Sunday, September 6, 2009

OTC Acne Treatment Ingredients

By Larry Furgeson

It's difficult not to gaze at the thousands of acne products available while navigating through the skin care aisle at your local pharmacy. It seems that a new, allegedly more effective product is introduced to the market on a daily basis. The disturbing part to this phenomenon is that consumers readily buy the newest acne products, hoping to get some relief from their breakouts. A simple examination of the product labels plastered on your favorite acne products should reveal that most of them contain the same ingredients. Does it really make sense to chase after the latest and greatest treatment when it is nothing more than a rework of your last product? We think not.

Benzoyl peroxide is the most prevalent and ingredient in most acne products. It can treat several contributing factors to acne. It kills acne bacteria and improves skin cell turnover, which is the primary cause of acne. Dead skin which fails to slough off instead penetrates and obstructs pores, trapping sebum and bacteria. No OTC medications aside from benzoyl peroxide attacks both the bacteria and normalizes the shedding cycle.

Most acne treatments consist of at least a few steps. You have to wash and cleanse the skin, apply an toning solution and thereafter some topical products. Cleansers and topicals are often plentiful in benzoyl peroxide. Some may contain other ingredients, like sulfur or witch hazel.

If a regular tube of benzoyl peroxide in addition to a gentle cleanser does not work for you, you can essentially guarantee that no other OTC product will. If you buy into the clever marketing tactics of the skin care companies, which like to fool consumers with elaborate graphs and convincing testimonials on the backs of their products, you will lose. A cheap tube of benzoyl peroxide is all you may ever need.

Be sure to purchase only the low concentration form of the topical, which should be 2.5%. You can find it in 5% and 10% variations, however, these only produce more irritation without any further improvement. Use a moisturizer if the low concentration proves to irritating as well.

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1 comment:

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