mild acne treatment

Although acne is a very common skin complaint it is responsible for severe physical and mental anguish. There is a risk that anyone suffering from acne may blame themselves for the disease. This is a common misconception regarding acne skin complaints. Poor hygiene and bad behavior may be suggested to be related to instances of acne however lack of cleanliness either physical or moral has nothing to do with the disease. The top of an acne comedo is black not because of dirt. Rather it is oxidised sebum. Violent washing of acne affected areas of the skin can actually make things worse because of the irritant effect it has on your skin.

The medical acne treatments currently available are intended to prevent new acne lesions forming. It is a commonly held misconception that acne creams and ointments are intended to cure existing lesions. Therefore it is important not simply to apply acne treatment to areas currently affected. Much more effective as a long term strategy is to apply it to all areas of your body that may be affected by acne.

Doctors are often reluctant to advise that diet has an effect on acne. While there may be a lack of rigorously reviewed scientific data proving that acne is affected by your diet, from my own experience, improving my diet in general and reducing certain food groups dramatically, almost to the point of exclusion has had a positive effect on my acne condition.

There are four main types of acne, from least severe to most severe are, purely comedonal or non-inflammatory acne, mild papular, scarring papular, and nodular or scarring acne.

Even though comodonal acne is the mildest form of disease it can also be the hardest to treat. Typically comedones are deeply seated in the follicle and getting them out may cause a degree of irritation which could itself make things worse. There are a variety of acne treatments that can be used to prevent the formation of fresh comedones. Over a period of a few months of with no new acne appearing and existing lesions clearing up you can become free of visible acne.

Mild cases of acne include small lesions, e.g. blackheads or pustules, which appear on or near the surface of your skin. These types of problems can be affected by following a skin care regimen similar to this acne face wash plan:

• Mild washing with soap and warm water twice a day ensuring you rinse thoroughly.

• Application of a non-prescription acne treatment containing benzoyl peroxide.

Treating acne like this takes between four to eight weeks for an improvement to be observed. Once your acne clears you must continue the treatment regimen to prevent new lesions from occurring.

What's good about this type of acne treatment plan is that it gives you responsibility for your own skin condition. Being methodical and consistent in your acne treatment will over time play a role in clearing up your skin.

See this page for more acne treatment tips.

Acne remedies

Acne statistics

Acne is estimated to affect 79–95% of the adolescent population in the West as well as 40–54% of individuals over twenty-five years old. These are outrageously high numbers and just go to show the desperate need of acne remedies that work.

Now thirty-three, I have suffered from acne for over half of my life. Each of us that is afflicted by acne is an individual therefore the acne treatment that we require should also be decided on a case by case basis.

Scientific research is inconclusive when it comes to trying to determine what factors can help reduce the incidence of acne throughout the population. Acne remains rare in non-Westernized societies so it has been hypothesised that amongst other potential factors, diet may play a role in the incidence of acne. As populations become more Westernized, so the rate of acne is seen to increase.


Acne and diet

It is a comforting thought to believe that diet may play a role in effective acne removal and treatment. There are scientists as well as many acne sufferers who believe that diet is a factor while opposing views hold that in the studies conducted so far, the precise role diet plays has not been isolated. Genetics and levels of physical activity may have also played a part in the rate of acne.

Even though the science is inconclusive, of the available acne remedies, the best treatment for me has been to alter my diet. For me dairy products definitely seem to affect my skin condition drastically. Drinking 200ml of milk on a daily basis will within a week produce an outbreak of acne on my face, neck and upper torso. All dairy products have this effect on my skin if eaten on a daily basis for more than a few days.

Discovering that by almost eliminating my dairy consumption I could severely reduce the severity of my own acne was a landmark in my quest for an effective acne remedy. What's interesting about the human body is that what works very well for me may have absolutely no effect on others looking for an appropriate acne treatment.

Staying hydrated also has a bearing on my skin condition. When I am drinking about two liters of water a day, I can get away with increasing my dairy consumption.


Acne and skincare

Soap has been advocated as an acne treatment since the 19th century. Now-a-days we have a much wider array of chemical treatments of varying price and that effect us to various degrees.

The research while indicating that soap and other treatments sometimes appears to have a beneficial effect upon the severity of acne has been unable to conclude that this is the case due to so called deficiencies in the experiment design. However just because scientists can't agree doesn't mean that there isn't a positive effect to be found.

What there does appear to be consensus on is that excessive and/or aggressive washing, with or without soap or other acne treatments, may be traumatic for the skin and cause irritation. This in turn may actually increase the severity of acne!


Acne and sunlight

Convincing direct evidence of the positive effects of sunlight exposure on acne is lacking. Recent findings that suggest various artificial lights are effective as an acne remedy might not be directly generalizable to natural sunlight. Another factor to consider is that the long-term exposure to sunlight as well as artificial UV light for acne treatment may increase risk of skin cancer. This reminds us that there are fates worse than acne.

Sun and artificial light may be beneficial for some of us. I used to visit a tanning salon, not for the tan but to improve my acne. It definitely seemed to reduce the severity of my acne. However the research suggests that even though it may have a positive effect for some of us, the effects of sunlight on acne are not generalizable.


Acne and you

All of this shows that while some acne treatments work for some of us they don't unfortunately work for all. This means that more research is needed into acne remedies so that we may eventually have a treatment that benefits everyone.

In the meantime the best approach appears to be conducting our own experiments. If you are unhappy with your current acne treatment, rather than continuing with a regime that isn't serving you well, consider making isolated changes to your lifestyle, diet or cleaning program. Find your own acne care treatment. Observe the results and be your own judge as to which acne remedy is best for you.