Does Acne Skin Care Products Work? Acne Causes And Treatments

Acne is a common skin problem for most teens and many adults. Acne occurs when the skin's follicles become blocked with sebum and dead skin cells. The overproduction of sebum in the skin provides an environment ready for the bacterial overgrowth of Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) bacteria. This overgrowth of bacteria causes inflammation, leading to inflamed lesions. Acne lesions range in severity from blackheads (open comedo) and whiteheads (closed comedo) to pustules, papules and cysts. Acne generally appears on the face, chest and shoulders, but may also occur on the back, arms, legs, and buttocks.

Why some people get acne and some don't is not fully known. Factors that are known to be linked to the occurrence of acne are: hormonal activity (puberty, pregnancy), family history, hyperactive sebaceous glands, stress, low skin exfoliation leading to the accumulation of dead skin cells, anything that activates skin inflammation like scratching, bacteria on the skin and the body becoming allergic to this bacteria and use of anabolic steroids.

There are many myths about what causes acne. A common myth is that acne is a result of dirty skin. However, pimples and blackheads are not caused by dirt. Acne is caused by a combination of over-production of skin oil, excess dead skin cells and bacteria. A blackhead is dark in color because it is open to the air and oxidation causes the color change. Respectively, a whitehead is closed to the air and therefore has not noticeable color.

The myth of whether certain foods cause acne is still being debated. Science has not come up with any clear cut answers; however many people will find a connection between the foods they eat and breakouts. Trying to figure out what foods cause acne to become worse is tough, because the outcome of eating a certain food and resulting acne will vary greatly among people. What food causes acne to become worse in one person will not affect another. So what this comes down to is avoiding some of the generally bad foods for your body and putting in more healthy food. So avoid sugary and fatty foods, foods rich in iodine and dairy foods. Add more fruits, vegetables, green tea and meats that contain good essential fats to your diet.

So what can you use to treat your acne? While there is no real cure for acne, managing all the triggering factors is key to keeping acne under control. Those triggers include dead skin cells not exfoliating, excess sebum, P acnes bacteria, and inflammation. Also, the treatments used depend on the severity of the acne.

The first important trigger to control is the bacteria on your skin. Control the harmful bacteria and infections are less likely to start that result in pimples. To control bacteria, use a topical bactericidal agent like Benzoyl peroxide. Benzoyl peroxide is very effective against P acnes bacteria for many people. Also most tests show that p. acnes do not become resistant to benzoyl peroxide, so if it works for you, it should continue working. Other topical anti-bacterials that can be tried include: tea tree oil for a natural solution, colloidal silver, triclosan, and chlorhexisine gluconate.

Topical antibiotics can be used to control skin bacteria in a more targeted way. Topical antibiotics also usually cause less damage and inflammation to the skin sometimes making them a better choice for people with more sensitive skin. Topical antibiotics are usually as effectual as antibiotics taken orally with fewer side effects. Topical antibiotics include: erythromycin, tetracycline and clindamycin.

Oral antibiotics are effective and good to use when acne is affecting a large part of the body. They can help to get the bacteria under control and then allow topical treatments to take over. Oral antibiotics are easy to use but can have side effects such as colitis, diarrhea, dysbacteriosis. Moreover, long term oral antibiotic treatment is not practical as a bacterial resistance may develop. Oral antibiotics include: erythromycin and tetracycline.

Next, you need to control the production of sebum. Products that control sebum production include topical retinoids such as tretinoin (Retin-A), tazarotene (Tazorac), and adapalen (Differin), and oral retinoinds such as Isotretinoin (Accutane). Both types of Retinoids improve acne by decreasing oil production and altering the lifecycle of epithelial skin cells. Topical retinoids can increase breakouts during the first weeks of treatment and also cause dryness, irritation and sensitivity to sunlight. Oral retinoids are usually used as a last resort because of their side effects.