Effective Acne Control Solutions

Dealing with acne is tough enough when you’re the one suffering from it, but the problem seems to magnify when one of your children begins struggling with it. There are certain things that we parents say in an effort to try and explain to our children the “adolescent phenomenon.” We attempt to offer advice on how treat it most effectively, but generally there’s not enough acne education. The question we all need the answer to: What actually causes acne, and what treatment provides the best acne control?

The Cause of Acne

To completely understand the best methods of acne control, it is helpful to understand the factors that lead to the development of acne. One thing that most parents are well aware of during adolescence is that their child or children are changing. It can be a confusing time for anyone dealing with the advent of acne, but parents can help their children understand that acne can be controlled, even as their skin and physical being is going through its most extreme change since they were infants.

Acne is caused by three natural culprits: Dead skin cells, sebum from the sebaceous gland and the P-Acne bacteria, which we all have on our skin. When the three combine, clog a pore/follicle and the bacteria gains some growth traction, an inflammation occurs. If the inflammation has a sizable opening at the surface of the skin, the outside air will oxidize the acne “material” as well as the skin melanin and a black head, or open comedone, develops. A whitehead will develop in the same manner with the exception of the size of the opening at the skin’s surface—similarly it is considered a closed comedone.

Basic Acne Control

Most teens suffering from acne become frustrated because treatments don’t seem to work. In reality, most teens don’t offer true consistency to a treatment, or a daily skin care regimen in order for it to become an effective form of acne control. The younger we are, the more we want a quick fix. You may remember treating your own acne by simply washing your face more when you’d get a few pimples, or spot treating it with benzoyl peroxide.

The best acne control will come with consistency. Because the skin is going to shed naturally, and those skin cells could become a culprit in the formation of acne, a simple exfoliation and the use of certain acne treatment products such as salicylic acid and/or benzoyl peroxide in an exfoliating face wash will help to work wonders. Following a skin cleansing with a relaxing toner or astringent will help to offer the skin the best environment for serving its external purpose—protection. Add to this regimen a treatment such as benzoyl peroxide, and whether its teen acne or adult acne, such a regimen will help to control it.

A word on using benzoyl peroxide. Most often, people make the mistake of only using it as a spot treatment. While it can be used as such, and will help to reduce the life of pimple, it can also be used as a prevention when applied liberally. Because it is a powerful cleaning agent that will also kill the bacteria that causes acne, it can dry out the skin as the skin becomes used to it. To combat such, a simple moisturizer can be gently applied once the benzoyl peroxide has dried.

For more severe acne control, namely cystic or nodular acne, it is recommended that a dermatologist be consulted for professional treatments.