Woman World Web

June 30th, 2008 by Scott Goodman

For most of us that take pride in the way we look, the thought of suffering with acne or Zits, may at first seem awful; however, many effective treatments are available. Medical investigation and research is ongoing and making interesting discoveries; this is good news with the range of effective skin care treatments improving all the time. Most acne skin care products can be broken down into three main areas:

Drugstore: Preventative treatment

Prescription only: From a doctor or dermatologist for more serious conditions

Prescription only treatments

Many skin care products are used as a measure to prevent acne; this sector deals with skin creams, lotions and cleansers that can help stop the problem. Whilst many sufferers use these products there are even more who just want to keep their skin clean and conditioned; many use these products to protect their skin from the environment even if they do not have the acne condition. Some of these products are designed to act like an acne skin care product and act against the causes of this complaint; devised primarily to limit the amount of oil or sebum forming in the pores. These types of products are reducing the chance of oil staying in the pores and aiding the growth of harmful bacteria which assists the formation of the skin condition.

General skin care treatments also include special exfoliation products like skin peels; these are easily obtainable in any drug store. These work towards removing dead skin cells, reducing the possibility of pore-clogging and bacteria development. Many different, specially formulated acne skin care products designed to reduce the problems have now been made available without prescription. These formulations contain the chemical benzoyl peroxide and the naturally occurring salicylic acid; these include products which extract the unwanted oil from the skin.

It is often a good idea to start with a product that has lower concentration of benzoyl peroxide (e.g. 5 percent) to see how the skin responds; alpha-hydroxy-acid based moisturizers are a safer skin care regime alternative if there is a problem. As with any type of zit cream, you may need to try a few acne skin care products until you find one that will suit your skin; however, if nothing you try seems to work, you should contact a dermatologist. There are benefits of seeing your doctor or dermatologist, they can prescribe you with a prescription for treatments not available over the counter, for example a course of antibiotics.

In more serious cases your skin care specialist may decide that a small surgical procedure can be used to remove the oil and infection from your pores; this is not something you should ever attempt yourself. An alternative that has been shown to work well is hormone therapy; studies show that hormone based skin care treatments often prove effective. Science has produced many effective treatments for this unkind condition.