Medical Acne Treatment During Pregnancy

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When you are pregnant you can get bad acne as discussed in the last post. You no longer have all of the options of all the usual acne treatments that work. Some are restricted for acne treatment during pregnancy. First step for your acne treatment pregnancy is to remember to do the basics such as wash your face twice a face. Wash with warm water, a mild soap and a soft cloth morning and night. If your acne is still bad you will need something else to reduce the inflammation or kill the P acne cells.

Where you need to be careful is that anything taken orally (or applied topically to your skin) may not only affect you but may affect your baby as well. A natural acne home treatment is always better for pregnant women but we will chat about your options for medical acne treatments first.

A Carefree Pregnant Woman
A Carefree Pregnant Woman

The main medical treatment you can use is Benzoyl Peroxide. This is an over the counter topical lotion. It comes sometimes on a pad with which you can wipe your face. This is safe for pregnant women. It might dry out your skin so you can use a moisturiser too if required. It might cause your acne to get worse at first but should reduce your acne in a few weeks if you keep using it. Be sure to check the moisturiser you will be using is safe too.

Not all Medical Acne Treatments can be used by pregnant women.

Another popular acne medicine that other people use is accutane. Accutane should not be used by pregnant women at all as it can cause birth defects in around 30% of cases. Also if you are trying to conceive then you should also not use it.

Salicylic acid also causes births defects when taken orally. Salicylic acid can also be taken topically. It has not been proved to cause birth defects when taken topically. But if the salicylic acid enters the bloodstream then there will be a small risk to your baby. Also who knows what they will prove in the future so it really is not worth the risk.

Retinols (or also known as Isotretinoin and Retin-A) should be avoided. They can cause birth defects or genetic damage. Generally Doctors recommend against using it during pregnancy.

Remember if you are breast feeding your baby or planning to then you should also avoid all these medications too. The baby will get what you take which isn’t good.

The best acne treatment pregnancy is using totally natural acne lotions. These would be totally safe. Drink plenty of water if you can.

Diet may not be option for pregnant women. Dairy is normally pushed as a cause of acne but you need your daily calcium intake. You may also have cravings for food which go against what is good for acne.

But if you must insist in taking a medicated acne treatment then Benzoyl Peroxide applied topically is the only one recommended at the moment for pregnant women or nursing mothers. Also take the advice of your doctor. In the next post we will look at more acne treatments that work.

Acne Treatment Pregnancy Advice

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Many women experience acne or worse acne during pregnancy.  Looking forward to having a baby can be a happy time but the pregnancy can also be uncomfortable as your body changes.  Acne on top of this can be a nuisance and you may need acne treatments that work.  Before getting acne treatment pregnancy we will look at when and how acne during pregnancy is caused.

Acne in pregnancy need treatment?
Problems with Acne in pregnancy, need treatment?

The acne in pregnancy is triggered by the hormonal changes during pregnancy and is temporary.

The Acne (or worse acne) in Pregnancy is temporary.  So you shouldn’t panic, it will go away.

Acne can start at different stages.  For some it can be during the first trimester or for some during the second trimester.  Usually it will clear up during the third trimester.  So it can start at different times depending on the mother.

If the acne doesn’t clear up in the third trimester, then it will usually stay on after childbirth especially if you will be breastfeeding.  This should not stop you breastfeeding though as there is no danger to your baby.  There is no link between the mother having acne during pregnancy or after pregnancy and baby acne or the child having acne later on in life.

When getting acne pregnancy treatment you should be very careful about any medication you use either topically or orally.  First perform the basics.  Wash your face twice a day as shown in earlier posts.  Use a mild non-medicated soap or face wash.  Do not over wash your face as drying out the skin can cause acne too.  Use a natural moisturiser if you need to.

Mothers to be can also get body acne or cysts which can be quite sore.  Use a cube of ice wrapped in a paper towel or cloth to cool the cyst down and get rid of any pain.  Do not actively use ice as an acne treatment just use it relieve any pain of large cysts or spots.

You also need to be aware of what medication you can and cannot use.  Best thing is use all natural acne treatments which will be safer for your and your baby.  We will cover these in the next acne treatment pregnancy post.

Body Acne treatment Ice

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A lot of people think ice is an acne treatment that works.  As an effective body acne treatment it maybe is not so great but ice does has some uses in back acne treatment.  What ice can do is help relieve the pain and maybe reduce inflammation and size of cysts and acne spots.

It does this by shrinking the size of the capillary veins and reducing the blood supply and tissue around the spots or cysts.  This can reduce the size of spots and cysts and make them less red.  The ice also cools the skin and may reduce pain by the coldness and by reducing the swelling, tightness and pressure on the skin.

Ice to cool cysts
Ice to cool your cysts?

There are people that have tried using ice as an acne treatment.  People can have some initial success with zapping pimples with an ice cube at first but later on may have more outbreaks.  Ice should not be used as a long term acne treatment.  I would recommend it only for a large painful spots or cysts.

I will explain the best way to use it.  Put a few ice cubes in a cloth or some paper kitchen towel.  This will stop you getting an ice burn on your skin which could be worse than the acne you are trying to cure.  Believe me if the ice sticks to your skin it can be pretty sore.  Let the ice melt a bit in the cloth.  Apply the cloth and ice to the cyst or acne spot for 1 to 5 minutes.  Wait 15 minutes and apply the ice in the cloth or towel again for 1 to 5 minutes.  If the spot is still sore later on, you can reapply new ice (in a cloth or paper towel) in 2 hours again for 1 to 5 minutes again if you need to.

There are people that make daily face masks of ice, breathing through straws and do all sorts but this is not an effective long term acne treatment that works.  It only reduces the size of the spot but other spots will keep on coming.  You still need to carry on with your washing and other treatments.

Ice is only a temporary relief acne remedy.  Ice can give good relief for painful cysts on your back or body, but you do need an effective back acne treatment to combat the source of the spots.

Body acne can also occur during pregnancy and be painful, so ice is a good natural pain reliever for pregnant women.  I will cover more in acne treatment pregnancy advice.

Back Acne Treatment Introduction

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To get acne treatments that work for your back, there are a few thinks you can do first.  Steps in your back acne treatment for back acne (or Bacne as it is sometimes called) will be slightly different to treating acne on your face.  The skin on your back is thicker than your face skin so the spots can be more like cysts and more painful.  You can also get more scarring as the thicker skin tissue gets deeper damage which is harder to heal.

Female with back acne
Female with back acne

Back acne or bacne is caused by the same causes as face acne.  Clogged pores and too much sebum oil.  You need to be careful around the hygiene of your back.  This should include washing after exercise or sweating.  Also wearing white cotton next to your skin to stop you sweating rather than synthetic materials can help.  The white will prevent coloured dye entering the bloodstream through burst spots and causing infections or blood poisoning.

Some people suggest you should shower twice a day, same as way you wash your face morning and night.  If showering twice a day is too much then take a shower once a day and wipe your back with a wet cloth the other time.   The spots can also be painful and bleed a lot if they burst.  Especially when you are drying yourself after a shower, so pat your back dry if it is very bad.  You should also make sure your towels and bed sheets are clean and changed regularly.

Although hidden back acne can be a cause of embarrassment there ways to overcome this.

The spots on your back can cause you some embarrassment.  For guys they may not want to take their T-shirts off at the beach or for girls they may avoid wearing bikinis, low cut vests or backless tops.   The sun can actually be quite good for clearing up your back acne so do try and expose it to some sun and fresh air.  Also realise that you are the person that will notice your spots the most not other people.  So do try and get over the shyness and embarrassment of this and get some sun.  Remember to protect your skin and use sunscreen as always.  Then take a shower later on to wash off the sunscreen and unclog your pores again.

Although back acne is not visible to other people it can cause you to restrict your choice of clothes.  Regular washing, fresh air and sunshine can help reduce the acne.  The bacne can also be very painful so we will show you a back acne treatment to help relieve the pain.

Acne Home Treatment Two with Lemon Juice

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A simple acne treatment that works is lemon juice.  You usually have lemons in your fruit bowl or fridge at home so it an easy acne home treatment to implement.  The lemon contains citric acid which helps kill the P acne bacteria in your skin.

The lemon juice can be used two ways, internally and externally.

1. Externally.

At night time after you have washed your face as normal, cut a fresh lemon in half.  Store one half in the fridge.  Squeeze a little of the juice out of the other half of the lemon into a small container.  Put this half in the fridge too.  You just need enough lemon juice to dip cotton wool or a cotton pad in.

Acne Treatments That Work Lemons cut in 2
Acne Treatments That Work Lemons cut in 2

Dab you face where the acne and blackheads are.  Use a fresh piece of cotton wool or pad each time you dip, don’t double dip.  The lemon may burn a little when applied or a lot, especially if you have cuts or have freshly popped acne spots or pimples.  If it burns too much you can dilute it with a little lukewarm water.  Dilute it by 50% max.  Leave the juice on whatever amount of time you want, anything from 15 minutes, to an hour or even overnight.  You can rinse it off with water later on or in the morning.  Be careful not to get the lemon juice (or water when rinsing) into your eyes as it will sting.  It is not dangerous just unpleasant.

The citric acid in the lemon juice has three benefits.  It both exfoliates your skin and kills the acne causing bacteria in your skin.  It can also lighten scars.

It should reduce your acne and spots in a week to three weeks.  It can also lighten the colour of scars so it is also an acne scar home treatment.  Your skin will also feel much softer.  It is not necessary to put lemon juice on your face again in the morning.  Or if it is working very well at treating acne then you can miss a night or two as well.  If your skin gets too dry use a moisturiser to help the dryness.  Dry skin can cause acne outbreaks too.

Lemons are not really that effective when put in a bath as it is too diluted to have any real effect on your acne.  Adding enough lemons to bath water to make it effective as a full body acne treatment would take a lot of lemons.  And it might sting, well put it this way, I personally would not get in that bath.

2. Internally.

The other method you can use lemons, is internally, or to drink it first thing in the morning.  Use the partially squeezed half you put in the fridge and squeeze the rest into a large glass.  Fill the glass with cold water and add a little hot boiled water to make a lukewarm drink.  Drink the juice and water and wait 20 to 30 minutes before eating your breakfast.  This will help detoxify you.  It can help your digestion and weight loss too.  But it will also help cure your acne from the inside.

Bag of Lemons for Treating Acne
Bag of Lemons for Treating Acne

If you are buying lemons a bag of lemons is much better value than loose lemons.  The cost of a bag of four or five lemons can be the same as the cost of two single bought lemons.  Plus you are not running to the shop everyday for a lemon.

Try using lemons as a home treatment for acne to see how it works for you.  It is non-medicated and natural which means you are taking less drugs or medicine which is always a good thing.

Next post we will look at back acne treatment.

Expectations of Results for Treating Acne

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On your hunt for acne treatments that work you may read many articles about how acne makes you feel.  You will be told that you should have low self esteem, low confidence, and feel ugly, even depressed.  These articles tell you what you feel and that acne is the cause of this.  They will offer to cure your acne and then you will feel great.  This is a myth, a marketing myth.

You may or not feel any of the above feelings.  It’s fantastic if you are a happy person but if you are not then you may think that acne is causing these feelings after being told that it does.  But these feelings (if they exist) come from inside you and not the acne.  Curing acne will not make these feelings disappear.  You, yourself can make these bad feelings go away.

Friends
Friends together

Some people have varying degrees of acne, which they will actually think is worse than it is.  You need to look at the person you are and not the spots on your face.  Think about what you are like, the friends you have, the family you have.  Normally people like or love you, for who you are not for what you look like.  Think about how they like to meet you, talk to you, have a laugh, listen to you; they like to spend time with you.  This is a reflection of who you are.  Your friend’s see you for who you are, not what you look like.  You need to value yourself too for this.

I do appreciate that some people have really bad acne which makes them feel down.  And that is a genuine problem but what I am trying to tell is that just because you have acne you don’t need to be depressed, it’s not compulsory.

A good acne home treatment would certainly not endorse having you depressed.

Getting rid of acne will not make you a better feeling person.  You are already a better person; it is up to you to feel it.  Getting rid of acne may not make you happy, but you can make yourself happy with or without acne.

Now we will look at the expectations for an acne free treatment.  Usually your acne gets reduced as you get older.  Your confidence improves and sense of what is really important also changes which helps.  No home acne treatments or any acne treatment will get rid of 100% of acne spots or pimples but these can be greatly reduced with a few simple steps.  But first you need to get a realistic idea of what sort of skin you would be happy with.  Aim to treat your acne to get this skin.

There are loads of famous actors and people who have had bad acne.  They have gone on to be successful and be icons, sex symbols and adored.  Acne never held them back.  Don’t let the acne hold you back or define you as a person.

Remember to ask yourself; are you a spotty person or a person with spots?

You should decide if you will make yourself a happy and content person not a cream in a jar.

Next post will be on a simple acne home treatment.

Steps for an Effective Acne Treatment

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There many acne treatments that work and there are many that do not. Remember you need to target the two main causes for an effective acne free treatment.
1. Clogged pores.
2. Bacteria in you skin.

Two main things in an effective acne treatment will tackle the two causes and remove or improve your acne,
1. Hygiene, wash your face.
2. A treatment to kill bacteria and clear pores.

As acne is partly cause by blocked pores you first need to unclog them. Wash your face regularly with a mild soap wash or clinical soap. Non fragrance soap is the best. Use warm water to open your skin pores. Wash with a soft cloth which will not scratch you or irritate you skin. Wash you face morning and night.

Acne Free Treatment Water to Wash Face in Sink
Acne Free Treatment: Water to Wash Face in a Sink

At first you may find your skin gets worse as it begins to get clean. Keep at it and after one week your skin will improve again. It is hard to keep your face clean all the time so here are a few tips. Try to avoid touching your face with your hands as they will transfer grease and bacteria to your skin clogging pours. Also use some common sense. Clean around your mouth with a napkin or just some water if it gets dirty when eating. Wash your forehead if you are sweating during the day.

If you still have some acne or pimples re-appearing, you will need some acne home treatment or acne treatment cream to kill the P acne bacteria. On this site I will discuss the various options. But keeping your face clean will greatly reduce the amount of acne treatment you require which is good.

One step that is usually mentioned is diet or good healthy food. It is believed that certain oily foods can cause acne, or having a healthy inside can reduce or stop acne. There is no statistical or scientific link between diet and acne proven yet. But we will explore that at a later date and how you can find out if your diet is affecting your acne.

The next post we will a step back and look at what you are trying to achieve in your acne free treatment.

Understanding Root Causes of Acne for an Acne Free Treatment

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To get the best acne treatments that work you need to understand the primary causes of acne.  There are two main causes.  Then your acne free treatment must tackle and address these causes.

2 mains causes Acne Treatments that work
2 mains causes Acne Treatments that work

Acne is firstly caused by sebum oil in the skin.  This oil is produced by the sebaceous gland which is at the base of the hair follicles in your skin pores.  The pores may be blocked by dead skin cells or dirt and the oil get trapped.  Or the sebaceous gland produces too much oil and the pores become clogged.

Secondly, bacteria inside the pores, which are sometimes called P acne, can become infected causing painful spots and inflammation.  Any effective body acne treatment should tackle both the sebum oil and the bacteria to clear or reduce your acne.

The blocked skin pores and bacteria can cause acne in many forms.  There are blackheads which are blocked skin pores which fill up of dirt and oil and pus.  These are coloured black not because of dirt or bad hygiene but because the sebum oil oxidises in air and then goes black.  Whiteheads are the same except for the pore is closed so the sebum does not contact air or oxidise to turn black.  Both blackheads and whiteheads can become infected, inflamed and get much bigger.  Cleaning the pores is very effective for reducing blackheads.

There are pimples which are small or large pus filled blisters on the surface of the skin.  Pimples can be caused by touch; your hands clog the pores or help infect them slightly.

Cysts are acne pockets deep inside the skin.  These are red lumps on the skin which can be quite painful and are filled with pus in underneath the skin surface; they can take some time to disappear.  They may reoccur in the same location weeks or months later.  Cysts can be hard to treat in the short term.  You need to take a long term view to curing cysts.

The next post will talk about the two essential steps to take for an acne free treatment.

Acne Types for Acne Free Treatment

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There many acne treatments that work and there are many that do not. This is because there are many types of acne or Acne Vulgaris and because of this all the different types there are many different remedies and cures.

You need to know which type or types of acne you have before trying to treat it. We will look at the acne types before we look at causes and treatments.
Each person is individual and what may work for one may not work for another, you need to try the combinations until you get the one the Acne treatment that works for you. Also the individual may have several types of acne too so many will need different types of treatment.

There are many different skin blemishes that fall under the acne umbrella but are not strictly acne. I will give a rundown of them below.

Different types or names of acne or skin blemishes:
1. Acne Vulgaris is the official name which covers all the spots under the acne umbrella. One popular name is zits
2. Blackheads. Looks like a back dot or bump in an open skin pore. Blackheads is the popular name for open comedo or comedones. Surprisingly the colour is not caused by poor hygiene but due to oxidation in the air. Blackheads can occur a lot on the nose.
3. Whiteheads. Similar to a blackhead but white and not in an open pore, covered with skin. Whiteheads is the popular name for closed comedo or comedones. Whiteheads can be anywhere but may be on the forehead or face.
4. Pimples. Can be like a pus filled blisters or skin, also called Pustules. Usually on the lower half of the face around the chin and mouth.
5. Cysts. These are skin sacks filled with liquid or semi-liquid, usually on thicker skin around the body particularly where you sweat more. Can be called boils.
6. Rosacea. A skin condition usually around the nose, eyes and centre of the face on adults. It has the appearance of a reddish rash or pimples.

As we see from above, Acne is usually more concentrated on the face and back but can occur anywhere on the body. Face acne is more visible and of a greater concern to individuals but acne on other parts of the body may more painful. Especially cysts on the back and shoulder which may require back acne treatment.

Next post we will look at the causes of acne and the acne treatments that work for those.

Acne Treatments That Work Information

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Welcome to the site.  Here you will get information on Acne Treatments That Work.  There are a lot, even some acne home treatment that do not work.  This is because the causes of acne are many and complex.  Also there are several types of acne.  Some people have many types of acne which are a caused by different reasons.  This makes it difficult to treat.

Don’t give of hope if you don’t find a treatment that works for you.  It can take time to get the right combination.  Best way is to identify the type of acne you have and what causes and aggravates it.  Once you can do that a acne free treatment is half way there.  Also for some people there are some restrictions on treatment as in acne treatment pregnancy for women.

This site will give you information of causes, triggers, treatment, remedies to reduce and cure you acne.  Hope you find it useful and enjoyable.

Any questions or feedback please feed free to comment or email me.

The next post looks at the different type of acne to understand how to get an acne free treatment that works for you.