How many times have acne treatments let you down?
Are you sick and tired of buying acne treatments, only to have them not work for you?
Are you desperate to find a cure for your acne?
Let’s start with a little story. Let’s say you have this friend and let’s call this friend Sue. You complain to Sue about your stubborn acne which refuses to leave you, no matter what you do. Now Sue says she knows someone who went to this dermatologist and got cured of some skin disease when no other doctor could. This dermatologist with magical skills certainly seems very interesting. If he can cure this problem Sue’s friend had, when no one else could, maybe he can cure your acne too.
So you ask Sue to get you the number of this doctor. She does that. You make an appointment with this magical doctor, let’s call him Dr. John. His receptionist says he can see you a week from today. You mark it in the calendar and can’t wait for your appointment. The day arrives and you reach the clinic early. You take a seat and wait for your name to be called out. Finally the moment arrives and you enter the consulting room full of hope, dreaming of having clear skin in 2 weeks.
Dr. John greets you and asks you how he can help you today. You can’t help but blurt out how your acne has been troubling you. You go on to describe how no matter what you do, you always seem to wake up every morning with more acne than the previous night. Dr. John nods sympathetically pulling his prescription pad towards him. He begins to write something down.
Watching him writing you think, finally he’s going to write down the the magical solution to my acne. Clutching the paper he gives you, you walk out elated right to the nearest pharmacy. After getting all the medications that have been prescribed you go home ready to start the treatments.
A week passes and you hardly see any improvements. Maybe it needs more time, you tell yourself. Another week passes by where you religiously apply all the ointments and take all the medications. At the end of this second week your skin still looks the same as it did 2 weeks back. To make matters worse it’s peeling a bit in places. Does this sound familiar?
How many times have you been in this place?
So why does this happen to you time and time again?
It is because acne is caused by much more complex factors than just bacteria and sebum. And most acne treatments just focus on the 2 factors of bacteria and sebum or oil. Antibiotics and ointments like benzoyl peroxide focus on killing the bacteria that cause acne. Treatments like salicylic acid work on unclogging the pores which are blocked with oil. Accutane focuses on reducing the size of the oil glands in your skin. Notice that all these treatments for acne do, is try and fight these 2 factors.
The thing is everyone has oil glands and bacteria in their skin. Yes, even those people with crystal clear, dewy skin.
The question to ask is why do only some people get acne?
First of all, if you’re above 25, you are suffering from adult acne which is way different from the normal teenage acne. While both are caused by an imbalance in hormones, the teenage one is caused by changes in the body during puberty. If you’re an adult, your imbalance of hormones is caused by stress, improper diet, medications you take, stress, lack of sleep and a lot of other factors. Unless you take measures to reduce of these factors your acne may not have an expiry date like teenage acne. So no matter how many acne treatments you try, they are most probably not going to work for you. Adult acne needs different treatment than teenage acne.
Medications prescribed by doctors like antibiotics, ointments, OTC creams which work by trying to kill acne causing bacteria or reducing the sebum levels in the skin. The downside of this is the good bacteria are also killed and your skin dries out and gets sensitive. Your acne remains the same. Of course you will always be told that you need to use more of the ointments or take the medications for longer but if you see no difference after 2 weeks it is more than likely that you’re never going to see one. The other downside is that your immune system will be weaker and your skin much more sensitive than before.
While some of the bacteria that cause acne may be killed, all the other factors leading to acne are still around. You are almost never told to sleep and eat well along with your prescription. As a result the acne does not stop, or even if it does stop for a while, it most probably will come back.
So before you decide to take another round of antibiotics or apply OTC creams try changing your diet just a little to see if it does help even a little bit. Acne treatment not matter your age, should focus on overall health, diet, lifestyle, sleep and stress.
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