Acne: Fighting Acne In The 21st Century

Anyone that suffers with acne (Zits) may feel as if they spend most of their time searching for remedies; however, medical science continues to look at new remedies. It is not surprising then that a great deal of money has been spent on skin care treatment development; the result of this effort is new, more effective, treatments are becoming available. We can classify acne skin care products into 3 broad categories:

- Preventative: Creams, lotions etc. to help cleanse and tone the skin - Drugstore or Internet: Treatments that do not require a prescription - Prescription only: Requires visit to doctor

Those that fall into the preventative category are based around general skin conditioning to help stop acne from forming; these products can be anything from skin cleansers to makeup removers. Whilst many sufferers use these products there are even more who just want to keep their skin clean and conditioned; in many instances the user has never had a skin condition to worry about.

There are acne skin care products that are more specialized in there approach; devised primarily to limit the amount of oil or sebum forming in the pores. Excess oil needs to be stopped from clogging the pores as this oil make it easier for bacteria to grow, exacerbating the condition.

Ex foliation skin peels have proved quite effective as a skin care treatment and at controlling the problem. There are now more and more of these types of products available over the counter. They work by reducing oil plus other contaminants from the skin and in the pores; this can reduce harmful bacteria and stop their chance of growth.

The growth of the skin care market has allowed even more specialized acne skin care products to be available without the need to visit the doctor. Most of these creams etc. are based on benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid, both of which are the enemies of bacteria (and hence acne); they work by removing the excess oil from the skin and halt the growth of acne.

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; an alternative to this includes products which contain alpha hydroxy acid. 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 some case your doctor may suggest the pustules are drained of harmful contents under local anesthetic; although this is a minor procedure, if it were performed by the person themselves it could result in skin damage.

Your doctor could prescribe a hormone-based treatment to treat your skin problem; studies show that hormone based skin care treatments often prove effective. Positive research means that a sufferer does not have to put up with this condition anymore.