October 19th, 2009
In some crowds, hot tubs have been connected to acne or rather, I should correct myself, they’ve been connected to getting rid of acne. This is logical to some degree. I mean when you think of hot tubs, you don’t automatically think of acne treatment. But at the same time, a lot of people connect hot tubs with clear skin, beautiful skin, radiant skin, youth, vitality, you get the basic idea. So there’s definitely a connection there.
This being said, basically speaking, sweat is good and bad. On one hand, when you really exercise right, you are going to sweat, and this means that you are working up your heartrate, which obviously doesn’t really apply when you’re sitting in hot tubs. But you get the basic point.
When you sweat, you are sweating out quite a few toxins, and in the process you are actually sweating out some water, yes. But while the water does get polluted, in some ways you are automatically washing out that sweat as it comes, which is a big part of actually using things that make you sweat to reduce or eliminate your acne. So yes, hot tubs are amazing in this way and other ways some may say. Hot tubs are something I would recommend for various reasons, acne is one of the smaller ones.
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October 1st, 2009
Tea tree oil is one of the oldest treatments out there for acne, and yet it’s highly unrecognized. We have forgotten about it since its real introduction in the early 1900’s. It was first introduced for a multitude of purposes, and since then it should’ve been extremely popular, even outdoing benzoyl peroxide. But since tea tree oil is only found on one coast of Australia, it’s harder for it to be really popular like benzoyl peroxide, which is much cheaper.
But this being said, just because something’s cheaper doesn’t mean it’s better. In fact, usually it’s just the opposite. In this case, they have clinically tested the two, and they found that they both significantly reduced acne in the time given to them. But the difference was that tea tree oil is better than benzoyl peroxide, because it DID NOT CAUSE SIDE EFFECTS! That’s a big deal to say the least.
It would also be interesting for some to know that quite frankly tea tree oil has a wide range of uses. In fact, it’s even actually used to treat shingles, which is more severe to say the least. On the other hand, though benzoyl peroxide technically does the same basic thing of killing off bacteria, it is never used in the treatment of shingles. So tea tree oil is better than benzoyl peroxide as you can see, because they won’t use benzoyl peroxide for nearly as many things.
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September 29th, 2009
We always want to know what causes acne. It helps us to understand the world to know in general terms what causes any given thing, and so understandably we ask about it, we research it, we ask others to really research it for us. Unfortunately, at this time no research has actually been able to determine the cause of acne. Instead, they have determined contributors, and they have found acne treatments meant to address what contributes to acne, not necessarily what causes acne. With this in mind, here are a few of the major contributors.
1. Toxins-this is a rather recent one actually. It has only been since the real introduction of the colon cleanse that many have discovered that when they cleanse their body of toxins, they get rid of acne that seemed to respond to nothing else. Essentially speaking, toxins are like bacteria inside the body.
2. Oils-we have always known that excess oils contribute to acne. Sometimes we take it too far blaming all oils even though our skin technically needs some oil to function as do the rest of our bodies, which is why we have Accutane. But reducing oil is not a bad thing
3. Bacteria-bacteria really gets trapped in the pores, aggravates the skin, causes swelling, and otherwise causes flare ups of acne. So bacteria plays a huge role and likewise antibacterials play a huge role in helping you to get rid of your acne.
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September 25th, 2009
Now most of us have been through the stages of life when we learned to wash our faces in the morning and night just to keep them clean. And we hope that followed through to our teen years when there is actually more of a purpose behind it. This being said, quite frankly speaking many of us just used bar soap when we were younger, and that’s fine with young skin. But as you get older, obviously when you have acne, chances are you should be using a little more specialized a cleanser.
Your cleanser should actually have acne fighting ingredients for one thing, and hopefully it won’t dry out your skin or damage it in general. Likewise, as you get older, whether you happen to suffer from adult acne or not, you want a cleanser that is specially made for your skin type. By this, I mean that you want a gentle cleanser with balancing ingredients, not just some bar soap you can find at the store. As we get older, it’s appealing to keep spending less money to get bar soap we can also use on our faces. But in truth, you need a more specialized treatment whether for young acne prone skin or for aging skin that may still be somewhat prone to acne or may not for that matter.
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September 24th, 2009
I’ve seen some parents that are more liberal in certain ways than others. Some let their kids go out at earlier ages with friends, let them wear makeup earlier, do this earlier, do that later. But one of the major things that now parents are starting to let their kids have earlier and earlier is cosmetic surgery. Now there’s some I can understand. It’s logical. Some of the worst acne comes when you are a teenager. So taking more serious approaches such as even microdermabrasion to deal with serious acne that doesn’t seem to be responding to other approaches would be a logical step to take. If they have rosacea, considering a light chemical peel would be a logical step to take, even though rosacea usually doesn’t hit till adulthood.
But on the other hand, if they are just getting a chemical peel for other reasons, it doesn’t actually add up or really help them. They could get a botched job or a complex early. Letting them get a boob job even at the age of 18 or for that matter a rhinoplasty is not one of those cosmetic procedures that would make sense in terms of what to let your kids get. And yet the numbers for all of these things are constantly on the rise and constantly growing. This being said, the proper usually acne related cosmetic procedures are something to consider. But there are others that I just don’t really see.
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September 22nd, 2009
Acne is always flaring up for one reason or another. But at least I for one have found that acne in some ways gets worse in certain seasons than it does in others and worse in certain climates. For example, for me, it gets worse in the summer. The heat is worse, I am sweating more, producing more sebum, etc. In addition, for some reason, it’s worse in dry climates. My skin is naturally more prone to drying and other related problems, and this may be a big part of it.
But my friend since childhood has the exact opposite problem. She breaks out during the winter and whenever she visits a more humid climate. There are different skin types obviously, different pH balances, different degrees of oiliness and otherwise. This being said, once you know your season, your climate, etc, you can take extra steps in order to ensure that you can control your acne, even in those more difficult times. This being said, you can of course find the best acne treatment for your needs on the over the counter market, and should you find the best acne treatment, you can easily address the problem at hand regardless of other factors.
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September 21st, 2009
Most people suffer from acne some time in their lifetime, and if you’ve ever noticed since you hit adulthood and possibly college or possibly just work, most people tend to suffer from acne well into adulthood, or at least into their 20’s. This being said, the biggest thing that many watch out for is acne scars. Acne will eventually go away. However, acne scars are far less likely to go away, even with good treatment afterward. The best and really the only way is prevention.
Basically, take it in stride. Usually, even after taking care, you may see a little white or red mark after a zit is gone. As long as it does not have a bump or something accompanying it, it’s not bad. It’s completely natural, the skin is healing itself up, and within a little bit of time, though it may take up to a year, it will go away and fade back in with the rest of your skin. However, if it lasts beyond a year, it will become permanent unless you take other treatment approaches. This being said, an acne scar, big or small, can be an ugly thing. So of course avoid picking at them or anything like that. But also use good treatment methods for healing such as aloe vera and Neosporin for example.
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September 19th, 2009
Have you ever noticed, in the prescription world we have basically lost our need for acne treatments. I mean this. Well, there’s obviously Accutane which takes an approach no over the counter drug can be found. But all the major acne treatments that you will find on the prescription market are virtually seen on the over the counter market. They tend to come with side effects, which is why they were initially controlled.
But why would I logically buy something for a higher price when I could get exactly the same thing for a lower price, or even something with a more powerful concentration of the same thing. There are ingredients like adapalene that are only found on the prescription market. They come with the same side effects. But ultimately speaking, even adapalene is just another form of vitamin A or retinol as we know it. So it’s exactly the same thing!
I mean I understand getting diet pills on the prescription market. They’re not worth it by any means. But they provide something unique you can’t find on the over the counter market. Acne treatments just don’t work the same way at this point in time.
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September 12th, 2009
Sometimes, I feel like I’m still going through puberty. I am definitely an adult. But especially right now, my chin area and under the chin, neck, etc, is always breaking out. Sometimes I get one by my nose. But that in general is usually just blackheads, which is still annoying, and there are times when I feel like it will go on forever. My mom is in her mid 50’s, and she still suffers from acne breakouts, so not a good sign. Granted my dad hasn’t suffered from acne in years, so that’s always a possibility, maybe I’ll get a halfway descent mix once I hit 30 or something!
But sometimes adult acne seems more difficult to treat. But quite frankly, the fact is it just seems more difficult because you have been suffering from it for longer and you had some expectation that it would magically go away at the point of adulthood. If you have a good acne treatment, and you actually bother using it, which I’ve been falling behind on lately, you will still be able to well control it. So don’t give up hope and don’t assume the myth is true about adult acne being so different from teen acne. It’s never as complicated as you sometimes like to think.
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September 10th, 2009
There are some acne treatments I prefer over others, and salicylic acid is one of them. I don’t prefer it for more severe cases of acne, in fact it’s the only really common one I would even consider. But I keep in mind it really should never be that expensive for various different reasons, it’s a cheap ingredient. I like it mainly because it has been scientifically proven to work without actually causing side effects.
It was used in the case of who is referred to as Dede the Treeman. Basically speaking, it caused warts to literally shed away. They had to use significantly higher concentrations than you would actually find in an acne treatment. But unless you’re getting rid of warts like that, I really don’t think you want amounts quite like that. Instead, you want relatively small amounts that can still do the job at hand. It obviously causes mostly your skin to shed away extra layers that may be clogging the pores. This definitely helps some people, but I’ve seen it also make some cases worse. So realistically like any treatment, it depends on the person. But at least it comes largely without side effects.
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