Acne is a word that strikes fear into the minds of many, especially teenagers who might be dealing with it for the first time in their life. While acne isn’t life-ending, it can be a major boon to your confidence and your social life. This makes finding good treatment all the more important to ensure that you are able to combat it.
With all the advancements in dermatological studies, there are a lot more ways to combat acne now than ever before, and they can work on pre-teens or teenagers dealing with it for the first time, or those who find themselves struggling with the occasional pimple pop-up even in their adult years.
There is no shame about acne, it can happen to just about anyone, but what is important is finding a solution that actually works for you and your skin. Even though there are a lot of options out there, you need to narrow it down and these are some of the most effective treatment choices.
Chemical and Medical Treatments
There are generally two types of ways you can help treat acne. The first set of options include chemical/medicinal treatments, as in over-the-counter or drug store products, while the second is non-chemical or preventative ways to fix acne. These are the first types, the chemical or medical ways to treat acne:
Curology
This is a product that is similar in style to a lot of the acne treatment products you see online. One’s like Proactive or Clean and Clear, but the problem is that it might be the best for everyone. So, what makes curology not suitable for all faces? It has many of the regular active ingredients you would find in other treatments, with azelaic acid or clindamycin, but some people complain of the harshness on the skin at the beginning. This is actually a normal problem, but some people hate it regardless, it could work, but you need to ask your dermatologist to see if it’s right.
Proactive
Probably the most commonly talked about acne treatment product line out there is proactive. Proactive has gone through somewhat of an upheaval in the fast few years as many people complained about it not working, while others already liked it. It has benzoyl peroxide, which when used right can do wonders for your skin, but it should be used in low concentrations and not too much. This is another case of deciding with your skincare specialist or doctor to see if it is right for you.
Exposed Skin Care
A highly regarded acne treatment product in the medicinal/chemical line of options is Exposed Skin Care. It can offer some useful benefits in the fact that it acts as a moisturizer, along with microderm scrub, and probiotics for skin health that helps more than just removing acne. Good acne treatments should help moisturize skin, improve skin health, and help it heal, as well as removing bacteria or dirt from pores.
Clean and Clear Acne
Clean and Clear’s acne line is usually individual products and not an acne treatment system. This is good for people who want quality care for their skin without having to commit to a whole line of products. Clean and Clear specializes in scrubs and other face washes, like blackhead removers, which can be useful if you only need an individual product to help out. Still, it can end up costing a lot if you want to commit to a lot of their products when you have to buy them each individually.
Non-Chemical or Preventative Treatments
The second set of options are those that are not a drug or product-related and revolve more around your lifestyle habits. These are not intended to directly change the conditions of your skin but help the skin nonetheless:
Consistent Bedspread Washing
Your bed is where you spend roughly 8 hours a night (give or take) laying down and rolling around. As you can imagine, a lot of bacteria starts to build up and grow on this part of your home so it can really impact your skin. Your pillowcases especially need to be washed consistently to keep them fresh and clean, while your sheets should also be washed regularly to avoid back acne or acne on the body. In a general sense, it is also just good practice to have a clean bed too.
Drinking More Water
Many of the best chemical or medical treatment options offer moisturizing capabilities for skin that gets dry or is prone to dead skin cell accumulation. You can help make these products work even better by consuming enough water each day to keep your skin naturally healthy on its own too. Drinking 9 -13 glasses of water a day, which is the equivalent of 74 – 101 ounces of water. Getting this much water a day will help your skin stay moisturized and retain its elasticity.
Healthy Diet
Everything you put into your body is going to have some effect on your skin, whether it is good or bad. Water is one step, but you need to eat healthy as well to keep your skin from breaking out. Sugary foods, with milk being a notorious culprit, can cause increases in acne breakouts. While greasy, fatty, or oily foods might not directly cause acne to form on your face, it could contribute to more oil if your body is producing a lot (like during puberty) and lead to clogged pores.
Avoiding Touching the Face
You should do your best to avoid touching your face when you can. We all fidget with parts of our face, like a mustache or beard, or like to rest our cheek in our palm, but the more dirt you track on your hands and get on your face can block pores, so try to keep the hands away from the face as best you can.
Finding a good acne treatment solution can boil down to either medicinal products or natural helpers, and a combination of both could be very useful. Even better is the fact that there are plenty more ways to treat acne now than ever, so using this information can help you find one that suits you.