Acne Magazine

Wow.  I just watched that new show “Chuck” on our big screen TV, and it happens to be a show that is available in hi def.  Let me tell you, you can definitely see a lot of complexion imperfections on these actresses these days that you wouldn’t have normally seen in the days before the hi def revolution, and I’m sure they’re none too happy about even MORE pressure to be gorgeous and flawless - something that all of us ladies know is just an exercise in futility most of the time.

My example here has to do with the gorgeous blond woman who plays a secret agent who bails the minimum wage making Chuck out time and time again.  She’s absolutely gorgeous - we’re talking model material here, and at first glance her skin looks darn near perfect, but in certain shots we noticed that you could see the bumps on the side of her face, and that yes, she indeed was not perfect, although, as my boyfriend puts it she’s still “smokin”.

I kind of like this new trend, because it really shows us women (and men) that even those who appear to be flawless on screen really aren’t.  Sure, they’re still that brand of unattainable beauty that you think doesn’t exist in real life, but they seem a little more real, a little more human when you can see their blemishes and small zits on screen, don’t they?  Makes me feel a bit better about my own skin, and heck, if I had to be up on that screen, I’d hate to see what my earlier years of acne left behind in hi def! 

Exfoliation can be a tricky thing for people with tendencies toward acne breakouts, and I, as usual, tend to overdo a good thing.  Well, I’ve been really into exfoliation lately, because my skin is aging now and I’m in my early thirties, I really wanted to focus not only on keeping my skin as clear and acne free as possible, but now I’m also staging the battle against Father Time, and to do that, one needs to exfoliate to turn over the skin cells faster and reap the benefits of fresh, new skin.

Well, you have to be a little cautious when your skin is acne prone, and of course I over did it, because I’m about to go on vacation and wanted to have fresh clean skin that was line-minimized as well.  I ended up breaking out with a new little blemish on the bridge of my nose as well as a new two blemishes on the side of my face, by my eyes, which was exactly where I was being most vigorous in my exfoliation, because that is where my crow’s feet originated and I was trying to target that area the most.

Exfoliation is good, but as I learned, you can’t be too rough with acne prone skin or do it roughly every night a couple nights consecutively, because you may actually irritate the skin or over dry it in areas and cause an acne eruption.  So, if you like to exfoliate (which I think is good, no matter what type of skin you have) you may want to opt for a more gentle exfoliater (sugar happens to make a wonderful exfoliater, and I’ve even heard baking soda works well), and also cut down on the vigorous scrubbing as well as how many times a week you do it if you’re doing it three or more times. 

Hmm, good question.  I just was reading up on what some of the newer acne treatments are that might be showing some promise as the new wave of next generation in alternative acne treatments and medicines unrolls as it assuredly was expected to, seeing all the interest in treating acne and our complexions and the attention to skin in the media lately.

I’m sure you’ve heard of light therapy, or red light therapy, which is a gentle pulsed light that is supposed to heal acne and speed overall skin healing before, and I know that we did talk about that type of alternative acne treatment here on this blog before, but this photodynamic treatment is a little different from that, and it is admittedly not for everyone according to its practitioners.

A medication that is called Levulin, which I had never actually heard of, is brushed on to the skin and kept on for about 30  minutes prior to the light therapy.  Then, after the Levulin is washed off of the face, the patient then sits in front of a blue light for about 10 minutes to allow the Levulin to penetrate deeply. 

What does it do though?  Well, Levulin, combined with blue light therapy is supposed to actually help minimize the oil glands below the surface and prevent them from doing so much damage to the acne patient’s skin by reducing their ability to over-secrete the oil that is wreaking havoc on the patient’s face. 

Practitioners say that patients should expect to clear up after about four treatments, which will run them around a little over $1,000, depending on where they live, since geography definitely dictates what one will pay for cosmetic skin care and other cosmetic procedures.  Patients are also not allowed to go in the sun right after treatments, as their skin may be hyper sensitive to the sun’s damaging rays, but this is the same as with chemical peels, many acne antibiotic treatments, Retin-A, and quite a few other acne medications as I understand it, so it is no different in that regard. 

I recently received a question from a younger man about what else he could do or should do to help treat his acne, which came back even after he was treated with the acne wonder drug Accutane.  Since he had already tried one of the most supposedly effective acne treatment drugs on the market, and it worked but only briefly, I suggested only natural acne treatments for him to try, as well as some diet and habit modification. 

If anyone has anything to add, please feel free, but keep it as “nice” as you can while still discussing your side of the issue.  Noticing some commenters are not using common courtesy when posting comments, and it will be deleted if this is the case.  I don’t mind a little discussion and disagreement but dirogatory comments will be removed.  Sorry I even have to mention that, but I just wanted to keep this a place of open, yet friendly and professional discussion.

Here is the advice offered to this young male with acne :