What to do about acne.

I am not a doctor. What follows are my tips to everyone who asks about acne.

52% of all acne sufferers are adults.

Why it is happening is really less important than what you are doing about it. (It's already started happening, for its own good reasons.)

No matter what the cause, you still need to treat the breakouts correctly or they won't go away.

For many people (maybe you too), their face-washing routine aggravates the problem. If yours is alternately drying out your skin and also not clearing your pores properly, you are making the problem worse. Unless you have cystic acne, start with Over The Counter (OTC) products that contain four components: a cleanser, a toner, a day treatment, and a night treatment. Brand doesn't really matter, as long as the products meet the specs I am about to outline. Don't go with the "one shot does all" kind. See the end of this story for the only OTC product that I recommend without reservation.

Incidentally, OTC's do not "cure" acne. They just help clear the breakouts. Only a doctor can prescribe medication that will cure acne, and sometimes even that isn't possible.

Here's what I recommend, morning and night:

1. Wash your face with a good cleanser. The best ones are FDA-approved for OTC (over-the-counter) sale, or they are ones that your doctor will have to prescribe for you. These generally contain salicylic acid to clear your pores. The best ones are the "foaming" kind and they are put onto dry skin with dry fingers. Don't scrub! That's what the foaming action is for. When you look for these products, look for ones that tell you what the pH is, and don't buy ones that don't have that information. You want a low pH in a cleanser, in the range of 4.6 to 5.1 -- that's because salicylic acid is most effective in lower pH levels.

2. After cleansing, use a medicated toner that contains ingredients to soothe your irritated skin and control sebum levels. Licorice extract is an ingredient that handles irritation, and zinc PCA cuts down on the sebum. It is also a good idea to pick a toner that contains a special blend of vitamins C and E, which are natural antioxidants that your skin needs to fight breakouts. Same deal on pH levels - if the package doesn't tell you what they are, look for another product. In a toner, you want a pH level between 3.5 and 3.6.

3. Apply a medicated treatment. The treatment you use for the day should be different from the one you use at night. The day treatment will work on improving breakouts and should contain an ingredient like hexapeptide-2 to help reduce development of dark spots, salicylic acid to keep pores clear, and a powerful antioxidant such as white tea or green tea extract that will protect and help restore your skin's resiliency. The night treatment should contain ingredients such as retinol and alpha lipoic acid to diminish uneven skin texture (pits) and discoloration. It should also contain salicylic acid. pH for the day treatment should be 3.5 to 4.0, for the night treatment around 4.5.

Look for a system of products that fit this description, pick the system that fits your budget (you get what you pay for), and use it exactly as described for eight to twelve weeks.

You hear a lot of people complaining that this product or that product didn't work for them. 99% of the time if you get the chance to question them closely, you find out that one of the following was the case: what they were using was not a complete system (four products, as I have described), they didn't buy or use all of the components I've listed, they didn't use all four consistently every day, or they quit using the products before the eight to twelve-week point. The only legitimate reason to quit using a set of products before the end of twelve weeks is that a person turned out to have an allergy or a bad reaction to them.

It is not unusual for breakouts to increase a little the first few weeks you do this. You are just bringing all the bad stuff to the surface.

If you will use this system, I don't care with whose products, you will get results. If you don't get results after twelve weeks, it's time to talk to a dermatologist about a prescription solution such as Accutane or an antibiotic -- an OTC isn't going to do it for you.

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