Acne Magazine : Skin Care, Tips, Treatment Reviews

I use a combination glycolic and lactic acid peel once every few weeks on my skin. It had been a while since I had done my initial 5 treatments five weeks back to back, so I figured my skin needed a little freshening. By the way, I would never recommend doing these fairly serious peels when you have large, open acne wounds on your face,as they will burn like a you know what, so make sure your face is relatively free of any large acne sores before you do any sort of peel.

I had a few little minor – very minor acne lesions on my face (I told you I’d been breaking out lately thanks to mega stress) when I did the peel last weekend. I noticed that the peel really BURNED a lot more than it usually does this time, and I chalked that up the fact that I hadn’t done it in a while. These peels are not mild, they are very serious, so you can only keep them on your face for a few minutes at most. They are uncomfortable almost from the outset, creating a tingling and burning sensation instantly, so it can be a challenge to keep it on even for a few minutes.

Your skin looks bad when you first do it, but you do notice an improvement a few days later in the clarity and tone. This time, I noticed that the peel seemed to literally “melt” some of my zits so that I was left with a tiny little speck of scab on my face, so I’m thinking I may have left it on too long this time. That, and the fact that my face was beet red when I was done and still significantly burned afterward sort of tipped me off to that fact.

If you’re looking to do a peel in your own home, you can ones that are almost identical to the ones you get in a professional’s office, you just have to use extreme caution and due care in how long you leave it on for. If you have sensitive skin, instead of going with glycolic acid, which is probably the most harsh and deeper penetrating option, you should go with something like lactic acid only or salicylic acid only to make sure you don’t inflame or irritate the skin too much. These peels are great for keeping clear pores and ensuring your skin cells turn over, for fresh, radiant skin allover your face.

I just happened upon an interesting therapy for acne, which happens to include one of my favorite relaxing treats to myself – massage. If you’re a fan of going and getting massages, then you know the ultimate health and mental benefits massaging on a regular basis can impart into your life. Massage undoubtedly has the power to relax and detoxify me, and I think that it has multiple implications when it comes to your overall mental health, especially if you lead a high stress life, tend to get stressed out easily, or have a very anxiety-producing job, which is pretty common.

And guess what? Anxiety leads to acne, so anything you can do that can naturally eliminate, reduce, or make your anxiety tolerable and lower, is going to ultimately benefit your skin. Have you ever heard people refer to the “happy glow”? Well, when your mind is at peace or happy, your skin tends to follow suit. Of course there are other elements like diet, exercise and hormones that enter into it, but funny how these all tend to follow one another when you’re in your best states of mind. You tend to eat right, exercise more and look better when you’re happier, and vice versa.

Ayerveda, an indian philosophy in medicine and natural treatment of one’s body and mind, employs a specific type of massage with essential oils that benefit those with acne, to help one get rid of acne naturally by giving their body what it needs to fight acne, which is calming, anxiety and stress reduction, and essential oils that help to fight acne on the external body. The rest is all internal, which is what supplements like my favorite one by Zenmed help to do – they help to calm those raging hormones inside that tend to get out of control when our emotions are out of control.

Through massage, you not only get the benefit of some detoxification and stress reduction and ultimately peace of mind, but you also get the benefit of increased circulation, which can help your skin looks it’s best and most glowing at all times, and gives your skin the tools it needs to internally fight acne off and to have clear, clean skin with reduced oil production more often. Plus, massage feels awesome and makes you feel like a million bucks. Hence, it’s a huge industry with lots of customers in this wild and crazy life we have these days of no rest and running all the time.

I’ve talked a lot about using blue light acne treatments, with good reason.  If you buy the right in home system, you can experience dramatic results from this interesting and unique therapy, that just so also happens to be drug free and all natural.  So, it’s definitely worth talking about.  Don’t forget though, even if you’re getting blue light acne treatments at home or at a dermatologist’s office, you still also need to use the right topical products for caring for acne prone skin, so your cleansers and other topically applied skin care is still vital as well.

I want to review and talk about one today that is particularly interesting because of all the good feedback it has received, one called the Blue MD light therapy device.  It looks like a lamp that you would see in a bleak office.  It’s a silver metal, and reminds me of one of those old school, plain looking desk lamps from the fifties that’s very utilitarian in nature.  The blue MD has four light bulbs in it that emit pure blue light onto your facial skin or other affected area of your choice that you need to treat for acne vulgaris.

Why would light that’s colored different, or emitted at a different frequency have any benefit to your skin you ask?  Well, blue light is known for being excellent at killing bacteria. And guess what ultimately contributes to the formation of new zits?  You guessed, it, bacteria.  Blue light therapy for acne is actually an FDA approved treatment for those that suffer from it, so it is used commonly in Dr. offices as well, but only of course it’s much more expensive than if you buy a home unit that actually meets the FDA standards for the treatment as you get a lot more out of it that way.

The Blue MD acne therapy system is one of the ones I’ve seen the best reviews on, many many customers are satisfied with it and they even have some impressive before and after photos of people who have had acne pretty badly and cleared up beautifully.  You only have to use the unit for twenty minutes, 3 times a week, which is a huge bonus since a lot of people will abandon something that takes up too much time since it’s just a pain in the you know what.  The product costs just over $200, and although that sounds expensive, you will get many uses out of it.  I think it’s well worth the money for what it does, and sometimes that benefits outweigh any reservations about cost.  It could save you a fortune in professional skincare too, so I always try to think of it as an “investment in myself”.

I know what you’re probably asking yourself.  What the HECK is Kangen water?  Well, I had never heard of it before either, until my boss at work told me about it.  She had a representative from the Kangen water company come to her house to do a demonstration and show her and her husband why this drinking water was healthful and far superior to normal drinking water or even distilled or purified water.  For the price tag on the purifiers and ionizers that make the water, believe me, it should do something special.  That being said, what she told me did intrigue me, especially regarding the skin, since she said there was a certain pH that the water could be made at that was great for those with acne.

Kangen water is a special ionized, higher pH water that promotes alkalinity in the body over acidity.  Acidity, as you know, may be linked to acne since high acidity is linked to inflammation, and acne is a skin condition that stems from inflammation in the pores.  The purifier and ionizer is promoted, but the representatives are encouraged to give people the water for minimal donations so that they may be enticed to buy a machine for themselves, which from what I understand runs around $4k.

The water can be made at varying pH levels.  The one they make the skin beautifying spray out of actually contains a lower pH, which means it is a bit more acidic in nature, but that is supposed to be excellent for tightening the pores, and even for treating skin conditions such as cellulite and acne.  She did say that she sprayed some on her preteen daughter’s face, so I’m going to follow up with her and see if it helped clear up her small pimples on her forehead at all. The lower pH water is also supposed to help tone the skin and soften the hair and add shine.  You can use it as a final rinse after your shower or bath to firm the skin and it has even been reported to help regrow hair.

The skin beautifying spray is also supposed to help soothe rashes, and can be used to clean hardwood floors gently.  It can even be used to water your plants for a natural rainwater-like treatment that helps to promote growth and health of the plant.  Talk about a multi purpose spray!  I have to admit, after reading about the kangen water just for drinking, I was inrigued simply by the health benefits it migth be able to give.  I’ll keep you posted if I have any more information on this interesting concept.

There’s been a lot of talk about how blue light acne therapy in a dermatologist’s office has worked wonders for those with what they think are hopeless cases of acne.  People who have tried everything under the sun including antibiotics, expensive topical treatments prescribed by dermatologists, and other acne drugs that have not worked, have been able to find degrees of success with blue light therapy.

However, as with just about every other single acne treatment under the sun, including the herbal acne remedies that I tend to talk about so much, blue light therapy for acne does not work for everyone.

Some dermatologists say that blue light therapy works on about 90% of their patients, and I would think that would be just about accurate.  Because dermatologists are able to offer the highest form of the treatment with the most strength, they should get the best results, and usually patients don’t have to do it daily but instead roughly once a  month – which is a good thing because they usually cost anywhere from fifty bucks to a hundred bucks a pop.

Blue light therapy is supposed to work much better on the specific skin problem of acne, whereas red light phototherapy is supposed to work better on aging skin to help soften wrinkles and lines, reduce age spots and rejuvenate the production of collagen.  Blue light is supposed to target the bacteria deep down in the pores that causes acne blemishes, and that is why it is the recommended light for acne.

Many, many patients have seen dramatic improvements in their skin from using blue light acne therapy, and there are also several home blue light acne treatment devices that cost a tidy sum but also that in the end save you hundreds of dollars over dermatologist office treatments.

I definitely advocate that anyone who has acne look in to buying, or at least looking at and considering, the inexpensive ebook that tells people how to get rid of acne in three days, and for life, by following a certain prescribed regimen of lifestyle combined with some dietary restrictions as well.  I like this program because it was written by a guy who actually did just what the name of his book is – he got rid of his acne, essentially, in three days with his special program.

I like this program and book because it does not just advocate a pill or a special face wash, but rather it tells you how to approach treating your acne successfully and for good, through lifestyle habits which can make or break good skin.  So many people have reported that this program has given them new hope that there is a way to successfully, naturally get rid of their acne, and as a lifelong answer to this dilemma which seems to afflict so many teens and an increasing amount of adults with adult acne.

Acne Free in 3 Days is very inexpensive, especially considering that you have it for life and go back and refer to it any time you need to, it’s the “gift that keeps on giving”.  For those that have tried everything, including topical products, supplements, certain dietary restrictions, facial masks, facial and body creams and lotions and gels, and medical treatments that just don’t work, or only work for a little while and then stop being effective, this is the answer that people can always come back to, start adhering to, and see immediate results. 

I have reviewed this program here Acne Free in 3 Days review, so if you’d like to check out the review in it’s entirety, go there and you can read more about it and see if it’s something that seems like it may be up your alley.  Like I said, I feel that it’s an extreme value for the money you pay, and it can be used in conjunction with most other programs and products that are used to treat acne. 

Ok, I finally had to replace my Beurer soft light restorative skin care laser that I really liked because i dropped it and it broke.  I ended up settling on a new one, because of course I had to try something that looked newer and better, ’cause that’s part of my job, to report these things to my dear readers , so I settled on the Starlite soft red light laser for skin rejuvenation.

I settled on teh Starlite skin laser because it is advertised as being a better value and more effective than “other leading home lasers” because it is a more concentrated stream of soft red light which is supposed to be able to penetrate deeper into the skin tissue and be more effective at healing the skin (acne), helping soften scars, and rejuvenate collagen production and circulation, all of which are excellent for the skin.

Not only is it supposed to help acne and acne scarring, but it is also supposed to dramatically smooth and soften wrinkles and lines and age spots on the face with continued use.  I will be reporting to you shortly on how this new laser is working.  Price isn’t bad either – $109 with free shipping!  The only thing I can tell you I won’t like in contrast to the Beurer laser is that this one doesn’t come with a free battery charger, and instead of two AA batteries, it takes three AAA batteries, and does not come with the free charger, which kind of stinks. 

Well, we have another exciting page for your to peruse for your acne beating reading, and it’s about a curious treatment that has actually beena round a while but which only recently took off as far as home treatments go.  It’s the blue light, and also red light acne treatments that you can actually now perform on yourself in your own home at a tiny fraction of the cost it would be if you were to have these in a professional’s office.

Blue light is an extremely healing and therapeutic way to get the skin to heal faster.  So is red light, but blue light is the one more often used for acne for some reason, although I myself have had fantastic results using my home soft light therapy wand on my skin, both with my acne as well as with my softer wrinkels around my eyes since it helps to regenerate collagen and build it back up.

Light therapy is a way to eliminate bacteria beneath the surface which is bound to cause acne, but it also helps to dramatically speed the healing and recovery of any current acne lesions, and also to lessen the time that any new ones will be a blemish to your gorgeous face!  It’s gained rave reviews by many of it’s users for a reason, light therapy is a great, healing way to get rid of acne, and also to help plump and firm the skin by speeding collagen production, so it’s really a fantastic way to get two things done at once on your skin.

But don’t take my word for it, read more about acne blue light therapy on our new page, which has links to the top rated home blue light acne products as well if you’re interested in seeing how others review them (there’s tons of reviews too). 

I was reading about a scrub that is used by Greek women (at least it was a trend that was started by Greek women as I understand it), and wondered if it might be more beneficial or harmful to people with acne prone skin or acne rosacea or rosacea prone skin, and thought that it could possibly be good for any skin type, as long as it is not used during periods of flareups for either sufferer, because any “treatment” may be irritating when one’s skin is already suffering an inflammation of some sort.

The simple idea that sugar – just regular, granulated sugar like you’d put in your coffee or on your unsweetened cereal in the morning, mixed with a little fresh lemon juice from a freshly squeezed lemon, may help soothe and smoothe the skin is definitely one that makes sense.  Sugar possesses an exfoliating ability due it’s granular form.  Not only that, but it also does have some beneficial compounds that can help smoothe out the skin.

The lemon juice is pretty obvious, since lemons have a high concentration of Vitamin C, which is one of my favorite topically applied vitamins for helping even out the skin tone and helping to make sure the skin turns over at a rapid rate, which is the key to maintaining that fresh look that so many people associate with youth and vitality.

Lemon juice is also a natural astringent, meaning it can help tighten and clear pores, as well as help kill harmful surface bacteria.  You can use the sugar and lemon juice gentle exfoliant as an occasional cheap exfoliant, but don’t expect any serious exfoliation from this if you are looking for a something akin to a home microdermabrasion system for acne scarring or something to that affect.  This would just be a nice little in between treatment to help pep the skin up and give it a little kick in the pants toward looking fresher and more vibrant, without doing a full on treatment. 

We just recently purchased an infrared sauna, and by recently I mean literally 4 days ago.  Since purchasing and setting the sauna up, we have used it every single night.  It’s primary purpose is for relaxation and muscle and joint pain relief, since both of us suffer from back and neck pain, and have desk jobs that just make it worse during the day. 

However, after extensive reading on infrared saunas, I discovered that many people said nightly or frequent sauna bathing helped their skin problems clear up immensely, one of those skin conditions being our favorite friend, acne.  I have talked before about how I felt that using a regular sauna at my work gym once in a while seemed to really give my skin a nice, soft glow and even helped it to clear up a few years ago. 

Well, this sauna we purchased is not the normal type of sauna, which uses steam heat or regular heat to heat the body.  By regular heat, I mean a heat that heats the air around your body, and therefore may become a little uncomfortable on the eyes and the skin, whereas an infared sauna uses infared heat, which heats the body directly and penetrated the skin and tissue more deeply. 

This deeper penetration supposedly makes the infrared heat sauna a better source of muscle and joint pain soothing, since it can better reach the source of the problem and therapeutically heat it, thereby reducing swelling and pain.

Also, infrared heat helps to stimulate the circulation and is supposed to increase the metabolic rate.  The increase in circulation should be good for the skin because it stimulates healing and promotes a better circulation of impurities out of the skin.  The sweat that is produced by the infrared heat is supposed to contain impurities and toxins, and that is another reason they are supposed to be good for both detoxification and increasing the stimulation of the circulation and healing process.

I am already noticing a softer feel to my skin, and it appears very healthy and well colored after the sauna bathing.  We bathe for about a half hour, sometimes a bit longer, and we make sure we stay in until we break a  pretty good sweat.  More on this to come as I experience the sauna’s hopefully good effects on my skin!