Acne Treatment

What are the numerous acne treatments available?

One of the most important things you can do is simply keep the area prone to spots as clean as possible. Don't go overboard however, it's easy to get carried away and start scrubbing your face like there's no tomorrow. Your skin needs natural oils to help maintain its normal condition so don't go over the top! The best thing to do is wash twice a day with an unperfumed cleanser.

No acne treatment is going to work if you keep picking at your spots! However tempting it may be and however much a loved one may like to have a "good squeeze" don't let them. This is merely a way of spreading harmful bacteria more quickly.

What about non-prescription remedies?

Most of the over the counter acne treatment products contain Benzoyl Peroxide. This can be found in such products as Clearasil and the Oxy range. It basically dries out the skin and encourages it to shed a layer. This makes it harder for the poresd to become blocked and thus an infection to occur. When you start off using these products they can cause irritation and redness but this should settle down after a few days.

These products tend to work only in mild cases of acne, more severe incidences may need you to pay a visit to your local doctor.

Your Doctor

Your doctor may at first prescribe a Benzoyl Peroxide lotion of some sort as an acne treatment or a variety of other topical lotions i.e.

• A topical antibiotic lotion
• Azelaic acid - should hopefully cause less soreness than a Benzoyl Peroxide application
• Retinoids - based on vitamin A, these are massaged into the skin and will cause the skin to flake off. The major problem with this topical lotion is that it may increase the skin's sensitivity to sunlight.

Oral treatments

If rubbing it on your skin doesn't work, then it can help to take some medicine orally, these include...

• Antibiotics - these should kill off the bacteria infecting the skin, however results may not be visible for at least six months, many people therefore fail to finish the prescribed course.
• Isotretinoin - try saying that when you're drunk! This is a very powerful medicine, also known as an oral retinoid and available, as mentioned previously, in topical form. The side effects of taking these are headaches and dryness of skin. But they are known to cure severe cases of acne.