Beauty Topics: Acne Skin Care

By Raymond Lam

Many people suffer with the skin condition known as acne or Zits; but things are gradually improving for sufferers. A great deal of effort is going into research for a cure; as a consequence, many of these new treatments are very affective. The type of acne skin care product you might use would come under three general categories:

*Preventative: Creams, lotions etc. to help cleanse and tone the skin

*Those available at a drugstore or over-the-counter

*Prescription only: Requires visit to doctor

Probably the largest part of the skin care market is products designed to clean the skin and inhibit the formation of acne; products like skin cleansers and toners fall into this category. Many people use products similar to this every day as part of their skin care regime; often this is irrespective of whether or not there is a problem condition. There are acne skin care products that are more specialized in there approach; devised primarily to limit the amount of oil or sebum forming in the pores. These skin care products are designed to prevent this from happening.

Other skin care treatments can help exfoliate the skin; most can even be purchased over the Internet in addition to normal outlets. Dead skin cells and other atmospheric pollutants are removed cleaning the pores which reduce the chance of any bacterial growth. The growth of the skin care market has allowed even more specialized acne skin care products to be available without the need to visit the doctor. A bacterium that aids the formation of acne is stopped by creams and cleansers that contain benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid; they are designed to extract the excess oil that bacteria need to promote the development of acne.

Although benzoyl peroxide works well, reactions can happen so it is suggested that any skin care product containing this should not have more than 5.5 percent of the active ingredient; alpha-hydroxy-acid based moisturizers are a safer skin care regime alternative if there is a problem. As with any type of zit cream, you may need to try a few acne skin care products until you find one that will suit your skin; if finding something that works is proving difficult, your dermatologist should be able to help. If you do need to see your doctor or skin care specialist then he may give you a prescription for antibiotics or special ointments.

Your doctor can recommend that in order to extract the contents of the pustules that a small surgical procedure could be carried out; this is not something you should ever attempt yourself. An alternative that has been shown to work well is hormone therapy; this type of skin care treatment has been very effective in many cases. Tackling this skin condition is not the problem it once was and if treated properly permanently marked skin does not have to happen.