Acne Magazine : Skin Care, Tips, Treatment Reviews

I’ve long told of how my skin reacts very negatively to powerful caffeine drinks or supplements, or to any other powerful stimulant for that matter. These include, but are not limited to guarana, certain types of ginseng, vicodin and any other type of prescription painkiller pretty much, and many diet supplements that contain things like concentrated green tea or other stimulants that work on the central nervous system.

Why exactly, I can’t be sure, but it’s most likely because their ability to stimulate the central nervous system also gives them the ability to disrupt many people’s hormonal balance. It may not make everyone break out the way it does say me, or you possibly, but it can have this unfortunate side effect on people, especially those that are already acne prone.

I started to notice it in my twenties, when I was still struggling with acne quite a bit, and I started drinking coffee and other caffeinated beverages like Red Bull to stay awake and go out and party late at night without losing my energy. If I over did it, I would almost certainly see the consequences in my complexion the next day or two. It usually didn’t happen right away, but it would almost always happen.

Well, I just got back from a trip to California to see my sister, and I happened to need a lot of caffeine much of the time, because of the time change between here and California – they are three hours behind us, so it took my body a while to adjust to that new time zone. So, I drank a lot of coffee and other stimulant beverages, and I also drank some of those Red Bull style energy drinks.

Well, for some reason, lately I have not been breaking out from drinking caffeine. I think my skin and my hormones built a sort of “tolerance” to it’s stimulation and consequently my skin is behaving itself when I drink a little to much of the jitters-producing ingredient. Either that, or maybe I’ve achieved some sort of equilibrium with my hormones now that I’m a little older (I’m in my mid thirties).

It’s not entirely impossible. Our body chemistry does tend to change a bit as we age, to it wouldn’t be unheard of. The question is, once I take a break from drinking coffee and other stimulant beverages, when I do go back and have some, will I then break out again?

When it come to supplements, there are a few I can’t live without. Some supplements really help with acne and other common skin problems, while others just contribute one little piece of the puzzle for healthy skin and healthy skin cell turnover, which in turn supports the slowing down of aging of the skin.

Supplements of certain vitamins and other nutrients can also help your skin fend off free radical damage, which is a major contributor to aging and overall skin appearance, as well as to help fend off sun damage (photodamage), which contributes to the aged look of skin as well as an increased likelihood of acne and other nuisances like roasacea and skin rashes, irritations and generally complexion marring presences.

One of the most important supplements I take on a daily basis that I couldn’t live without is a high grade omega 3 fish oil supplement. Fish oil not only is great for your heart, your weight and your overall circulatory health, but it also helps your skin stay supple and helps it to retain moisture better because it is a healthy fat, which helps “fill out” the skin cells and make your skin plumper and more wrinkle free.

I feel that fish oil or some other form of an omega 3 fat should be taken by everyone every day, especially if you are not one to get a lot of nuts, fish or other omega 3 rich foods in your diet on a regular basis.

Vitamin D is important as well. This is the sunshine vitamin, and most of us do not get enough of it. It has been linked to helping protect us against all types of cancers, including skin cancer ironically since we get the most of this vitamin from the sun. Vitamin D3 is the supplement you would be looking for, and you should only buy the most potent and higher grade of these as well to gain maximum benefit.

Vitamin C is extremely important, and I only take this one if I have not gotten enough of this in my day’s diet. I only take it when needed because I tend to eat a lot of vitamin C rich foods naturally such as dark leafy greens and citrus and fruits.

Vitamin C contributes to beautiful, vibrant skin as well, and is excellent both when used topically and internally as an antioxidant to help scrub the body of free radicals and keep the skin young, smooth and toned looking.

There has been a lot of negative press about a certain very popular serious acne drug especially, called Accutane or Isotretinoin as it’s drug name, and depression and even sometimes suicidal thoughts and suicide. It was thought that the actual cause of the suicidal thoughts, depression, and ultimately in the most unfortunate cases, actual suicide, were linked to the drug itself.

However, new research is showing that the correlation between acne drugs and depression may not really be a correlation at all. Instead, it may be the fact that a teen or person has acne at all that is lending itself to depression. In other words, the acne itself may be causing the depression.

Either that, or the same predisposition that so many of us have for irregular hormonal output is really what leads to the depression problem, and that is more the theory I’m going to go with.

I think that having acne, especially severe acne, no doubt weighs on one’s happiness and mental state, but I still think that the hormones that go along with this extreme type of acne actually is the major contributor, since our hormones pretty much drive our mental state of mind and our levels of happiness most of the time anyway.

The studies that correlate acne with suicidal thoughts and depression are pretty compelling. Studies showed that nearly double the teen women with acne reported having suicidal thoughts than their clearer skinned counterparts, and nearly three times as many men with severe acne reported having suicidal thoughts than their male acne-free and clear-pored counterparts.

That is extremely potent evidence that acne, especially the more severe acne, is prevalent in a subset of teenagers that may be more prone to suicidal thoughts, and that very well may be due to the fact that their hormones are playing some really cruel tricks on not only their skin, but also on their mind and sense of well being.

I can tell you that for me, as being a formerly acne-ridden teen, the acne itself really did a number on my happiness and sense of well being. But I think that it was more than that. I think that the hormonal imbalance that went with my acne also really had an impact on my mood. And let’s face it, if my hormones were more balanced and regulate, it probably would have solved both my acne problem as well as my moodiness!

Vitamin D is really the new “wonder vitamin”. Every day you read more information about how studies are showing it has powerful implications for everything from cancer prevention to diabetes prevention, and then some.

We always knew that vitamin D was a necessary component for proper calcium absorption, and so it was given a lot of concentration for women for that purpose, but now we are finding out so much more about this vitamin, which is actually deficient in most people according to the new standard blood levels issued.

Calcium absorption is vital for everyone, but especially women, who often suffer from osteoporosis in their older age since estrogen levels drop, and calcium becomes harder to absorb and utilize in the female body.

But now, findings show that vitamin D may also be vital in controlling the hormonal balance within the body, and therefore may have useful implications when it comes to acne and keeping clear, beautiful skin by way of keeping your hormones at an ideal balance. It may be one of the acne fighting supplements you add to your bathroom cabinet.

Not only that, but vitamin D has also been found to be useful for controlling blood sugar (insulin) levels. When your blood sugar is level and controlled, your skin always looks better, and acne may be kept at bay since the hormones are also more balanced (insulin levels are also tied to hormone levels elsewhere).

Because vitamin D control hormone and insulin levels, or at least facilitates an easier way for your body to do this properly on it’s own, this also may affect how your skin ages – in other words, it may age better, so the implications of vitamin D may not only impact whether or not you ever get certain types of cancer, but it also may impact how your skin looks today, as well as how far into older age you get with great skin.

Now, of course, your skin is not the primary reason that you should be worried about getting adequate vitamin D levels via your diet, or supplementation, or the sun’s drenching rays since vitamin D is most effectively received and utilized by the body when it is absorbed from the sunlight – more specifically UVB rays – not UVA.

Getting enough vitamin D is now vital to your health, that much is clear. For more information, I suggest you read up on how much is recommended for your age, weight and size/height. The older recommendations put out by the FDA are archaic and now researchers are thinking WAY too low.

Make sure you also get some natural sunlight as well. Just make sure you do not burn, as this is when cell damage can occur as well as premature aging from photodamage.

I’ve noticed lately that I’ve been seeing more Accutane lawsuit ads on television. The one station in particular, from which I record a lot of my exercise programs, has these ads on all the time. They are attorney’s offices that are trying to get clients who feel they may have been adversely affected by Accutane to consult with them to see if they might have a case against the drug and the company that makes it.

The ads sort of lure people in by telling them how much other victims of the Accutane drug have gotten in lawsuits, mostly ranging in the millions. The clamping down on this serious, but also many times effective acne drug, were no doubt a result of the many health side effects that the drug may contribute to.

For instance, Accutane users that are female have to be registered and must also be on the birth control pill the last time I checked, so that it is ensured they do not get pregnant while on the drug. The reason for this requirement is that Accutane is known to potentially cause very serious birth defects in babies born to mothers while they are on the Accutane acne drug, and also deformities.

Accutane has also been linked to suicidal tendencies and depression, although there is no absolutely conclusive evidence that this drug is the direct cause of that outcome or whether it may just be coincidence.

The ads are pretty cheesy, I must say, but they are directed at past or current patients who are on the drug because the drug has developed a reputation as being effective, but with some very scary potential side effects.

They remind me of the ads that I used to see about people who may have been effected by the toxic material which was used in so many buildings called asbestos, which ended up causing or at least contributing to cases of lung disease and possibly even cancer.

While Accutane certainly has it’s uses as a great medication for those with very hard to treat and severe acne, there are still a lot of reservations that people have about taking it, and rightfully so. We are fortunate enough to have some great alternative acne treatments at our disposal these days that safely and effectively reduces the effects of acne on our skin and our bodies (and minds!)

If you are one of many women who use the birth control pill not only for the obvious benefit of not getting pregnant, but also to help control your acne flareups as a hormonal acne control method, then you know how hard it can be to remember to take them every day, at the same time of day, so they are more effective.

The reason for taking them at the same time every day, preferably in the morning, is that it gets your hormones on more of a “schedule” and your body in more of a habit as to when these hormone regulators are going to do their hormonal magic.

Of course, the pill does not work on every woman to control acne, and some women experience side effects that are so undesirable on the birth control pill that they simply feel it isn’t worth it to control their breakouts.

But for those that do take the pill for acne, well, there are some tricks that some women have used that help them to remember to take it every day at the same time. Let’s just say thank goodness for technology, because if I didn’t have reminders for half the stuff I had to do every day, I’d never remember to do anything!

And that brings me to the first trick women use to remember to pop the pill. Your cell phone. Cell phones are increasingly multi purpose these days. You can do everything from order a pizza online to map directions somewhere on your cell phone, especially if it’s one of the increasingly technologically advanced smart phones, like the iPhone, which is what I have.

Many cell phones have applications that allow you to set daily, weekly, even hourly, reminders, so that a little reminder will pop up either as a textual reminder or as a sound, or both combined, that alerts you to when you need to do something.

There are new programs you can sign up for that will even text message you to remind you that you need to take your pill – among other prescription medications – that are available now that you can take advantage of.

This could be a huge help if you’re a person who often forgets to take their pill, or forgets until it’s later in the day. By the way, missed birth control pills account for quite a few unplanned pregnancies, not just broken out skin.

It’s always helpful to develop a routine too. Say, if you brush your teeth every morning at about the same time, take your pill right before you brush your teeth, so you have it in your head that it is actually part of the teeth brushing routine. Hardly anyone forgets to brush their teeth, so this is the perfect way to work it into an already existing, religiously practiced daily routine.

I was at the Dollar General store a week ago, and wanted to grab a facial cleanser to replace my vitamin C one that I had liked, but of course, the face wash I use in the morning is the one I always experiment with, while the face washes I use at night are the ones I tend to stick to because those are taking all the grime off my face from the day time.

I don’t mind experimenting more with the morning face wash because this one can be a more moisturizing, gentle wash, whereas the night time one I need to really get down deep into my pores and cleanse the impurities of the day away. This time, I chose one that’s not really natural, because it’s got all kinds of scents, chemicals and preservatives in it.

But I figured, it might be a nice change because it’s a creamy lather moisturizing formula for the morning. I just really needed something to refresh my skin more than deep clean it in the morning time anyways. The one I ended up with was Garnier Nutritioniste Moisture Rescue.

The formula has grape water extract and apple water extract. What that means I don’t know, since I don’t even know what “grape water” and “apple water” are. Doesn’t sound very therapeutic, but oh well, it’s probably just a marketing ploy to put that it has these natural ingredients in it.

The claim is that grape water extract contains precious antioxidants to help protect the skin’s integrity and that the apple water helps protect the skin’s “moisture barrier”. I tried it, and let me tell you, you only need a tiny little dot of this stuff because it lathers up quite a bit. But the lather is not drying.

After you are done using it, your skin feels cleansed, but not dry or tight at all. I liked it. Of course, I’ll probably just go through the bottle and move on to the next experiment, but this stuff has a nice scent, and it makes your face feel clean without feeling tight .I don’t know that I’d recommend this to remove makeup though, I’m not sure it would do the job well enough for that.

The only other bad thing is that it must have a lot of scents in it, because I couldn’t put my contacts in after washing my face with it, they stung so bad. My eye doctor told me that when your hands are washed with products with a lot of scents, your contacts will sting your eyes.

Well, this is definitely something that did not surprise me in the least. Researchers are looking at data that is showing people who have been on long term antibiotic treatment for acne with the drug family Tetracycline, and possibly also Accutane and Doxycycline, have an almost double risk of developing bowel diseases. These diseases include serious problems like ulcerative colitis, Chrohns disease, and the most common one found, inflammatory bowel disease.

Of course, there is probably also a higher risk of irritable bowel syndrome as well, although that one was not specifically mentioned in what I heard. The reason that this correlation between acne antibiotics and bowel issues is that antibiotics have long been known to cause imbalance in the intestines and colon in a healthy flora that supports waste elimination called probiotics.

These tiny little organisms are the bacteria that help keep everything running smoothly in the digestive tract. Antibiotics do exactly what they say – they basically kill off probiotics in the digestive system, which leads to problems such as irritable bowel syndrome and discomfort in eliminating, as well as excess gas and bloating, all symptoms of common bowel diseases and disorders.

I was on Tetracycline for years on and off when I was a teenager, and it really messed up my system, I’m convinced. I don’t think that I’d be having the issues with irritable bowel that I do today if I would not have been taking these drugs for so long without taking probiotics. Had I known at the time, I would have considered alternative acne treatments.

But hey, I was a teenaged kid that just wanted to have clear skin. I didn’t really care nor think to ask what the long term implications of being on a drug like this would be. It did work to clear my acne, while I was on it, but as soon as I went off of this antibiotic, my face would flare up again, so it was almost like I had to be on it constantly to get consistent results.

Not only has long term antibiotic use been linked to bowel disease and disorder, but some studies suggest it may be linked to higher rates of breast cancer later in life. This is all a very good reason to seek out natural and herbal alternatives for treating your acne. Drugs may be good for some things, however, you just never know their long term (or sometimes even their short term) effects.

And many natural acne treatments now are so good, that they work just as well, you just have to find the one that works for your skin and your body.