Clearing Adult Acne and Alternative Home Treatment

Clearing adult acne can be done the same way as it is for teenage acne. The only major exception is if you're pregnant - please talk to your doctor if this is the case.

Alternative Home Treatment - Adult Acne

Before we get into ways of clearing adult acne, have you considered natural treatment or home remedies? You would be surprised at how much better you could improve your acne, or even potentially clear your skin. Incorporate one or more of the following:

• Cleaning up your diet
• Adding supplements like Zinc
• Detoxing
• Skin irritation reducing habits

and you will likely see improvement over time without any risky side effects. I was able to clear up my moderate/severe acne as an adult using only natural treatments. That's because this strategy treats the source of your acne problems, which is a much better long term solution than drugs.

It's the closest thing to an adult acne "cure" that we have. Check out the collection of articles I've written on natural acne cures.

For more information on some specific natural treatments please check out a friend's site of mine: natural remedies for acne.

Over-the-Counter Treatment

There are two main drugs you can buy OTC (Over-The-Counter) that you will see in many stores that carry personal hygiene products. There is also a third one which is more rare. These are:

Salicylic Acid

What is ironic is that salicylic acid is by far the most popular way of clearing adult acne in stores these days, but the formulations of most of them are ineffective.

One particular problem is that salicylic acid comes inside many gels, creams, ointments, and cleansers that are generally washed off right away. This doesn't give the medication much time to do it's work. It really should be given time to absorb into the skin.

Also, many salicylic acid products are not pH balanced with your skin. Your skin mantle should be maintained at a natural state between 4.5 and 6 (typically 5.5). Most skin care products are alkaline (pH over 7) which promotes bacteria growth and reduces the effectiveness of the salicylic acid.

The purpose of salicylic acid is to help your skin exfoliate better, so that less dead skin cells get clogged in your pores and to help your skin rejuvenate faster.

So if you decide to use a salicylic acid product, be sure to pick one that at least doesn't require rinsing right away, like a pad. I'd recommend starting off on a lower concentration (1% or so) and work your way up to 2% if you do not see improvement. Starting off at 2% may be too irritating for your skin right off the bat.

An alternative to salicylic acid are AHA's (Alpha Hydroxy Acids) like glycolic acid, which are different compounds but work to exfoliate the skin as well.

Benzoyl Peroxide

You will see this less often in stores, but it is certainly there. It is usually grouped with the salicylic acid products. It's pretty quick to find on the packaging because they usually separate the "active ingredient" (i.e. benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid) in a section by itself on the product.

Online, you'll see benzoyl peroxide touted as a very popular way of clearing adult acne.

Also, many people have found benzoyl peroxide to be very effective as a method for clearing adult acne. It kills P. acnes bacteria, which is how benzoyl peroxide is different from salicylic acid. The bacteria gets stuck in clogged pores and can lead to inflammation. This inflammation is the redness some people get around their pimples.

In theory, actually developing inflammatory acne is not possible without the P. acnes bacteria. However, the causes of acne are complex and the P. acnes bacteria are only a single component.

Personally, benzoyl peroxide actually made my acne worse - and I'm not the only one to experience this. I found my acne lesions to break out from deeper under the skin, which makes me wonder how deep the benzoyl peroxide can go. I also found myself breaking out more in areas where I did not put any benzoyl peroxide, like the back of my head and neck. All of this points to acne as a sign of a deeper problem that needs to corrected from the inside.

I also found this adult acne medication to be very irritating to the skin. Be prepared to experience redness, itching, and dryness. Your skin will eventually get used to it though. Expect the redness and itching to last a couple weeks or more, depending on how sensitive your skin is.

Prolonged use of BP is known to cause premature aging of the skin and other long term skin damage. You'll want to stop using it eventually, and hopefully you've dealt with the problems that were causing you to get acne - or else it will come right back.

Be sure to get a moisturizer! Put it on after you put on the benzoyl peroxide (wait at least 5 minutes for the BP to absorb). This will prevent any flaking of your skin.

Try to only get Benzoyl Peroxide in concentrations of 2.5%. Anything higher isn't any more effective, and will only irritate your skin more.

Sulfur

I have not tried sulfur as a strategy for clearing adult acne all on its own, although I have used it in products that use it as one of the active ingredients. I have seen it to be more popular with online products.

Sulfur is not as effective as the previous two, although it has been around for quite some time. The "rotten egg" smell is a bit of a turn off for me, personally.

Prescription Medications

If you have severe acne and/or you've tried the treatment options given above, it may be a good time for you to try some more potent weapons. General doctors and dermatologists have a unique repository of tools for clearing adult acne.

You need them to fill out a prescription in order to obtain them. These can either be topical or oral (systemic) in application. Please be warned that due to the strength of their products, they usually come with a whole bag of side-effects. In general, the more effective the medication they prescribe, the longer the side-effect list gets.

As an adult you now have the decision to make yourself, please don't take it lightly. Try to work on natural treatment alongside the prescription medication, otherwise your acne will probably come back after you stop your prescription.

Topical Retinoids

This is the first line of offense your doctor will likely prescribe for you. They're particularly good at fighting comedonal acne (blackheads and whiteheads), but indirectly help with inflammatory acne as well.

This type of drug can be used for long periods of time so it may be prescribed even after you've cleared your skin for a while. Side effects are similar to over-the-counter products.

Topical Antibiotics

These work much faster than topical retinoids, and are better at fighting inflammatory acne such as papules and pustules.

Clindamycin and erythromycin are the two most popular and are considered to be equally effective.

If all of the above options haven't worked, it's time to take it up a notch in the world of clearing adult acne. These work even faster and are considered the big guns. Note that since you are now ingesting the antibiotics, the side effects now go up a notch as well. Resistance to antibiotics can also occur.

There's a few sub-notches in this group:

• Tetracyclines - I personally took these as a teenager, and it helped... but my acne came back
• Erythromycin
• Clindamycin
• Amoxicillin
• Cephalosporins
• Azithromycin (Zithromax)
• Trimethoprim sulfasoxazole (TMZ)

Oral Contraceptives

An option for women. If you decide to go on the pill and want it to help your acne too, be sure to mention that to your doctor. Oral contraceptives aren't created equal and not all of them will help your acne.

Light and Laser Therapy

There is a whole spectrum (haha!) of options available here as well. Not only can you kill P. acnes bacteria but you can also treat your scars. This is a new and developing field, and can be rather costly.

Accutane (Isotretinoin)

This is the doomsday weapon. This should only be used for very severe acne. It has been the only short term treatment that has shown long-term remission of acne in some cases. All the previous adult acne treatments depend on you sticking with them.

The catch? The side effects are ridiculous. Not only are they severe, many of them are long term. Proceed with caution. This is the ultimate way of clearing adult acne.

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