Acne Treatments that Actually Work
So you have an acne problem and looking for a treatment that actually works? Welcome to the entire world. Most people have suffered an acne bout at least one time during their teenage years. Some people have never stopped suffering from acne. On the web there is so much hubbub about acne treatments that it’s hard to pick out the wheat from the chaff. Company after company promises you a solution to your acne problem but instead only deliver broken dreams. But don’t feel too depressed, some acne treatments actually do work. However, they aren’t some sort of glamorous instant cure-all, but given time and persistence and religiously following the advice I’ve given below, you may be able to finally get rid of your acne. These acne treatments work, but they require you to work too!

1. Drink Water
For some suffers of acne, all it takes is just an increase consumption of water to eliminate their acne. Now, granted, this probably won’t be you, BUT, it very well just might be. If you have acne, start drinking 8 glasses of water a day.

2. No Junk Food Allowed
These days, most North Americans spend more time at fast food joints than at their own kitchen. It’s no wonder that acne affects so much of the population. Scientists have found links between fatty foods (fast food, processed food, oily food, etc) and acne. So if you are driving by that KFC…don’t.

3. Clean That Face
Wash your face! It’s a given, but for some reason many people don’t seem to clue in on the fact that washing your face can reduce your acne breakouts. Here’s why: acne is formed when glands in your skin release to much sebum oil. This oil clogs up your pores resulting in blackheads and whiteheads. Bacteria starts to grow around inside the poor (the oil provides a perfect breeding ground) and you get an infection. Washing your face helps remove excess oil from your face and cuts down on the amount of bacteria. Now you won’t get rid of all that bacteria living in your skin, but you will get rid of some. And ever bit helps. You should also exfoliate your face several times a week — this ensures dead skin is removed from your face and your pores get a bit of a scrub.

4. Bed Linens Are Dirty
You may not realize it, but one of the best acne-preventing strategies is to wash/change your pillow cases once a week. Pillowcases absorb the oil, dead skin cells, hair, and bacteria from your face. It follows that every time you press your face into the comfort of your pillow, you smear millions of nasty things onto your face. Regularly changing your bed lines may help reduce your acne.

5. Home Remedies
I’ve said it on this blog and I’ll say it again: before trying acne medicines, give acne home remedies a shot. There are a good deal of natural herbal and fruit/vegetable acne home remedies you can try. The ingredients are incredibly cheap, easy to get a hold of, and don’t damage your skin. Yes, they may or may not work, but some people swear by them and so might you, after you find an effective one. If you want one home remedy that’s absolutely proven to work, try some pure Tea Tree oil — a lot of off-the-shelf acne medicines include this amazing oil in small doses. It can really kill that bacteria-causing acne in your face without all that dryness that chemical medicines give.

6. Benzoyle Peroxide
If nothing else works, go to your local drugstore and procure some Benzoyle Peroxide-based topical acne cream. Start of with a low dose (2.5% or less) for several weeks before moving up to a stronger one (5% or higher). This chemical can seriously dry out your face, leaving painful, irritated, and scaly skin. You can also try Salicylic Acid as an alternative to Benzoyle Peroxide if your skin gets too irritated.

7. Accutane
As the last resort, go see your dermatologist and get on a regimen of Accutane. Suffers of cystic acne, the most serious form of acne, often opt to go this route. Accutane basically stops your facial pores from producing sebum. With no oil being released from your facial pores, the bacteria causing acne dies out and the swollen pustules on the face begin to heal with time. Note that depending on how bad your acne is and whether you have been squeezing your pimples or not, you may have bad facial scaring.

Well, there it is. Seven effective acne-fighting treatments.