Acne Lotion and Vitamin Supplements

For years, scientists, doctors, biologists, dermatologists, and dieticians have searched for and studied all of the various causes of acne. Since the majority of the worlds population suffer from acne at some point in their lives, there is no surprise that such efforts are invested in finding out how to it. While there have been some definitive answers on whether acne is hormonally induced (yes), and what can be done to prevent it (prescription drugs, certain herbal remedies, etc), there are still many unknown factors that cause acne.

However, of all the many acne questions that science is yet to find answers to, the most controversial is whether or not diet has an effect on acne.

Historically, diet was thought to be linked to acne. Doctors and housewives alike believed that a high fat content in ones diet would cause an oilier complexion, and this in turn would create acne breakouts.

However, as time went on, science found no directly link between a diet high in lipids (fat), and acne. Since acne is caused by a bacterial growth in sebum trapped in clogged pores, there is no such thing as "extra oil secretion". So, for at least the last 15 years, western medicine has claimed there is no connection between diet and acne.

However, a study conducted in 1997 has rekindled the flame in the "diet causes acne" argument, and this time, with a bit more heat.

This study, conducted by Dr. Lit Hung Leung, states that Acne breakouts are because the body cannot create enough of Coenzyme A to break down the fatty acids that create sebum. The reason is, Coenzyme A is probably the single most needed enzyme in the body. This Coenzyme-A is what synthesizes sex hormones, and what breaks down fatty acids.

The only part of Coenzyme-A that the body does not produce itself is vitamin B5. So, if there is a shortage of B5, there is a shortage of Coenzyme-A. And if there is a shortage of Coenzyme-A, the body will use it to synthesize sex hormones, not break down fatty acids.

So, you can see where this is going?more fatty acids, more sebum production, more acne.

Now, the interesting thing is that Dr. Lit Hung Leung substantiated this claim by testing it on 100 people. The group took 10 grams or more per day of pantothenic acid ( B5 ), and used a B5 topical cream of 20% by weight. After 2-3, sebum production was reduced, and many people with acne noticed a reduction. For those with more extreme acne, a higher dosage of B5 was used (approx. 15-20 grams per day), and treatment was prolonged to see an effect, sometimes up to 6 months.

So, while one study does not definitively prove whether B5 can prevent or reduce acne, it may well be worth considering, particularly for those who want a natural or herbal cure for acne, and do not want to use chemicals such as benzoyl peroxide, or other prescription acne treatments.

As with any medical treatment, it is best to consult a doctor before trying a B5 regimine.

By Greg Podsakoff

Acne Care Program - Step 6 Juices You Should Be Drinking

Drinking fruit juices help to bring vitamins and minerals quickly into your blood where they can supply what is necessary for acne free skin. Minerals quickly neutralize skin acids and bring the skin pH back to normal - slightly acidic.

Fresh juices have antibacterial action and contain digestive enzymes that help you digest protein and fat.

Because of the vitamins, minerals, digestive enzymes, pure water, and nutrients that juices have, they have the power to cleanse your body of toxic wastes.

Here are some juices to drink that will keep your face free of acne.

Apple juice

Drink at least 2 glasses of this juice every day. Apple juice has a high level of minerals and vitamins, which makes it ideal for skin health.

Apricot - berry juice

Mix equal parts of apricot and berry juice and add a little honey to taste. Drink one cup in the morning. Place the other two glasses into a thermos and drink one more glass at noon and one at dinner.

Cherry juice

Cherry juice is a powerful drink, because it has so many minerals. It will make your body more alkaline by neutralizing acid waste in the blood, in the lymph liquid and wherever it goes. It will also help keep you regular.

Lemon Juice

Lemon juice is one of the best juices you can drink for your skin health. It contains many minerals, which will eliminate acid waste. Lemon juice will help constipation, liver disorders, reduce mucus accumulation, improve digestion, reduce infections, and help to clear skin disorders like acne.

One way I use lemon juice is to squeeze the juice of one lemon into 16 oz water and drink it during the day.

Melons

Melon juice is also an excellent drink for acne. It is almost a perfect food in that it has many vitamins and minerals. It is most helpful with constipation, kidney disorders and skin disorders.

Orange and grapefruit

Prepare half and half of orange and grapefruit juice using a hand juicer. The flavor is extremely tasty. The combination of these two fresh fruits will give you a powerful start in the morning. They will give you a vitamin C boost with plenty of flavanoids and minerals.

These combined fruits will cleanse your intestinal tract, help in blood disorders, liver disorders, lung disorders and skin infections.

Orange and lemon juice

Mix 3 parts of orange juice with one part lemon juice. Add a little water and honey and put into a thermos. Drink the juice all day long for glowing skin.

Lemon juice helps the skin to rejuvenate and grow new skin. It helps the skin to flake off old skin and improve the skin's metabolism.

Other juices to drink

There are many other fruit juices to drink. Here are a few more.

* Peach juice

* Pear juice

* Pineapple juice

* Prune juice

* Strawberry juice

Try to use organic fruit when making your juice. It is better to make your own juices since most bottled juice contain no life force or natural live enzymes. Drink the juices soon after you juice them. If you want, put them in a thermos for later in the day. Drink them within 2-3 hours. If you can't make your own juice, the buying bottle juices is second best for clearing your acne.

By Rudy Silva

Acne Rosacea - A Blush You Can Do Without

What do former presidents Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin have in common? A condition called acne rosacea, a chronic inflammation of the blood vessels in the skin, which causes a ruddy complexion and small acne-like eruptions on the cheeks, forehead and nose.

In men it can often cause the skin on the nose to thicken and swell, leading toa condition called rhinophyma.

Nobody know what causes it but the list of potential triggers is endless. The main culprits are alcohol and rich, spicy foods.

Because its roots are unknown, there's no permanent cure either, so management is the key. This is partly achieved by identifying what makes the rosacea worse through a process of exclusion and by the use of topical antibiotics - usually metronidazole.

A GP's diagnosis is vital since the symptoms can be similar to more serious conditions such as lupus. Rosacea can last a lifetime, especially in men, but often clears up on its own.


By Alicia Caldelas

Acne and Skin Problem Myths Debunked

Isn't skin a wonderful thing to have?

An obvious benefit of skin is that it protects our bodies' internal organs from harmful elements like dirt, insects, bites, toxic chemicals, nasty weather, and the like, and it certainly is more attractive than what's underneath.

When skin is healthy it's nice to look at, but when it's diseased, it can not only affect you physically, but more painfully can cause stress and social problems.

Like the common cold, acne and similar skin diseases can be treated and covered up, but cannot really be cured. The best treatment is prevention and knowledge about what makes your skin happy, so that you can avoid skin care enemies and breakout triggers.

The real cause of acne can vary from individual to individual, but some factors can be stated with relative certainty:

1. Acne occurs when pores or hair follicles become blocked or clogged.

2. There are basically 4 types of acne manifestations: whiteheads, blackheads, pimples, and nodules.

3. Acne can appear pretty much anywhere on the skin, though it causes the most concern when it shows up on the face. The worst forms of acne break out, however, on the chest and back, and most commonly on males rather than females because of hormonal differences.

4. There are many common myths and untruths about acne, rosacea, and other skin care problems.

Some acne myths include "you'll outgrow it, so leave it alone", "being out in the sun helps acne", "acne problems are directly or indirectly proportionate to sexual activity", "acne visits dirty people", "acne is contagious", and too many more to list in this short article.

The sad thing is that belief in the myths can be devasting, in that proper treatment is avoided, and lifestyle changes that don't need to be made can take away pleasure unnecessarily.

For example, at one point in my life, I truly believed that I was allergic to chocolate and that it caused my breakouts. Whenever I would succumb to the temptation and have "just a little" I would stress out waiting for the red spots, and sure enough they would appear.

After several years and much experimentation, I learned I had no allergy, the stress was a trigger for me, and a new over the counter face scrub has kept me in the clear ever since.

Knowing what triggers your breakouts can be the difference between constant battles and healthy skin. The Internet is a wonderful place to get the information you need, so stop stressing out and learn what it takes to put your best face forward.

By Dennis Becker

Acne Prevention Tips

Preventing acne is an extremely difficult thing to do. There really isn't a cure for it, yet it drags yourself esteem way down. So just what can an acne suffer do to help minimize breakouts? Here are some basic tips to help control your condition.

Wash Your Skin Gently:

When you wash you should be very careful about how hard you press or rub your face. If you press to hard it will irritate your skin. This can also break open any pimples that you currently have. So, be sure to press lightly when washing and drying your face.

Dont Pop those Zits:

Popping pimples is a really bad idea. By breaking them open you can leave scares and cause more infection.

Avoid Stress:

Stress will cause you to have a breakout. You need to make sure you get enough sleep, eat healthy, and take time to have some fun. This will be one of the hardest things to do when trying to prevent acne.

Loose Clothing:

Loose clothing will be much more easier on your skin when your working out. Tight clothing will cause the sweat and oil to be absorbed into your skin more then it needs to be. Loose clothing will also allow for less irritation from the clothing itself.

These are just some general tips to get you started with your acne prevention. If your acne has gotten out of hand you should always go see your family doctor. They will often recommend something with benzoyl peroxide.

By Tyler Casselman

The Importance of Water in Caring For Acne

The benefits of water as part of our daily lives are undeniable. We use it to prepare food, to drink, and to bathe. What many people do not know is that water also plays an important roll in the reduction and treatment of acne flare-ups.

During an average day, most people lose almost two liters of water through perspiration, respiration, and waste removal. Include a hot humid day, strenuous work, or athletic activity and the amount of fluid loss multiplies significantly. Water is crucial to healthy cells, and healthy cells, particularly at the skin level where cells are exposed to damaging environmental conditions, can reduce acne outbreaks.

When cells are deprived of water, they become dehydrated. Dehydrated cells do not function properly and are unable to rebuild, heal themselves, or remove waste efficiently.

Sadly, most people do not know that they are dehydrated, or they feel that they are replenishing their body with water through coffee, alcohol, or soft drinks. Yet the caffeine, alcohol, and sugars contained in these liquids actually contribute to dehydration and introduce toxins.

Consuming enough pure water to replenish what the body has lost can greatly enhance your cells' ability to function properly and reduce acne blemishes.

Consuming adequate amounts of water-anywhere from six to eight large glasses of water per day-is beneficial to cell health. But if the water you are consuming is not pure and contains minerals and toxins, these unwanted chemicals will be transported to the cellular level and can actually contribute to the cells' inability to function properly, often causing of acne.

If your water quality is questionable, investing in bottled water or some sort of water purification system can be beneficial to your body's overall health. Water is unflavored and is not suppose to have a taste. If your drinking water has a recognizable taste or leaves an aftertaste, chances are it is not as pure as it could be.

Proper cleansing with water can also help to reduce or eliminate acne. Soaps and other cleansers that we use on our faces and bodies usually contain high levels of alkaline, which can disrupt the balance-as can hard water.

As a treatment for acne, cleansing the face with a solution of purified warm water mixed with salt will help to remove excess oil and dirt from your face without over drying it. Over drying of the face can cause your body to respond with excess oil secretion that can lead to clogged pores and acne breakouts.

By Greg Podsakoff

Acne Care for Adults

Roughly 20% of acne cases being treated in the United States belong to adults. For many adults, what was thought of as a teenage affliction has continued well into their twenties and thirties. For other adults suffering from acne, the outbreaks did not start until they reached their twenties.

The causes of adult acne vary and can be any one or a combination of the following conditions.

Stress

Until recently, stress related acne was a myth. Researchers are now beginning to understand the correlation between stress and acne. For adult acne sufferers, stress is considered to be the leading cause to post-pubescent breakouts.

When we are exposed to stressful situations, the brain triggers the central nervous system, which in turn sends signals to the rest of the body as part of a primitive fight or flight response. Part of this response is hormonal release from our adrenal glands and fatty secretions from the sebaceous glands, which lay beneath the skin.

Both hormonal imbalance and fatty secretions, which can clog pores, are known contributors to acne outbreaks.

Hormonal Imbalances

Hormonal imbalances as a cause of adult acne primarily affect women. Imbalances that occur during a woman's menstrual cycle or as a result of pregnancy can lead to acne outbreaks.

There are adult males who report that they have monthly acne episodes. While men obviously do not menstruate, it is believed that men may have hormonal cycles similar to women.

Coffee Consumption Adults tend to ingest more coffee than do teens. The caffeine in coffee and tea promotes the production of cortisol, which is also known as the stress hormone. As noted, hormone imbalances are known contributors to adult acne.

Smoking

The chemicals introduced into the body by cigarette smoking limit blood circulation to skin cells, inhibiting the skin's ability to heal and regenerate. The toxins released in cigarette smoke can clog pores and promote bacterial growth in pores, all of which contributes to adult acne.

Heredity

Recent research has shown that people are more likely to suffer from adult acne if they have a family history of adult acne sufferers.

Environmental Job conditions that expose the skin to high levels of pollutants, irritants, or humidity can lead to an increase in adult acne.

Cosmetics

? Poorly formulated cosmetics that are heavy or greasy can clog skin pores, trapping bacteria, dirt, and oils resulting in adult acne breakouts. Covering acne with makeup can make the condition worse.


By Greg Podsakoff