If you’re like me, you not only get acne on your face now
and then, but all over your body as well. Although I normally
only get acne on my face and back, I’ve had at least some
amount of acne on just about every area of my skin at one
point or other in my life. My feet, legs, and (ahem) genital
area seems to be the only places to escape it completely so far.
While there is a certain relief to that fact, having acne on my
scalp, back, butt, chest, stomach, and shoulders is not exactly
fun. For this reason I’ve done plenty of experimenting with
acne body washes.
Oh, the joy of acne body washes knows no bounds. They come in
different sizes, shapes, colors, smells, and flavors. Well,
okay, I’m not sure about the flavor part, but there certainly
is a wide array of acne body washes to choose from. The search
is easily narrowed down when you consider the active ingredients
involved. Most acne body washes use only one of two different
active ingredients; salicylic acid or benzyl peroxide. Everything
else in the wash is just for style points.
Having used plenty of different acne body washes, I consistently
come back to the ones that use salicylic acid. This is somewhat
counterintuitive, because benzyl peroxide seems to work best with
the acne face washes I’ve tried. I’m not really sure why, but
salicylic acid just seems more effective for body acne than anything
else, even though its only moderately effective for facial acne.
I prefer the acne body wash that ‘Phisoderm’ makes.
So my acne prevention and treatment routine is a benzyl peroxide
acne face wash, and a salicylic acid acne body wash. So long as I
use these washes daily, I’m able to reduce the acne I would be
getting by somewhere around 90%, which is great. However, there is
still that 10% or so that gets by, and I can’t really seem to do
much about it. The acne on my back is especially hard to prevent;
no acne body wash gets rid of it completely.
It seems to help a little if I use lotions and other skin care products
in addition to an acne body wash. I like using ones with aloe vera and
vitamin E. If I apply lotions like these soon after using an acne body
wash, it seems to boost the overall anti-acne effect.
Keith Londrie II has put up three informative web sites so that you can learn more about acne and it’s control. For more information please visit http://acneinformation.info/ as well as http://acne-solution-treatments.info/ and http://stop-your-acne.info/ for more detailed information.
Teenagers look at it as that unavoidable passage into adulthood, but the most commonly used name for it is acne. Yes, those little bumps that send most teenagers into an unconcious fright, but what is acne, and why do we despise it? All acne starts with one basic lesion, called the comedo. The comedo is a hair follicle that is enlarged and plugged with dead skin cells, oil and bacteria. The comedo is invisible to the naked eye; it lies beneath the skin surface, waiting for the right conditions to form, before it turns into an inflamed lesion. Though all acne may start out the same, it can take many forms and may react differently in different people.
Though acne appears to be just acne, there’s actually more than one type. They basically fall into two groups; inflammatory and non-inflammatory acne. Types of inflammatory acne are papule, which if viewed up close looks like a firm pink bump, pustule, which may appear red at the base, with a yellowish or white center, nodule or cyst, which are large and very painful. Nodules are the most severe form of acne lesion, and may continue for weeks or months. Both nodules and cysts have been known to leave scars. Types of non-inflammatory acne are whitehead, which is when the plugged follicle stays below the surface of the skin and blackhead, which is when the plugged follicle enlarges and pushes through the skin.
Why do people get acne? Was it something you ate? Was it how you washed your face? The answer to those questions is a resounding and confusing no! There are things going on beneath your skin that you’re not aware of, until after they surface. One thing research did discover is that genetics may play a role in how long your acne persists.
Okay, acne is the disease, so what’s the cure? Well, I hate to break the bad news, but at this point in time, there’s still no cure, so prevention is the key. If prevention is what you’re looking for, then Proactiv Solution maybe your best remedy. Proactiv was created by two dermatologists, who wanted to find a better way to treat acne patients. After years of experimenting, they finally produced a treatment that they thought would work. In 1995 the public got its chance to try out Proactiv Solution, and the rest they say, is history. Proactiv is all over the airways, with stars upon stars, singing the praises of this acne treatment.
So what makes Proactiv so great? First and foremost, it’s a treatment. The creators set out to produce a treatment to attack acne before it became visible. And how does Proactiv accomplish this task? Proactiv uses a combination of ingredients that work together to heal and prevent acne. These ingredients help to unplug pores, exfoliate skin, attack acne-causing bacteria and soothe inflammation. Proactiv uses a three step system. First there is the renewing cleanser, this process exfoliates the pores and allows benzoyl peroxide to penetrate. Next is the revitalizing toner, this helps to unclog your pores and remove dead skin cells. Last in the process is the repairing lotion, this helps deliver benzoyl peroxide deep into your pores, so it can attack acne causing bacteria at the source.
Whether Proactiv goes down in history as the best acne fighter remains to be seen, but right now, there are millions of faces that won’t leave home without it!
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Acne Products
