Acne Guru

As difficult as it can be to go through an acne breakout, it can be just as hard to find the right thing to treat your acne problem. When you want relief from the pain, itching, and complexion problems that will also help prevent scarring and future breakouts, finding the acne treatments that will work best for you and help you get over it all may take some work.

When you aren’t sure what caused your acne outbreak or what type of acne you have, you might want to talk to your doctor before trying any acne treatments. You will also want to see your doctor if you have sensitive skin, are taking medication, have any allergies, are pregnant, are nursing a baby, or have any other medical conditions that might need to be considered when choosing a treatment.

Types of Treatments for Acne

Sometimes, you will need to use a combination of a couple of different types of acne treatments. The main choices are topical treatments and oral treatments. With many subcategories within both categories, it is common to use both types to treat especially severe or repetitive acne outbreaks.

Topical Treatments

Topical acne treatments include creams, oils, lotions, and gels. These types of treatments are applied directly to the affected skin area. Some of them contain ingredients that kill bacteria, such as antibiotics. Antibiotics, when used too often, can become resisted by the body. Using them sparingly and for one breakout, rather than every few months for numerous breakouts, will help them work better and insure that you don’t develop a resistance to them.

Others contain retinoids, which are similar to vitamin A. They work to unclog pores, causing the acne to heal. This can take weeks or even months to show good results, and it may actually appear to be making the acne worse before it gets better. One of the side effects to this type of medication is sensitivity to sun exposure. It is usually recommended that sunscreen be worn when using this type of acne treatment.

Oral Treatments

Oral medication is a treatment that is meant to treat the whole system. If it is thought that the acne outbreak is from a system-wide problem, oral treatments can be used and even combined with a topical treatment.

Sometimes, acne involves more than the face area. If other parts of the body are involved in the outbreak, an oral medication may be needed to treat the problem.

Antibiotics are often prescribed to take orally for a short time frame. Antibiotics kill bacteria and are very useful in treating systemic acne.

Retinoic Acid, or isotretinoin, which closely resembles vitamin A, is one of the most effective oral acne treatments. About two thirds of people who use it have favorable results, even when they have tried other acne treatments and had no success.

Finding the right acne treatments may mean researching them, trying them, and then trying something else if they don’t work. Reading acne treatment reviews and asking for all the information available will help you in making the best decision for dealing with your acne problem.