Top 7 Tips For Dealing With Acne
While most males don't have to deal with acne issues when they get through their teenage years, many females have to battle acne most of their life. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help reduce and even eliminate acne.
Here are seven more key tips to help you in your battle with acne:
1. Don't be afraid to use Over The Counter medications
Using OTC products that contain salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide and sulfur can go a long way to helping you deal with acne. Products with salicylic acid are generally the best in unclogging clogged pores and exfoliating your top layer of skin. Where most people are not allergic to this, it makes it the number one OTC choice.
The second choice would be benzoyl peroxide because it not only unclogs pores, but it is also bacteriostatic with will help reduce the strength of bacteria on your skin. This will help because bacteria will be less likely to multiply in your pores.
Regardless of which way you choose to go, always start out with a low strength concentration and then increase it slowly. When dealing with benzoyl peroxide, a strength of 2.5% would be be a good place to start. For salicyclic acid and sulfur, you'll want to start with concentrations of.5 to 3%. Start out with a small patch of skin for 2-3 days before using it all over.
2. Consider Getting A Peel.
While a salicylic acid peel will provide you with longer lasting protection against pimples and clogged pores, glycolic peels and products and also help combat acne as well.
3. Get Out Of The Sun
If you are acne medication, you'd be best served to stay out of the sun because many of these medications can cause very adverse reactions to sun exposure. Even if you aren't on an acne medication, be aware that sunlight aggravates acne, even though the common belief is that it clears the skin. While it may appear to help in the short term, sunlight can actually cause an acne flare up as far out as 2-4 weeks after the exposure.
4. Tea Treatment
Yep - tea! There have been a number of studies that show using a 2% tea lotion significantly reduces acne flare ups. If you've got a pimple that's red or inflamed, try soaking a chamomile tea back in ice cold water and applying it to your pimple for roughly 30 seconds. Chamomile is a natural anti inflammatory and will reduce the swelling in a pimple.
5. Use One Method At A Time
You may think that by combining OTC products, you may be able to hasten the exit of your acne issue. Not so. Never mix treatments because you may end up having a reaction to the mixing of two different products. Anytime you are taking an OTC acne medication but then have a medication prescribed by your doctor, discontinue the use of the OTC product immediately.
6. Don't Touch Your Face
If you are constantly touching or rubbing your face, you'll unwittingly aggravate an acne problem. If you've got acne issues around your jaw line or chin, it's quite possible that it's caused by the rubbing of your cell phone.
7. Don't Do Anything
Don't squeeze pimples or whiteheads. By squeezing a pimple, which is an inflammation, you'll increase the redness and quite possible cause an infection. In addition, it may burst and spill the contents onto your skin, resulting in another pimple. However, if you have a pimple with a head of yellow puss, go ahead and apply gentle pressure to it. It will pop. Once the puss is gone, the pimple will likely heal more quickly.
Here are seven more key tips to help you in your battle with acne:
1. Don't be afraid to use Over The Counter medications
Using OTC products that contain salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide and sulfur can go a long way to helping you deal with acne. Products with salicylic acid are generally the best in unclogging clogged pores and exfoliating your top layer of skin. Where most people are not allergic to this, it makes it the number one OTC choice.
The second choice would be benzoyl peroxide because it not only unclogs pores, but it is also bacteriostatic with will help reduce the strength of bacteria on your skin. This will help because bacteria will be less likely to multiply in your pores.
Regardless of which way you choose to go, always start out with a low strength concentration and then increase it slowly. When dealing with benzoyl peroxide, a strength of 2.5% would be be a good place to start. For salicyclic acid and sulfur, you'll want to start with concentrations of.5 to 3%. Start out with a small patch of skin for 2-3 days before using it all over.
2. Consider Getting A Peel.
While a salicylic acid peel will provide you with longer lasting protection against pimples and clogged pores, glycolic peels and products and also help combat acne as well.
3. Get Out Of The Sun
If you are acne medication, you'd be best served to stay out of the sun because many of these medications can cause very adverse reactions to sun exposure. Even if you aren't on an acne medication, be aware that sunlight aggravates acne, even though the common belief is that it clears the skin. While it may appear to help in the short term, sunlight can actually cause an acne flare up as far out as 2-4 weeks after the exposure.
4. Tea Treatment
Yep - tea! There have been a number of studies that show using a 2% tea lotion significantly reduces acne flare ups. If you've got a pimple that's red or inflamed, try soaking a chamomile tea back in ice cold water and applying it to your pimple for roughly 30 seconds. Chamomile is a natural anti inflammatory and will reduce the swelling in a pimple.
5. Use One Method At A Time
You may think that by combining OTC products, you may be able to hasten the exit of your acne issue. Not so. Never mix treatments because you may end up having a reaction to the mixing of two different products. Anytime you are taking an OTC acne medication but then have a medication prescribed by your doctor, discontinue the use of the OTC product immediately.
6. Don't Touch Your Face
If you are constantly touching or rubbing your face, you'll unwittingly aggravate an acne problem. If you've got acne issues around your jaw line or chin, it's quite possible that it's caused by the rubbing of your cell phone.
7. Don't Do Anything
Don't squeeze pimples or whiteheads. By squeezing a pimple, which is an inflammation, you'll increase the redness and quite possible cause an infection. In addition, it may burst and spill the contents onto your skin, resulting in another pimple. However, if you have a pimple with a head of yellow puss, go ahead and apply gentle pressure to it. It will pop. Once the puss is gone, the pimple will likely heal more quickly.
Source...