Acne Reviews

Herbal combinations are a powerful way to reduce or eliminate acne symptoms. But, using herbal mixtures can sometimes increase acne activity or breakout temporarily. Do not panic, since herbs are a powerful way to cleanse the blood and start the acne healing process.

Here’s an acne herbal tea that you can make. You can also look for this tea in a health food store. Just look at the various tea combinations and check for these ingredients. If you want to make your own, here’s what to buy:

* Figwort 1 ounce

* Turkey corn 1 ounce

* Echinacea 1 ounce

* Thuja 1 ounce

* Yellow dock 1 ounce

* Arctium lappa ounce

* Iris versicolor ounce

You can also make a tea using any one of the following herbs. Chose one of these herbs or combine 2 or 3 of them to make a more powerful herbal acne tea. Drink the tea throughout the day.

* Burdock

* Dandelion

* Echinacea

* Fragrant valerian

* Goldenseal

* Ivy

* Marshmallow root

* Purslane

* Watercress

* Wild strawberry leaves

* Yarrow root

Herbal Extract

Here’s an herbal extract that is designed for acne. Its main function is to improve liver function, purify the blood, reduce acne inflammation, and fight acne bacterial infections.

This herbal extract is a liquid and is taken in water or as drops into your mouth. Follow the instructions on the bottle on how to use it.

The name of the herbal extract is Burdock-Sarsaparilla Compound and contains the following herbs,

* Burdock mature seed – helps to purify the liver, balances hormones, neutralizes acid, is anti-inflammatory, and useful in purifying the blood.

* Jamaican sarsaparilla root – helps scaling skin, is blood purifying, reduces itching, helps balance hormones

* Nettle mature seed – is anti-inflammatory for the skin, neutralizes acid waste with its high mineral content

* Yellow dock root – rich in iron and works to improve liver function, helps build good blood, helps purify blood and lymphatic liquid, helps increase bile, which helps to reduce constipation

* Spilanthes flowing herb – improves immunity to fight bacterial infection on the skin

* Sassafras root bark – blood cleansing, anti-inflammatory for the skin,

This is excellent herbal remedy and is not very expensive. If you can find it at a health food store, it should cost around $10.00. If not, then you can order on the Internet and pay around $16.00 shipping included.

Here’s how to take this herbal extract.

Take 30 – 35 drops in water three times a day. Take it for 6 days, then let your body rest and start again after the seventh day.

A word of caution: Do not use this herbal tea or extract as the sole method to get rid of acne. This has to be used in combination with the 13 steps outlined in this program.

Use these powerful herbal teas to help you eliminate acne. Once you rid yourself of acne, stop using these herbal combinations.

Rudy Silva has a degree in Physics and is a Natural Nutritionist. He is the author of Constipation, Acne, Hemorrhoid, and Fatty Acid ebooks. He writes a newsletter call -natural-remedies-thatwork.com.- More acne hints and information on his acne e-book can be found at: http://www.acne-remedies.for–you.info

In the USA, about 85 percent of all teenagers will suffer with acne with many of these persons carrying the affliction into their adult years. Nonetheless, there is a very effective home treatment and cure for acne which is certainly not a normal state of health. Without a doubt, the waves of hormones that come with puberty are responsible for an increase in the secretion of sebum (skin oil) which is associated with the onslaught of acne. Some researchers have forwarded the theory that acne is a malady that is genetically transmitted. Others have supported the idea that external conditions such as the food we eat are the most important factors. In our western culture that consumes 47% of calories from fats and oils (this is an enormous amount it should be 10%), genetic factors can have a significant part to play in how prone a person might be to developing acne. To really know whether or not diet is the dominant factor in causing acne, we would have to show that acne is missing in cultures that have diets that are significantly varied from what Americans eat.

Your doctor will mostly likely parrot the reigning dogma that acne and excess oil in and on your skin are not related to what you eat. When you hear this, ask to see the evidence. You will then witness this man of science falling into speechlessness with nothing more than empty platitudes. This inaccurate data goes back to a lone article written by Dr. James Fulton in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1969. In addition, the conclusions of this study have been rightly criticized and effectively skewered for more than twenty-five years. Because of this misinformation, many millions suffer.

Thirty teenagers were studied by Dr. Fulton (16 boys and 14 girls) who were patients at a clinic for acne. Also studied were thirty-five young male adult prison inmates with moderate to mild acne conditions. The study was funded by the Chocolate Manufacturers Association of America. They provided the participants with two varieties of candy bars one contained chocolate and the other did not. The contents of both bars were primarily sugar and fat and had closely matched calories (592 and 557 per candy bar). The participants were asked to consume one bar or the other each day for four weeks. No other aspect of their diet was changed for the duration of the experiment. Dr. Fulton and associates then took a census of the pimples. Forty-six of the sixty-five participants showed no change in pimple count. Ten were improved and nine were worse. It should be noted that the amount of sebum (skin oil) was elevated by 60 percent when either of the sugary high-fat candy bars were consumed regardless of whether or not it contained chocolate. It is astonishing that the outcome of this one, very flawed and totally irrelevant (it only examined the effects of chocolate) study is the foundation upon which it is claimed that acne is not caused by diet!

Our Plague of Acne Occurs Solely Where Fat Laden Food is Eaten

Acne forms when the sebaceous follicles or skin pores are blocked with dead skin cells followed by the accumulation of fatty oils and waxy substances (sebum) in the clogged pores. The afflicted pore is then infected with bacteria which causes the inflamed pustule we know as a pimple. The bacteria dine on the sebum. Current orthodox treatment is aimed at unclogging the skin pores, releasing the pocket of sebum, destroying the bacteria and lowering the inflammation by numerous drugs sold by prescription and over-the-counter. As with most diseases in our Western culture, there is a more effective natural treatment and cure for acne which is diet. Diet is the cause and diet is the natural treatment and cure of acne.

Multiple Studies Acne and Traditional Diets

Many studies have been done on persons eating their native traditional diets. Most all of these diets are low in fat and center around the consumption of fruits, vegetables and starches. It has been universally demonstrated that these cultures experience little or no acne. When these same persons move to a location that consumes the typical Western fare, acne will bloom with full fury. This is true for other maladies such as breast cancer, diabetes, prostate, heart disease and obesity. Some thoroughly studied cultures include the Ache of Eastern Paraguay have a diet that provides 70% of calories from cassava (a root vegetable) and the Kitavan Islanders of Papua New Guinea who consume a diet of carbohydrate plant foods providing 70% of calories. Not a single case of acne can be found in these two cultures subsisting mostly on unrefined plant foods that are low in fat.

We see the same results when studying African tribes living on plant-based foods. They are mostly free from acne. Teenagers in southern African Bantu have a 16% occurrence of acne as opposed to white persons in Africa who have an acne incidence of 45%. It has been noted that Zulu persons have developed acne only after they migrate from their tribal village to the larger cities and adopt a Western diet. Persons in both Zambia and Kenya have much less acne than to African Americans living in the USA. Persons from Malaysia consuming diets based on rice have been shown to have little or no problems with acne. A rice-based diet also accounts for the fact that persons living in rural Japan have very few problems with their skin. It should be further noted that persons of European descent living on low fat diets in Crete and Southern Italy have far less acne than persons in Western Europe who consume high fat diets. The Yemenite Jews who eat a healthy low-fat diet report much less acne that do European Jews. So the picture could not be any clearer. Switching from a Western diet based on dairy and meat to a low-fat, plant-based diet will vanquish your acne problems. Without a doubt, there are aspects of the rich Western diet that cause the skin to deteriorate and become unsightly. This is not normal and it is not natural. It is a disease.

How Diet Causes Acne

1) The amount of fats and oil (sebum) on the skin increases as the amount of fat in the diet increases. By changing ones diet to include near total rejection of fat or, conversely, the inclusion of fat as the near total source of food, it is shown that the amount of sebum excretion will be greatly changed. It should be noted that it takes little fat to clog pores, feed bacteria and cause acne in persons who are susceptible. These offending bacteria do as well on vegetable oil as they do on animal fats.

2) Our rich Western diet causes an elevation in sex hormones which encourages early puberty. Early pubescence of women has been shown to be related to the onset of severe acne. Excess male hormones in women and men are well understood to bring about acne and elevated sebum excretion.

3) The sebaceous glands (oil producing) are negatively affected by growth hormones allowing them to be plugged more easily. IGF-1 (Insulin-like growth hormone-1) has been shown to become elevated by consuming meat and dairy foods. Studies show that an increase in acne is related to an increase in IGF-1.

Other items that may have a smaller role are:

4) Lack of other plant-derived nutrients and anti-oxidants cause deterioration in health thus promoting acne.

5) A diet high in fat causes poor blood circulation to the skin making one more prone to acne.

6) Hands and fingers in contact with greasy foods such as French fries can cause acne when transferred by touch to the skin. This clogs the pores and provides nourishment for bacteria.

Natural Cure and Prevention of Acne

We all know that teenage surging hormones and acne are related but to think that puberty is the cause of acne is like saying old age is the cause of heart disease. More heart disease manifests in old age because of a lifetime of poor diet. Heart disease does not occur in areas where the inhabitants eat healthy foods such as rural Asia and Africa. Heart disease can also be cured when those afflicted switch to a healthy diet. The same is true for acne.

The horrors of acne may be the best tool one could ever have to promote a healthy diet to teenagers. After switching to a low-fat, plant-based diet you and your teenagers can expect to see an obvious decrease in the oil on your skin and hair in about four to seven days. The pimples will begin to go away in a short time following that. It may take as long as 30 days for improvement to begin to show. Absolute discipline with what one eats is vital. Even small lapses can bring a bloom of pimples within a couple of days. One evening at the local pizza place will result in crop of pustules in short order. You must adhere to a diet consisting of vegetables, fruits and starches. By all means avoid added fats such as vegetable oils, soybeans, olives, avocados, seeds, nuts and the so-called beneficial fats. Carefully wash all oils from your fingers and hands before you touch any part of your face. Use a buff pad to assist the opening of your pores. Thoroughly clean your skin. If your skin does not show improvement, then you are most likely not being strict enough in your diet. We should remember that many millions of persons who live in rural Asia and Africa, Paraguay, and Papua New Guinea are eating a low-fat, plant-based diet and they are free of acne their entire lives. There is no reason why you cant be free of acne if you adopt the same diet.

Cystic acne is a severe form of acne vulgaris. It is characterized by large, deep and painful cysts or nodules. A cyst is a bubble or bag, which is usually filled with a kind of liquid with an outer membrane. The pain involved and the size of the acne lesion creates the inevitable want to release pain. This type of acne almost always leaves a scar on the affected area. The scar usually takes a long time to heal and at times can leave pits and permanent marks on the skin.

Acne scars can occur in four ways. It could icebreaker scars, scar-box car, rolling scars or hypertrophic scars. The scars from cystic acne scars are deep.

To avoid deep scarring, prevention is the best cure. Picking the acne scabs or acne can also contribute to acne scars and sometimes even pits on the skin. People with acne find it very tough to contain the urge to squeeze or pick the acne. Severe Acne like Cystic acne almost always leave scars, sometimes they leave permanent scars.

Scar creams can be used to treat cystic acne scars, but if the scar is deep spanning across several layers of the skin, then the topical creams and gels that promise instant cure could be of little help. It would be necessary to resort to other treatment methods like microdermabrasion, chemical peel, laser resurfacing etc.

Dermabrasion is performed with the use of ultra-abrasive paper or by other surgeons million operations. The depth will be deleted, in which the top layer of skin on the healing you need depends. In the case of scars, the skin will heal the wounds to remove and then stays on the skin. By repeating this procedure over a period of time, deep scars can be removed. Dermabrasion is not suitable for African Americans, Asians, Italians, Greeks and Hispanics, because it could lead to hyper-pigmentation of affected areas.

acne treatment can also be brought about by means of surgery. This is usually used to treat deep scars. It involves scraping out of the scarred skin and allowing new skin to grow over a period of time. However, this method at times results in severe swelling of the face and requires in house hospitalization and bandaging. The skin is also prone to infection just after the period of surgery.

Chemical peel is the removal of damaged skin with chemicals such as lactic acid, trichloroacetic acid and salicylic acid. This method comprises of applying cream or lotion on the affected area of the skin. After leaving it for a while, the old skin cells gets dried and flakes off. New clear skin grows on top of the flaked off skin layer. Care should be taken to ensure that exposure to sun should be avoided during the period of the growing of the new skin layer.

Laser Resurfacing for acne scars, The cost of this solution is based on the high side compared to other techniques. It is cleaner and more efficient in the removal of skin reactions.

Even though the mentioned treatments have been effective at treating many people that suffer from severe acne, it’s important to convey that they do have some side effects that you probably want to avoid. This is why many are looking for alternative treatments that are potent enough to deal with a problem as serious as severe or cystic acne.

There are so many people that are taking the drug Lamictal for depression or bipolar symptoms who are experiencing lamictal acne side effects. It is such a common side effect that it is causing people to question whether or not they should stop taking the medication. The medication is benefiting their depression greatly but is causing severe rashes or acne breakouts on their face or entire body. What other options or considerations can be utilized to prevent or minimize lamictal acne while taking Lamictal?

Try lowering your dosage. If your doctor has recommended a certain dosage for you but you are noticing lamictal acne symptoms, take the initiative to lower your own dosage. If you go back to your doctor thist is what he is going to do. Most drugs have side effects that you can alter by simply reducing the required dosage without having to stop taking the medication. Lamictal will still have the same effect on depression but maybe will not be as rapid.

Investigate the foods you are eating for allergic reactions. If you are taking Lamictal remember you are introducing a new drug to your body. It may have negative reactions to certain foods or other drugs you may be taking. If you are breaking out with acne consider maybe you are having an allergic reaction. Have you thought about Lamictal not mixing well with dairy products or other foods? Keep a journal of your acne breakouts. When they occur assess what you ate within the past 24 hours? Is there a pattern?

Try an acne diet (remove the toxins from your body). The occurrence of lamictal acne is really an allergic reaction to the medication. So, trying other acne medications to counter the acne is not really the way to fight this acne. You do not want to mix in other medications because the results may be worse. Try an alternative acne remedy. An acne diet is completely safe and requires no medications. Lamictal is obviously adding toxins to your body so you really want to try acne methods that will rid the body of toxins. An acne diet is a great alternative to fighting acne without using acne medications.

A common side effect with lamictal acne is skin sensitivity around the jawline. Many people are getting acne breakouts around their jawline. It seems to reason that this area of the face is become highly sensitive as a result of lamictal. One thing to consider is pay attention to what comes into contact with your jawline. It could be your shirt collars irritating your skin due to this hypersensitivity. It could also be a dirty pillowcase that you are sleeping face down on every night. Be sure to change your pillowcases every night. Another suggestion is hair growing in this area. You may need to stop shaving and just use hair trimmers.

These options are practical but could be very helpful in preventing lamictal acne from ruining your appearance and self esteem. Try them before you try acne medication. You may see results from these inexpensive methods.

Proactiv is one of the most recognized treatments for acne. Developed by two dermatologists, Dr. Kathy Fields and Dr. Katie Rodan, Proactiv works on more than just the spot treatment of blemishes and acne. Proactiv acne treatment cleanses, tones and provides a repairing lotion.

Celebrities endorsement

Many celebrities and high profile individuals endorse proactiv acne treatment. Jessica Simpson, Vanessa Williams, and Elle Macpherson are just some of the celebrities that use and promote Proativ. Proactiv has used celebrity true-life experiences to market their products to a target audience. They are live proof that Proactiv does work. Proactiv is marketed to both a teenage target group as well as to a more adult audience. It is important to note that acne is a problem for people of all ages, and many acne suffers are in their thirties and forties.

Treatment Packs

Proactiv works in three ways:

– Renewing cleanser gently exfoliates skin and provides anti-bacterial benzoyl peroxide
– Revitalizing toner removes dead skin cells, unclogs pores and removes excess oil
– Repairing lotion uses benzoyl peroxide to heal existing blemishes and prevent further breakouts.

In addition to these basic products some treatment packs also include oil free moisture to hydrate skin and provide SPF 15 protection. Daily oil control is also available as an additional treatment to prevent oil build up and keep your face shine free during the day.

What do users say about Proactiv acne treatment?

Proactiv has developed a gallery on their website that allows individuals to send in before and after pictures. The change is amazing. Millions of people have used Proactiv and have reported success for the first time in treating and controlling acne and breakouts. People have sent in comments about how easy using the Proactiv acne treatment system is, and how they wish they had tried it sooner.

Not only is a persons complexion changed using Proactiv, so is their outlook on life and on themselves. They no longer cover their skin with make-up or wear hats pulled low over their faces. People report feeling good about going out, proud of themselves, and happy to be free from acne.

Our recommendation for those considering acne treatments to do some more research and consult a dermatologist before considering proactiv or some other treatment.