Acne Magazine

I know I’ve hammered on this point several times, and I’m almost sick of hearing myself say it, but I still think that any doctor that tells you that stress and anxiety are not related to acne breakouts cannot definitively say that logic applies to everyone, because it certainly would not apply to me if past experience says anything. 

Take this past week for example.  I had a stressful day at work, and about one day after this stress occurred, I sure enough got a few  new pimples by my temples, after weeks of pristine skin and not a single new zit cropping up.  The funny thing is, it doesn’t matter what I eat, what I wash my face with, if I’m using one of the best natural acne treatments I use, if the stress is acute enough, I will almost surely have some new pimples to show for it. 

Sure, moderate stress is ok, because of my yoga and my general nature in coping with moderate stress, I feel that at this age of 32, I’m able to deal with stress pretty well, to keep my nervous system in check, which in turn keeps my hormones in check (you see, all of that is related), and I’m able to avoid breakouts.  But when the stress is acute, and happens in a relatively short period of time, I can’t really handle it well, especially if it’s something that I take home with me after it happens, and that’s when my skin goes awry.

On a separate note, yoga I’ve found is one of the best tools in my life that I’ve found to deal with pressures and stresses and manage my anxiety, because it trains you how to breathe correctly under stress, which calms the nervous system and also allows more oxygen into the lungs, which oxygenates the blood stream and allows your body to more aptly cope with stressors. 

There’s no doubt that acne is many times worse for us during our teen years.  Our teenage years are the formative years where our hormones are still trying to figure out how to behave.  Girls are just starting their periods, and men are, well, becoming men.  Imbalances of testosterone and estrogen prevail during these teen years, and many times it exhibits its ugly head in our skin by making us break out fiercely during our teens, and therefore teen acne is given probably the most attention. 

That is, until today when we have an increasing amount of adults that seem to have never ending problems with acne.  Enter a new phase of adult acne solutions and products that have to take in consideration the adult skin type along with defeating oils and imbalances in the skin effectively.  Talk about tricky.

Teens are faced not only with ragingly imbalanced hormones during this tough age, but the rising pressures of school and peer pressure.  I was just reading an article about how teen’s biggest stress is school these days. It made me think back to my teen years, which seemed wrought with not only stress over school, but acne.  It was a painful time for someone like me, who is shy, but who also wanted to do well in school and have friends. 

Not to mention the stresses of “being cool” and feeling like you’re a big nerd if you didn’t have any friends or sit at the “cool table” at lunch.  Talk about a bunch of bs, sure we all know that now and wish we could have realized that in high school and junior high, but it was the most important thing to us back then, to fit in.  Add a bad case of acne and bad skin to the picture, and teen acne is almost unbearable for many teens, boys and girls, to bear. 

It is also said that academic performance is a huge sressor on kids nowadays in high school, especially if they hope to get scholarships or acknowledgement that will follow them outside of high school, on their journey into real adulthood and a good job, and hopefully something that they enjoy doing and can make a great living at.  Now that’s stressful! 

I have to share this healthy recipe, which I believe is an excellent skin health booster, as well as good for your appetite, getting your daily dose of fiber and antioxidants, as well as a healthy helping of protein.  I’ve been making these healthy little breakfasts for my boyfriend and I for the past two weeks, every morning, and I swear it’s also helped my skin, besides keeping me full for hours, which is a virtual miracle with my sometimes voracious appetite. 

It’s got a lot of ingredients at first glance, but trust me, once you start keeping this stuff around, much of it is freezable or can be stored in dry storage, so it lasts a while.  The only perishable is the bananas, but if you want you can even cut up banana and freeze it, or when it’s about to turn brown, put it in the freezer peel and all, and peel it and use it when you’re ready.  Actually, you may want to freeze it, it’ll add more volume to your healthy skin smoothie!

Here’s my recipe for the healthy skin smoothie.  Oh, also the reason I call it a healthy skin smoothie is that it contains milled flax seed, which contains lignans and omega 3 fatty acids, both of which are wonderful and therapeutic for the skin, as well as anti-inflammatory in nature - double bonus for us acne sufferers, or acne rosacea! 

Ingredients of the healthy skin smoothie - this makes 2 nice sized smoothies, you can cut this in half too for one :

Milled golden or regular flax seed. About 4 tablespoons.  It’s fine, so it’ll blend well, and it will also add a nice bulk to the smoothie and fill you up fast.

Banana - one whole. 

Soy protein powder, plain, or you can use whey powder, but I prefer soy powder for health reasons.  2 scoops

2-3 packets of Stevia natural sweetener.  No artificial sweeteners please.  Defeats the “health” of this smoothie recipe.

2 cups of Carb Control yogurt in Vanilla Creme.

1/2 to 3/4 cup organic orange juice

Berries of your choice - strawberries, raspberries and blueberries are my favorite, and all have an abundance of antioxidants, especially the blueberries.  Great for skin! 

Acai berry smoothie packets - Original.  One packet.  You will only find these at a natural foods store, they are in the frozen section.

Put all your liquids in first, the yogurt and OJ, blend, then add all the rest of the stuff and blend with about one full drinking cup of ice. 

Voila, natural skin care treatment in a glass!  You will stay full for a few hours, and you will be doing something great for your skin, your acne, and your body and mind. 

I just paid a pretty hefty price to get a combination acid (chemical) peel and microdermabrasion done at a medical spa near me.  Well, to be specific, I paid $175 for the combo treatment, plus tip.  The esthetician did a great job too, and I’m definitely not complaining about my results - they were superior to other microdermabrasions I’ve had at other more salon-like spas before, so I’m very happy with the outcome. 

However, it got me thinking, since I have my own microdermabrasion acne scarring kit by Zenmed for acne scarring, can I not just purchase a good, pharmaceutical grade glycolic of salicylic, or TCA or Lactic acid peel online, and do the combination therapy myself.  Or, for that matter, can I just purchase the peel kit online for a reasonable price and do it myself, without the microdermabrasion, and still get superior results. 

You see, my goal is to be able to do the peels at least a couple times a week until I get the refined look to my skin that I’m looking for, and mostly anti aging benefits that will fight fine lines, as well as acne scarring, and I can’t very well do that at the cost of $175 a pop, I’d pretty much not be able to buy groceries if that were the case. 

So, I’m definitely not saying I’m giving up on getting the spa treatments every once in a while, but I want something to keep up the results at home, that I can do myself safely and effectively, and still have that fresh, revitalized look that chemical peels give your skin, more often.  I will let you know the results when I begin my little experiment, which should begin in the next week or so, straightaway after I receive the chemical peel kit in the mail.  Oh, btw, it says that there is no difference between this peel and the ones the professionals use. 

Oh, also you might want to check out what i think may be a beneficial acne skin vitamin.  It’s a collagen supplement that I’ll talk about, actually hyaluronic acid, and I think it’s not only helping my lines and wrinkles, but also may be helping my scars.  Guess we’ll see! 

We all have heard of the wonders that salicylic acid can have on our faces and bodies when it comes to both facial and body acne, but what about actual acid peels comprised of salicylic acid instead of say, glycolic acid or lactic acid?  Well, apparently you can get peels that are 100% salicylic acid, or at least a mixture of lactic, glycolic and salicylic acids, and that the down time experienced and the efficacy is much less than that of the more “severe” and deep peels that the other acids, especially glycolic, offer.

So, what kind of benefits then, can you expect from an acid peel that is primarily salicylic, or all salicylic?  Well, you can definitely expect a fresher appearance to the skin according to experts and skin care specialists, and you may also experience an improvement in your acne.  This may be a better choice than other acid peels for people with more sensitive skin, but it will not provide the more dramatic skin refining results as other types of peels which are designed to removed more layers of skin and be more agressive. 

Salicylic acid is what classified as a beta hydroxy acid, and it is used commonly in many over the counter acne treatment products for the face and the body, as well as in some of the best natural acne treatments, because it is, essentially, derived from nature.  I’ve read that it is comprised of a few different natural barks and other natural plant life, so it is perfectly natural to use this for your facial skin care if you’re a little nuts about that type of thing and don’t like putting man made chemicals on your face if you can help it (like me:) 

I actually prefer this any day over my skin’s arch enemy, benzoyl peroxide.  Some prefer benzoyl peroxide over salicylic acid, and that’s probably because all of our skin is just different and it’s not a one size fits all thing when it comes to treating acne, for sure.  Here’s why salicylic acid peels are better for acne, at least in my opinion, especially if you’re in the midst of your worst acne years, say your teens. 

This natural acid is very anti inflammatory in nature, and since acne is in essence an inflammatory condition of the skin and requires anti inflammatory topical skin care to successfully treat acne lesions as well as red and inflamed skin, or acne rosacea, which combines red flushing of the skin and acne lesions or postules, this acid may be ideal to treat both, safely, and without additional irritation. 

I believe there are very few websites that may offer this type of peel product, as the most common seems to be glycolic, but if you don’t have sensitive skin, again, you may want to choose glycolic if you’re looking for more dramatic results, especially if it’s for leftover acne scarring and the worst of your acne years is over.  Hope this helps!  I find this stuff so interesting…

Recently in the news, I was reading how experts think they may have unearthed the reasons for the occurrence and progression of a common skin problem in those that are fair complected (mostly of celtic origin and european origin).  That skin ailment is called rosacea, and we have talked a little about rosacea here on Acnemagazine.com because of it’s close cousin acne rosacea, which is essentially a combination of acne vulgaris and rosacea, where the skin flushes red for no apparent reason (although there are common triggers for it).

Until now, experts were baffled as to the exact reasons behind rosacea, as far as an actual biological reason for the skin problem, but now they think they may have found new clues as to its existence.  They think they have found the behind-the-scenes mechanism that actually causes rosace in other words, which may lead to the ultimate defeat of the skin condition. 

Here’s where it gets interesting.  They think they found that the over production of two different types of proteins actually cause the symptoms that lead to rosacea - the flushed skin appearance and the inflammatory properties that produce broken blood vessels.  The proteins that are produced in excess, are, in fact inflammatory proteins and may even be a lending cause to acne for all we know.  Inflammation if the key cause behind several skin ailments such as acne and rosacea, and must be looked at as a common thread between aging skin, acne, rosacea and any other number of inflammation-types of skin disorders. 

Antibiotics have been used to treat rosacea in the past with the thought that it was bacterial in nature somehow (antibiotics, long term are something I adamantly oppose, due to it’s possible links to breast cancer in women as well as candida infections that are very hard to get rid of in people with long term antibiotic use).  This new finding for rosacea, however, suggests that rosacea and acne rosacea is not at all bacterial in nature, but rather is a problem of over production of a peptide that plays a role. 

If they can figure out how to control this production via medication that is reasonably safe in other ways, then this could be the new wave of rosacea and acne rosacea treatment for all we know.  It sounds like it may in the early stages, but these days products and medications make it to market a bit quicker. 

We’ve talked a great deal in this blog about the acne “wonder drug” Accutane, and have acknowledged it’s benefits but definitely expressed reservations about the obviously harsh side effects, including the most impactful one, the causing of birth defects in children born to mothers who were on Accutane during their pregnancy. Another side effect that has not been proven or disproven is an increase in clinical depression and suicidal thoughts. This one has not been proven, like I said, but there is some anecdotal evidence out there supporting the fact there may be something to this.

I have to tell you, really quick, that this Friday I’m going in for a combination chemical peel and microdermabrasion at a local medical spa the performs several different esthetic and physician administered skin care treatments. By the way, medical spas are kind of a new wave or new generation of combo medical facilities and esthetic facilities.

If you’re a requent reader, you’ve probably noticed how I’ve talked about the ways in which I believe my (albeit infrequent) trips to the sauna where I work helped my skin look much clearer, working as part of an alternative acne treatment regimen and may have even helped my skin heal some acne blemishes a lot quicker. Our sauna at work does use infrared heat I believe, which means that it does not rely on heat to heat the actual area around your body to warm the body up like a steambath would, but rather radiant or infrared heat actually has the ability to heat the body’s tissues directly.