Simple methods to prevent mild acne: The best way to treat and prevent mild acne is to wash your skin with a gentle cleanser in the morning, evening, and after heavy exercise. Astringents, scrubs, and masks are often harsh on the skin, producing irritation that will lead to more acne. There are many over-the-counter and prescription treatments, including lotions, antibiotics, and oral contraceptives. Look for lotions with benzoyl peroxide, resorcinol, or salicylic acid to dry excess oil and promote peeling. Do not pick or squeeze blemishes because you may push the infection deeper into the skin and cause scars. Avoid oily and greasy cosmetics, sunscreens, and hair products; only use products labeled “water-based” or “noncomedogenic.” More serious forms of acne may require treatment by a dermatologist. Source: princeton.edu

 
Skin Care Tips: Wash your face with tepid, not hot water, and use a facecloth and mild soap to wash off dead skin cells. Choose a soap that’s suited for your skin type (oily, normal, or dry). People with oily skin may need to wash their faces two or three times a day. Don’t wash your body with hot water or harsh soaps that will dry and irritate the skin. If you have dry skin, only wash your underarms, genitals, face, feet, and hands with mild soap. Pat yourself dry with a towel, rather than rubbing, and apply moisturizer immediately.

 
Minocycline for acne vulgaris: efficacy and safety. Minocycline is a tetracycline antibiotic that is commonly used in the treatment of moderate to severe acne vulgaris. Although it is more convenient for patients to take than first-generation tetracyclines, as it only needs to be taken once or twice a day and can be taken with food, it is more expensive. Concerns have also been expressed over its safety following the deaths of two patients taking the drug. There is a lack of consensus among dermatologists over the relative risks and benefits of minocycline. As most acne prescribing is undertaken by general practitioners, it is important that guidelines issued to them are based on the best available evidence rather than personal judgements.

Conclusions: Minocycline is likely to be an effective treatment for moderate acne vulgaris, but this review found no reliable RCT evidence to justify its continued use first-line, especially given the price differential and the concerns that still remain about its safety. Its efficacy relative to other acne therapies could not be reliably determined due to the poor methodological quality of the trials and lack of consistent choice of outcome measures. Similarly the relative risk of adverse drug reactions could not be ascertained reliably and no recommendations can be made concerning the appropriate dose that should be used. It is hoped that this review will highlight the inadequacy of acne trials in general and encourage improvements in methodological quality and standards of reporting. Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 
Smoothbeam Laser Treatment: The Candela Smoothbeam uses a combination of skin heating and cooling to selectively heat the middle layer of the skin. By heating that layer (the dermis), it is possible to gently treat a variety of skin problems. The laser is FDA approved to treat wrinkles, acne and acne scars. In addition the Smoothbeam laser has been reported to improve sebaceous hyperplasia and other skin problems. One of the benefits to the Smoothbeam laser is the low chance of side effects. The most common side effect is mild redness in spots lasting about a few hours. Rare side effects can include blistering or color changes. Scarring is extremely rare, but possible with any treatment of the skin. Even though the laser is cutting edge technology, there is a chance it may not sufficiently treat your skin problem. Read more about this therapy at: bcm.edu

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• smoothbeam laser treatment reviews
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High school dietary dairy intake and teenage acne: Previous studies suggest possible associations between Western diet and acne. We examined data from the Nurses Health Study II to retrospectively evaluate whether intakes of dairy foods during high school were associated with physician-diagnosed severe teenage acne.

METHODS: We studied 47,355 women who completed questionnaires on high school diet in 1998 and physician-diagnosed severe teenage acne in 1989. We estimated the prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals of acne history across categories of intakes.

RESULTS: After accounting for age, age at menarche, body mass index, and energy intake, the multivariate prevalence ratio (95% confidence intervals; P value for test of trend) of acne, comparing extreme categories of intake, were: 1.22 (1.03, 1.44; .002) for total milk; 1.12 (1.00, 1.25; .56) for whole milk; 1.16 (1.01, 1.34; .25) for low-fat milk; and 1.44 (1.21, 1.72; .003) for skim milk. Instant breakfast drink, sherbet, cottage cheese, and cream cheese were also positively associated with acne.

CONCLUSION: We found a positive association with acne for intake of total milk and skim milk. We hypothesize that the association with milk may be because of the presence of hormones and bioactive molecules in milk.

Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 
Acne Bug and Infections: Previously, researchers thought the detection of P. acnes at the site of these infections was due to contamination from the skin. For example, an infection at a site within the body after surgery, could have been caused by bacteria transferred to an open wound from the skin during an operation. But recent research has contradicted this, suggesting P. acnes already within the body, may be the cause. Although it is often disregarded as a harmless bystander when found in blood and tissue swabs taken from patients, we should not rule out this bug in the diagnosis of disease.

People who are wrongly diagnosed may go on to develop complications of their infection if the wrong bug is the target for treatment. So it is vital that infection with P.acnes is not ignored, and that the public are made aware of this overlooked bug. Professor Peter Lambert, expert in P.acnes infection from Aston University said: “it is important to recognise that this organism has the ability to grow slowly inside our body cells as well as on the surface of medical devices in the body. It has long been associated with common acne, where it contributes to the inflammation and pain. Recent studies show that it might also be involved in other important conditions such as prostate cancer.” Source: eurekalert.org

Incoming search terms:

• teenager acne bugs

 
Acne in the general population: the risk of smoking. Acne is a common skin disorder, but epidemiological data from the general population obtained by examination are scarce. Clinical experience suggests an association between smoking and acne, although confirmatory evidence from appropriate studies is lacking. CONCLUSIONS: Smoking is a clinically important contributory factor to acne prevalence and severity. Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 
Caring for Your Skin: What instructions should we give our kids about taking care of their skin properly? One is to gently clean their skin, especially the face, once in the morning and once in the evening, and also after strenuous exercise. Avoid using strong sopas or rough scrubs, especially on young skin. For boys, it’s a good idea not to introduce shaving before it’s necessary, though young boys are always eager to experiment with their fathers’ shavers. For girls, hold off on the use of cosmetics; once they do start using them, choose them carefully: always make sure they are oil-free. Teenagers should avoid sunburns, which can damage the skin and cause even small lesions to grow and become a major problem. Don’t wait to get treatment for acne. It’s a tremendously difficult condition, and it can put unnecessary strain on your teenager’s life. Many treatment options exist, and often tesults are quick to come by. Source: foxnews.com

 
Spot on treatment for acne. A previously unknown side effect of an unnamed drug currently on the marketplace could be useful for treating acne, reports Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI. A UK company is about to start a Phase 1 trial with the drug involving 18 healthy human volunteers and the results are expected to be announced later this year. In an earlier Phase 1 study in nine healthy human volunteers, the treatment was seen to reduce the excretion of sebum by the skin, which is associated with acne development, by up to 70%. ‘The Phase I results are startlingly good,’ said Nigel Blackburn, director of clinical development at the company, Summit, which is organising the trial. ‘Reducing sebum production has been the “holy grail” of acne treatment for 30 years, and there has been little success aside from Roaccutane which has significant side effects.’ Read the full article at: eurekalert.org

 
Does smoking influence acne? One hundred and sixty-five patients with acne completed a questionnaire on smoking habits. Amongst 96 males, 19.7% were smokers (95% confidence interval 12.4-29.2%) compared to an expected prevalence of 34.5% from national statistics (P < 0.001). For 69 females, a prevalence of 12.1% (95% confidence interval 6.1-23.3%) was obtained compared to 32.7% expected (P < 0.001). The findings of this study support the hypothesis that some component of cigarette smoke, possibly nicotine, has an anti-inflammatory action on acne. Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov