
Natural acne treatment?
It’s important to keep acne prone areas clean, so wash the affected area twice a day with an non-perfumed cleanser. Antibacterial face washes and soaps specifically for greasy skins are also available at your local super market or pharmacy. However, the skin needs a certain amount of oil to maintain its natural condition, so avoid aggressive washing with strong soaps as this will not help. Also try to avoid the temptation to pick at spots and blackheads because over enthusiastic squeezing can cause scarring.
Over-the-counter remedies are available from a pharmacy to treat mild acne. Lotions that contain actives such as benzoyl peroxide can help minimize bacterial growth on the skin and encourage it to shed the surface layer of dead skin. Together, these effects make it harder for pores to become blocked and for infection to develop. Acne tends to be less of a problem in the summertime. This may be due to the sunshine helping to dry the skin. No natural treatments for acne will work immediately. It can take weeks, if not months, for significant effects to be noticeable and natural treatments don’t work for everyone.
If you go to your doctor, they will often also start treatment for mild to moderate acne with a preparation containing benzoyl peroxide. If this does not work, or if you have more severe acne, there are a range of other treatment options that can either be rubbed onto the skin (topical) or taken in tablet form (oral).Topical retinoids, which are medicines based on vitamin A, and are rubbed into the skin once or twice a day. They work by encouraging the outer layer of skin to flake off, and may cause irritation and skin peeling at the start of treatment. Disadvantages of this treatment include them making the skin hypersensitive to sunlight.
A topical antibiotic lotion applied to the skin can be used to control the Propionobacterium acnes bacteria. Treatment needs to continue for at least six months. Preparations that combine an antibiotic with other acne medication are available. Oral treatments Oral antibiotics (tablets), taken daily for around 3 months, can be prescribed for inflammatory acne. This acts to kill off the bacteria infecting the skin. The success of this treatment can be limited because the strains of bacteria are often resistant to the common antibiotics. It might take four to six months for the benefits to be seen.
Antibiotics do not prevent pores from becoming blocked so treatment to prevent blackheads, such as benzoyl peroxide, is often also prescribed at the same time. Some people find that it’s a prolonged course of antibiotics is a nuisance. This explains whey some people do not always complete the course. Hormone treatment. For women, a standard combined oral contraceptive pill (containing an oestrogen and a progestogen) can improve acne symptoms. But in some women, it can also make symptoms worse. One particular type of Pill, called Dianette, contains a medicine called cyproterone acetate which cuts the amount of male hormone in circulation and be an effective treatment for acne.
Glossary of terms found on this page:
Antibacterial: An antiseptic is a substance that kills or prevents the growth and reproduction of various microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses on the external surfaces of the body. The objective of antiseptics is to reduce the possibility of sepsis, infection or putrefaction by germs.
Blackheads: A term used to describe the skin’s pores clogged by natural oils and impurities.
Lotions: Generally, either an oil-in-water emulsion or a powdered, insoluble solid held in suspension. A lotion is a salve used when cleaning or freshening skin. There are many brands of lotion, some are manufactured all over the world.
Benzoyl peroxide: An antibacterial ingredient commonly used in acne treatments. Benzoyl peroxide acts as an antibacterial agent against P. acnes, a bacteria, and it is most effective against inflammatory acne consisting of papules, pustules and cysts. BP causes mild desquamation to scaliness, peeling and cracking..
Retinoids: The Retinoids are a class of chemical compounds that are related chemically to vitamin A. Retinoids are used in medicine, primarily due to the way they regulate epithelial cell growth.
Irritation: Irritancy is the ability of a material to irritate the skin, eyes, nose, throat or any other part of the body that it contacts. Signs and symptoms of irritation include tearing in the eyes and reddening, swelling, itching and pain of the affected part of the body.
Hypersensitive: A type of allergic condition in which the body overreacts to a certain agent such as medication.
Antibiotics: A substance derived from mold or bacteria that inhibits the growth of other microorganisms (such as bacteria or fungi). Antibiotics are used to treat infectious diseases.
inflammatory: Inflammation is the first response of the immune system to infection or irritation and may be referred to as the innate cascade. Inflammation is characterized by the following quintet: redness (rubor), heat (calor), swelling (tumor), pain (dolor) and dysfunction of the organs involved (functio laesa).
Pores: Small openings of glands onto the surface of the skin.
Hormones: Substances produced by the endocrine glands of the body. Hormones are released directly into the bloodstream and have a specific effect on cells and organs in the body, stimulating or turning off their growth.
Oestrogen: A hormone, produced mainly by the ovaries, responsible for female sexual development and female secondary sex characteristics. Increasing oestrogen levels in the follicular phase (pre-ovulatory phase) of the cycle stimulates significant changes in the cervix, cervical mucus, and the endometrium.
Progestogen: A progesterone-like substance, usually more active when given by mouth than natural progesterone is. Used with an estrogen in the birth control (oral contraceptive) pill. Commonly used examples have a structure like progesterone itself (eg medroxyprogesterone acetate, or Provera; cyproterone acetate, or Androcur) or have a structure distantly related to the male hormone testosterone.
Dianette: Dianette contraceptive pills contain two active ingredients, cyproterone acetate and ethinylestradiol. This combination of medicines is also known as co-cyprindiol.