Are There Natural Treatments For Acne?

Acne is caused by blocked hair follicles that get infected, causing inflammation and leading to the dreaded pimple, parasitic zit. Nobody knows the exact cause of acne, although it correlates with hormonal alterations especially during adolescence, as well as with tension and unclean skin. Closed-pore pimples have the frequent whitehead look, while open-pore pimples manifest as blackheads.

Acne

The severity of acne is dependent upon the amount of the disease and inflammation, and sometimes very inflamed pimples can rupture causing the formation of nodules and cysts. Most people will get acne at some time in their lives, but the degree to which individuals suffer from it changes quite a bit. Acne usually occurs on the face, neck, and spine, even though it may appear in other areas of well.

Because it has a tendency to appear in areas which are visible to the eye, acne can become a tedious and overwhelming problem for individuals, especially if it’s severe or lasts for several years. Typical over the counter remedies for acne will involve either benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid. Many products, like the popular ProActiv, utilize both in their acne remedies.

Benzoyl peroxide

It helps to decrease acne by introducing oxygen into the environment, which kills the bacteria responsible for producing acne. Salicylic acid penetrates the blocked hair follicle, exfoliating dead skin cells to clean up the pore. Effectiveness of the products varies from person to person. Common side effects of the two drugs are irritation and redness of the skin, peeling and dryness, and sensitivity to sunlight or touch.

For more persistent cases of acne, prescription medications like topical retinoids, azelaic acid, and topical antibiotics may be used to help further kill bacteria-causing acne and boost removal of dead skin cells. In severe cases, antibiotics or isotretinoin (previously sold as Accutane) may be prescribed and taken internally, but these may pose a variety of serious side effects, most notably weak immunity and antibiotic-resistant bacteria with antibiotics, and miscarriage or severe birth defects in the event of isotretinoin.

Good to know

In the case of women, birth control pills are usually beneficial in controlling acne. They do this by controlling the amount of androgens produced by the body, that are correlated with a greater incidence of acne. While this method has demonstrated an improvement in acne to get at least 80 percent of girls, it includes the normal side effects associated with birth control such as increased risk for cardiovascular disease or breast cancer. There’s absolutely no pure wonder cure for acne, otherwise we would all know about it and the rest of the acne therapy world will be out of business.

But many men and women are looking for an alternative to the often harsh traditional treatments, or have had little luck and would love to try another path. Among the advantages of taking a natural approach to treating acne, is a great natural remedy for acne will involve treating the body from the inside out, combining both topical therapy and inner supplements in helping to tackle the origin of the outbreaks.

Herbal medicines

These taken orally will have antibacterial, antibacterial, soothing and anti-inflammatory consequences. Examples of medicinal herbs are lavender, tea tree, aloe, chamomile, cucumber, green tea, and allantoin, among a number of other potential candidates. Furthermore, vitamins that help enhance the health of the skin may be added to topical creams or gels or taken internally. Vitamins A, pantothene (vitamin B), C, D, and E have beneficial effects on the skin, helping to reduce oils and enhance the health of skin cells.

Acne frequently involves hormonal imbalance, especially hormonal spikes that demand the increased production of androgens. Balancing hormonal levels can be helped through the use of herbal supplements like maca root, vitex, or black cohosh. The accumulation of toxins in the body correlates with acne. The liver is an important organ involved in detoxifying the blood, and herbs such as milk thistle, burdock, and dandelion root can help improve liver function and boost detoxification.

Note

through a liver detox, it’s typical for acne symptoms to temporarily worsen before they improve, since the body flushes out toxins. The digestive tract is also associated with toxins in the body, and outbreaks of acne growth when digestion is slowed by chronic constipation. An excellent fiber formula, or adding fiber to your daily diet helps keep digestion healthy and decrease the buildup of toxins in the body. Your immune system is involved in the process of combating bacteria-causing acne, thus a weakened immune system may cause increased outbreaks.

While it can help acne briefly to choose natural herbs to strengthen the immune system like echinacea or goldenseal, probably there’s an underlying reason for a weakened immune system. Usually this involves chronic stress or lack of sleep, which may disturb the balance of the immune system in addition to the hormonal systems in the body. Herbs like ashwaghanda, rhodiola, licorice, or holy basil can help equilibrium stress hormones like cortisol and enhance quality of sleep. Drink loads of water, it makes a huge difference. This helps boost circulation, flush out toxins and waste from the skin, and keep the immune system healthy.

Exercise regularly

Again this can help improve circulation and metabolism, and helps to strengthen the immune system and prevent acne breakouts. Sometimes people have answers to certain foods that can trigger acne breakouts. If you know of specific foods in your diet that make acne worse, do your best to prevent these. Drinking a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar mixed with water a few times per day offers antibacterial properties in addition to improves digestion. This is an often overlooked element of acne, but a powerful element in chronic outbreaks.

As stated previously, chronic stress is connected with acne, and psychological and emotional patterns involved with increasing stress increases the chances you’ve got a breakout of acne. When the body releases an overabundance of stress hormones it has quite a few effects on the body, such as disrupting hormonal balance and weakening the immune system.

If anxiety is a factor in your acne breakouts, changing your lifestyle to reduce stressful situations, or analyzing the thoughts or feelings which are causing you anxiety can help with acne. Another thing to think about, which might sound weird at first, is that your acne might be serving a function. Acne may cause people to feel as though it’s holding them back from doing the things they want to in life, and it may turn into a problem that’s easy to worry about.

Final note

But at exactly the same time, maybe thinking constantly about acne presents a safer, known issue, versus the higher fears or insecurities regarding achieving the successes that you desire. To put it differently, acne might be a crutch, or a justification which offers a rationale for not going for the things you desire in life. If that is rings a bell, do not let your acne hold you back. Pursue the things you need in your life whether or not you have acne or not, and you might find that having acne no longer serves a purpose and will go away. Particularly for men and women that have suffered from acne for quite a long time, it may feel sometimes like a problem that won’t ever go away. Start with challenging this belief, and then no matter what methods you use to treat your acne your odds of resolving it’ll increase dramatically.