Acne Prevention, Treatment & Correction

Acne, pimples, zits, blackheads, whiteheads, blemishes, whatever you want to call them, they appear out of nowhere to ruin your day. No one wants acne, especially on ones face. Getting rid of acne is about prevention, treatment and correction. Preventing acne is about keeping your skin and pores clean, protecting your skin from damage, and using the right products. Acne treatments are about using the right products to clean out your pores and reduce the inflammation caused by acne. Correction means breaking bad habits and using the right tools to lighten the scars.

Prevention

Wash Your Face
Preventing acne from appearing on your face is all about keeping your face clean and clear of oil and bacteria. Wash your face daily to remove excess oil, dirt and bacteria that can clog your pores. Use an oil-free face wash that contains salicylic acid. Salicylic acid is an antibacterial that will remove bacteria and exfoliate your skin by removing dead skin cells to reveal fresh new cells.

Facial Brush
Use a facial brush to lessen the oil and bacteria on the skin. Handheld facial brushes especially the ones with rotating brush heads loosen up clogged pores. Use a facial brush on a regular basis to keep the oil from building up on your skin.

Sun block
Applying sun block to your skin, especially your face is always necessary to protect your skin. However, sun block can be oily which can clog up your pores. Additionally, fragrances can irritate sensitive skin, causing it to breakout. Choose oil free, and fragrance free sun block, to not only protect your skin from the UV rays but to prevent an acne breakout.

Makeup
Makeup is part of most girls’ daily routine. Some won’t even leave their house without it on. Unfortunately, this must have for most women can also be clogging your pores and causing zits. Foundation is your base makeup the first layer before you put on any thing else. It evens out the texture and tone of your entire face. The kind of foundation you use can be the difference of whether your skin breaks out or stays smooth and clean. Oil free foundation that contains salicylic acid will neutralize bacteria already present on the skin and stop your base makeup from contributing to new pimples.

Treatment

First Spot treatment
There are tons of spot acne treatments available that can be purchased online, at the store or even thru a specialty shop. At the first sign of a pimple hit it with benzoyl peroxide. This will dry out the acne making it disappear just as quickly as it appeared. Benzoyl peroxide is an antiseptic and anti-inflammatory. Therefore cleaning out the pores and reducing any redness at the same time. The faster you catch them the easier it will be to make them vanish.

Reduce Inflammation
Even worse than acne appearing on your skin are the symptoms they bring along, pain, mounds and redness. A bright red blemish is like a big old sign that says look at me. To reduce the inflammation that comes along with acne blemishes use hydrocortisone cream. After topping your pimple with benzoyl peroxide apply hydrocortisone cream over top to reduce the selling and redness.

What you have on Hand
If you’re out of luck and don’t have any spot acne cream on hand, you can always use toothpaste. Apply a small amount of white opaque toothpaste to the top of your blemish. Leave on over night so it will dry out the zit, then wash off.

Correction

Bad Habits
Popping pimples is a bad habit, but it’s a hard habit to break. Once you see a pimple appearing the first thing anyone wants to do is to make it go way. And the self-conscious aspect of humanity makes us want to pop that pimple to make it go way. However, popping pimples only makes them more red, bigger and painful. And will leave you with an acne scar. Plus popping your pimples can actually spread the bacteria around your face causing more acne. So do your best to stop popping your pimples.

Dealing with Acne Scars
If the damage from popping pimples is already done then its time to take corrective measures to get rid of those acne scars. If lightening your skin with a bleaching agent or removing acne scars with a laser procedure is not in your budget then try something not as expensive, hydroquinone cream. Apply to your acne scars daily to lighten the area surrounding your scars and soon there will be no scars to be seen.