Skin Beautification

Accutane Alternatives

2007-02-20T20:08:00.000-08:00

I remember both my cousin and I, who were only two years apart in age, each suffering through adolescence with fairly severe acne problems, dreamt of a day when we'd find a miracle cure for a smooth and beautiful complexion. I, on one hand, had been on everything from Retin-A to Tetracycline and Erythromycin for my acne. She had also been prescribed these drugs and even additional topical treatments which would work for a little while, but then become ineffective.

That was fifteen years ago. At this time, there were no serious and effective alternatives to agressive acne treatment. Accutane was pretty much it.

I remember feeling envious when she was allowed to go on Accutane, which at the time was practically a "miracle" treatment for those with stubborn and persistent breakouts. The drug was not without it's warnings back then though. I remember the biggest warning was to not get pregnant while on the medication. It was actually mandatory to be on birth control if you were being treated with Accutane, since the medication drastically increases the likelihood of birth defects.

Other than that, I was oblivious to any other warnings and I didn't care about them quite frankly. When you're fifteen and you have severe acne, you would do almost anything to have a clear complexion, especially when your peers can be cruel about physical imperfections!

Green with envy, I tracked my cousin's progress eagerly, and hoped to talk my parents into allowing me to go on this agressive medical treatment. Her skin did break out much worse at first - to the point where she did not want to go out in public due to the large and painful inflammations. This was a known drawback, so I took heart in knowing she would clear up later. Then, as promised, her skin did clear very nicely, and all that was left was the old scarring.

Looking back, I am glad I never took this serious drug. Especially now, hearing about the new allegations of serious depression and even suicidal tendencies that some Accutane patients have experienced. You can't search the net for Accutane without coming across stories of litigation, and advertisements for lawyers who exclusively represent Accutane patients.

Not only are the potential side effects scary, the drug also permanently dries up your primary oil-producing glands, which are the mechanism responsible for acne. While this is good in acne prone adolescents, what about when your skin starts aging? You WILL need that oil as your skin ages, to replenish and protect the moisture in your skin, and help prevent the signs of aging and progression of wrinkles.

My cousin now has some regrets too, since her skin seems to be chronically dry and flaky. She blames the medication for some of her premature aging signs as well, and hypothesizes that had she not undergone Accutane therapy, her skin may have maintained more of it's elasticity in later years.

You should know, there are some excellent natural alternatives on the market today that will prevent and fight acne internally just as well as Accutane can, for a fraction of the cost, with no adverse side effects and excellent, long-lasting results. You just need to know where to look!

About the author:

Visit CosmeticsGalore.com for information on the effective natural acne remedy talked about in this article. Danna Schneider is the founder of CosmeticsGalore.com

About Acne - What can you do to cure or alleviate acne?

2007-02-19T06:46:00.000-08:00

Acne gives the combination of symptoms like greasy skin, white heads, black heads, pimples, inflammation and scar formation. Acne mostly affects young people in the age 14 - 25, but also sometimes older persons, like women in their menopause. Most teenagers experience outburst of acne, some only little, but for others acne may develop into a serious skin ailment with great cosmetic impact.

THE SKIN ANATOMY

To understand the acne process, some knowledge about skin anatomy and physiology is essential:

The skin has there layers: The outer layer called epidermis consists of epithelial cells. Under this lies the dermis consisting of connective tissue. At the bottom there is a layer called the hypodermis consisting mostly of fat cells.

The skin has narrow pores extending from the surface down to the top of the sub-dermis, called hair follicles. A hair extend from a growth zone in the bottom of each hair follicle and out at the skin surface. Around the hair in the dermis, there are small glands called sebaceous glands. These glands produce a fatty substance, sebum, which empty through the follicle opening and lubricates the hair and the skin.

THE ACNE PROCESS

Acne starts by the glands in the hair follicles increasing their sebum production. This will in the beginning only cause greasy skin. Eventually the sebum in the entrance of the follicles mixes with dead epithelial cells. This mix reacts chemically to forms hard props, comedones that close the pore entrances. According to the color of the comedones, they are called black heads or white heads.

Then the closed hair follicle gets filled with sebum and swell. The swollen follicle then gets infected by bacteria. The bacteria and the accumulated sebum cause the follicle and the surrounding skin to get inflamed, forming a pimple. At last the inflamed follicle burst and empties its content. Eventually the affected area heals. Sometimes the inflammation reaches deep into the skin surrounding the follicle and destroys skin tissue. This will cause more or less distinct scars that may reside permanently. Typically an affected person will have follicles in all these stages of the process at any given time.

THE CAUSES OF ACNE

The increased hormone production in the puberty stimulates to increased sebum production. The male hormone, testosterone, seem to contribute most. Also girls begin to produce more testosterone in the puberty. Also in other periods, altered hormone production may give acne, for example by women in the menopause.

Since not all teens get acne in any degree, the increased hormone level cannot be the whole cause of the increased sebum production. The follicles of affected persons must for some reason react stronger upon the higher hormone level.

Dietary factors, like eating too much fat, too much sugar or the wrong kind of fat may aggravate acne by some individuals. Lack of

vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids may also contribute to development of acne.

Poor digestion, lazy colon and constipation aggravate acne in some individuals, probably due to productions of toxins in the intestines. Lazy colon may be caused by dietary faults, like lack of fiber.

Very frequent washing and use of strong soaps aggravate acne, and does not alleviate the condition as many think. Rubbing, scrubbing or squeezing the skin may also aggravate acne.

Here are some other factors that may contribute in causing acne or aggravating the condition.

- Stress - Some contraceptive agents - Environmental or domestic pollution. - Humid environments. - Some antidepressants. - Testosterone and anabolic steroids used for treatment or by body-building. - Use of some types of greasy cosmetic products. - Some antiperspirant products. - Exposing the skin for chlorine or other halogens, or medicines containing halogens. - Women may get aggravated acne 2-7 days before menstruation.

WHAT CAN YOU DO YOURSELF TO AVOID OR TO TREAT ACNE

Sometimes Acne is so severe that special medical treatment is required, and sometimes the causes of acne necessitate medical treatment. But you can do much yourself also. Here are listed things you can do yourself to prevent or treat acne:

1. Some advices about diet that may help prevent and cure acne:

-Do not consume a great amount of fat. - The fat you add to the food should be natural oils. Olive oil is ideal, but use other types of oils too, like walnut oil, sunflower oil and soy oil. However, do not use only soy oil as many tend to do. Using only soy oil will give you too much of some fatty acids and too less of others. - Eat much fish, seafood and not so much meat. - Eat food with a high fiber content to regulate the digestion, like vegetables, whole cereals, full corn bread and fruit.

2. Here are some things you should avoid.

- Do not use greasy or heavy cosmetics that clog your skin and are difficult to wash away. - Do not use strong irritating antiperspirants. - Do not wash with strong soap or cleaners that dry up your skin and take away all the natural oily protection in your skin. - If you perform body-building, do not use anabolic steroids or other hormonal supplements. - Use clothes that allow air to reach your body surface to avoid collection of humidity and overheating of your skin.

3. Use of rinsing milk or solutions

You can rinse your skin with mild products especially made to dissolve the plugs in your pores, and to make the environment in your skin unfriendly to bacteria causing infection. Some of these products are just products to wash your skin with one ore more times a day; others should be on during night and flushed away in the morning.

Salicylic acid is a mild ingredient often used in these products to dissolve the comedones. The products usually also
Acne Free in 3 days!

Get Linked from 42,000+ sites with one click.
contain ingredients that work antibacterial and stimulate the skin's own cleaning activities, like Tea tree oil or Echinacea extract.

4. Use of gels and creams to treat acne and protect your skin

After the rinsing, you should apply some treatment gel, cream or lotion onto your skin to achieve these effects:

- To make your skin soft and elastic. - To protect your skin against the environment. - To acts further to dissolve the clogging of your pores. - To soothe and alleviate inflammation. - To kill the bacteria causing infection or make an environment hostile for the bacteria. - To stimulate the skin to clean itself. - To stimulate the skin to heal. - To be used as a isolating layer between the skin itself and cosmetics

In order to protect, make the skin soft and further dissolve the comedones, many products contain natural plant oils that are easily absorbed into the epidermis, like Tea tree oil, Rose hip oil, Lavender oil and Olive oil.

Ingredients used in products to reduce inflammation and to stimulate healing may be: Aloe Vera extract, Viola Tricolour extract, Rose hip oil, Vitamin E and Vitamin A.

Tea tree oil and Grapefruit seed extract are natural antibacterial agents used in many of these products. In other products artificial compounds like Benzoyl peroxide are used.

5. Oral supplements to fight the acne process and nourish the skin

Supplements taken by mouth to nourish your skin may be useful. The purpose of these supplements is more or less the same as that of nourishing creams.

- To make the sebum more fluid so it drains more easily. - To stimulate the substance exchange and cleaning processes in your skin, - To stimulate your skin to heal, - To give your skin building nutrients necessary to heal.

Ingredients often used in these supplements to stimulate the cleaning and healing processes in the skin are: Vitamins A, C, B1, B2, B3, B6, C, D, E, Folic acid, Beta carotene, Bioflavonoids, Magnesium, Copper, Zinc, selenium, anti-oxidants from Green tea, Metylsulfonyl methane.

Nutrient found in these products used as material to rebuild damaged skin and to give a sebum with better consistency are: Evening primrose oil, Olive oil, Flax seed oil, Borage oil, Soy oil, Wheat germ oil and Lecithin.

Gum guggul extract used in oral products has an anti-biotic effect, and helps against spreading of the acne infection and thus helps against scar formation.

About the author:

Knut Holt is an internet consultant and marketer focusing on health items. Please go here to find innovative medicines against acne, eczema, scars, wrinkles, other skin problems and natural anti-aging supplements for the skin and the whole body:---

http://www.abicana.com/shop4.htm

See also these useful sites:

A Guide to get Beautiful Skin
Acne Solution

Acne: Do you have one?

2007-02-17T19:17:00.000-08:00

Have you experienced a swelling in your skin? And then you tried to pop it? Well after reading this you must now think twice before popping that swell. Because that swell may be acne.

Acne is common to people nowadays. Acne is also known as pimples or more scientifically, vulgaris. It is caused when your pores get clogged causing an accumulation of fatty material from your oil gland or sebaceous gland.

Not all your pores are affected by acne. The reason for this is still a mystery. Because of the accumulation in the pores, a swell may eventually appear which is known as blackheads or whiteheads. Blackheads are not caused by dirt but by the chemical reaction of the fatty material in the pores with the air. Air causes the discoloration of the fatty material causing a black "bump".

Acne has many different types along with different superstitious beliefs, theories and treatments. These different types of treatments may work for others but not on you because of acne's complexity. So, don't just believe on what your friends tell you or what the TV commercial promises with your acne. Those may just be one of theories and superstitious beliefs.

We already know about the physical effects of acne (When you pop it its causes more acnes or worse it becomes a life-long scar), but how about its psychological effects? Teenagers with acne tend to have lower self-confidence that leads to their feeling of isolation and being awkward to their peers with clear skin. Acnes made people cry, and angry. Thousands of people each year are afflicted by it, and it makes recluses out of a good many teenagers.

Teens are not the only one suffering from acne, adult acne is also common nowadays. Unlike teen's acne, adult acne is due to the changes that our skin goes through as we mature. Scars caused by acnes in adults are more severe than the scars of teens with acne. Adults, unlike teens are less likely to find treatment to their acnes, leaving them to suffer alone.

Acne has two main categories. It can be inflammatory acne or non-inflammatory acne. Whether if you're an adult or a teen, your acne may fall to one of these categories.

Blackheads and whiteheads are signs of non-inflammatory acne. Unlike non-inflammatory acnes, inflammatory acnes are harder to identify. Some symptoms of inflammatory acnes may be papules, pustules and in more severe cases, nodules or cysts.

You can look for different kinds of treatments once you already know on what category your acne falls. Always remember that if a certain treatment didn't work for your acne, you can always try some other treatments. The technology nowadays, has given rise to new treatments. Researchers are now developing some new treatments that might be the one your waiting for and might give you the clear skin your longing for.

Another treatment which may be more effective is that avoid grain products such as bread, corn, cereals and pastries. Also, don't forget to always drink your vitamins because it may just help you with acne. But still, these methods may not work for you. Maybe, you should just use your own judgment in treating your acne or just consult your dermatologist.

Now, do you still want to pop that swell?

Your guide to acne skin care and acne solutions.

About the author:

Michelle for http://www.acne-care-solutions.com - Learn about Ac ne medications.

See also these useful sites:

A Guide to get Beautiful Skin
Acne Solution