Adult Acne Treatment
Many people think of acne as a problem that only affects people during their teenage years. Unfortunately, this isn't necessarily the case. Many adults suffer from this embarrassing, and sometimes painful condition, as well. In fact, adult acne is a very common problem, especially in women.
Even though you may be past the age when people expect to experience this condition, there are many factors that can contribute to the onset of adult acne. These include stress, hormonal changes, and reactions to cosmetics, just to name a few. Similarly, there are numerous approaches to acne treatment as well. The following is a look at a few of them.
Skin Care
One of the most effective forms of acne treatment involves simply changing the way you care for your skin. Many people use cleansers or soaps that are too harsh, or they scrub too hard when they clean their face. Gentle cleaning with a mild cleanser is recommended.
Pay attention to how different products affect the condition of your skin as well. Sometimes, simply changing the type or brand of skin care products you use can be an effective acne treatment. If you are prone to acne problems, be careful to only use products that are non-comedogenic or non-acnegenic. Popping pimples and squeezing blackheads should also be avoided. This will cause your acne to spread, and possibly cause infections as well.
Topical Acne Treatments
Basically, these are many lotions or creams that you apply to your skin to fight adult acne. There are hundreds of them on the market, and they all claim to be the best. For mild to moderate cases, products containing benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid have proven to be effective for acne treatment. It's now possible to find these ingredients in many cosmetic products, such as moisturizers and foundations.
There are other topical acne treatments that are available by prescription only. These include the many retinoid based products on the market. These products can be quite effective, but they are capable of irritating the skin. Great care should be taken when using these products as they can also intensify the effects of sunburn.
Oral Medications and Surgical Procedures
For more severe cases, or when over the counter acne treatments fail, your dermatologist may suggest an oral antibiotic to treat your symptoms. Tetracycline is probably the best known of these types of medications. The idea is to treat the acne from the inside out by killing the bacteria that lies under the skin. Some of the more severe cases are treated with isotretinoin, which is, basically, an oral form of the retiniods discussed earlier. When the cause of the acne has been narrowed down to hormonal issues, medicines are often used to correct these imbalances as well.
In some cases, people must resort to surgical acne treatment. These treatments involve the extraction of blemishes with a special tool. More advanced forms of surgical acne treatment performed with the use of a laser.
Nearly half of adult women and a quarter of adult men are affected by acne. Sometimes the psychological effects can be as hard to deal with as the obvious physical ones. Finding an appropriate treatment is essential to maintaining not only your appearance, but your self-esteem as well.
