There are many different vitamins with which a vitamin deficiency of them can lead to acne problems. One such vitamin is Zinc. Zinc is one of the most important vitamins when attempting to fight and prevent acne due to its many uses and how important it is to the body and the skin. A vitamin deficiency in Zinc alone can cause acne breakouts and therefore maintaining healthy amounts of Zinc in one’s everyday diet is very important for those looking to either combat their current acne problem or to help prevent a future one.
Zinc acts as an antioxidant and this is one primary reason why it is so helpful against acne. Antioxidants help to clear the body of toxins and free radicals. These can cause various problems in different areas of the body, and in the skin these can lead to pimples and acne breakouts. Keeping the skin, the largest organ in the body, clear is only too important. Zinc helps to keep the skin clear and healthy and prevent the build-up of these toxins and free radicals, therefore being proactive and helping to prevent acne breakouts altogether.
Zinc is also proactive in the way that it regulates the oil glands. Although what exactly causes pimples is not known, it is known that the sebum excreted from the oil glands plays a big part in the formation of the pimples. Proper oil regulation can lead to fewer and smaller pimples and helps to prevent them from spreading once they do occur. The advantage here is clear and shows why Zinc can help to stop acne before it starts.
Once acne has occurred, Zinc is extremely important due to it being involved in healing tissue and preventing scarring. Those nasty acne scars that result from acne can be healed and prevented when proper amounts of Zinc are present in the body. Acne causes numerous problems and damages the skin in many ways and Zinc helps to heal this damage and keep the scarring to a minimal level.
Zinc also promotes a healthy immune system and helps in the healing of wounds, to top it off. A healthy immune system also lends a hand to preventing acne and Zinc helps to maintain that healthy immune system in a variety of ways. This is just icing on the cake for those who decide to take Zinc to help with their acne since taking Zinc will also make their immune systems that much healthier and perform that much better.
As is readily seen, the advantages of Zinc in the body, both in how it is necessary to fight and prevent acne and due to it being active in maintaining a healthy immune system, are numerous. A Zinc deficiency can be a leading cause of acne and therefore it is necessary for anyone looking to prevent future acne breakouts to look to consume healthy amounts of Zinc each and every day.
Tags: Acne5
Feb 02, 2010 | | Acne
Acne gives the combination of symptoms like greasy skin, white heads, black heads, pimples, inflammation and scar formation. Acne mostly affects young people in the age 14 – 25, but also sometimes older persons, like women in their menopause. Most teenagers experience outburst of acne, some only little, but for others acne may develop into a serious skin ailment with great cosmetic impact.
THE SKIN ANATOMY
To understand the acne process, some knowledge about skin anatomy and physiology is essential:
The skin has there layers: The outer layer called epidermis consists of epithelial cells. Under this lies the dermis consisting of connective tissue. At the bottom there is a layer called the hypodermis consisting mostly of fat cells.
The skin has narrow pores extending from the surface down to the top of the sub-dermis, called hair follicles. A hair extend from a growth zone in the bottom of each hair follicle and out at the skin surface. Around the hair in the dermis, there are small glands called sebaceous glands. These glands produce a fatty substance, sebum, which empty through the follicle opening and lubricates the hair and the skin.
THE ACNE PROCESS
Acne starts by the glands in the hair follicles increasing their sebum production. This will in the beginning only cause greasy skin. Eventually the sebum in the entrance of the follicles mixes with dead epithelial cells. This mix reacts chemically to forms hard props, comedones that close the pore entrances. According to the color of the comedones, they are called black heads or white heads.
Then the closed hair follicle gets filled with sebum and swell. The swollen follicle then gets infected by bacteria. The bacteria and the accumulated sebum cause the follicle and the surrounding skin to get inflamed, forming a pimple. At last the inflamed follicle burst and empties its content. Eventually the affected area heals. Sometimes the inflammation reaches deep into the skin surrounding the follicle and destroys skin tissue. This will cause more or less distinct scars that may reside permanently. Typically an affected person will have follicles in all these stages of the process at any given time.
THE CAUSES OF ACNE
The increased hormone production in the puberty stimulates to increased sebum production. The male hormone, testosterone, seem to contribute most. Also girls begin to produce more testosterone in the puberty. Also in other periods, altered hormone production may give acne, for example by women in the menopause.
Since not all teens get acne in any degree, the increased hormone level cannot be the whole cause of the increased sebum production. The follicles of affected persons must for some reason react stronger upon the higher hormone level.
Dietary factors, like eating too much fat, too much sugar or the wrong kind of fat may aggravate acne by some individuals. Lack of vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids may also contribute to development of acne.
Poor digestion, lazy colon and constipation aggravate acne in some individuals, probably due to productions of toxins in the intestines. Lazy colon may be caused by dietary faults, like lack of fiber.
Very frequent washing and use of strong soaps aggravate acne, and does not alleviate the condition as many think. Rubbing, scrubbing or squeezing the skin may also aggravate acne.
Here are some other factors that may contribute in causing acne or aggravating the condition.
- Stress
- Some contraceptive agents
- Environmental or domestic pollution.
- Humid environments.
- Some antidepressants.
- Testosterone and anabolic steroids used for treatment or by body-building.
- Use of some types of greasy cosmetic products.
- Some antiperspirant products.
- Exposing the skin for chlorine or other halogens, or medicines containing halogens.
- Women may get aggravated acne 2-7 days before menstruation.
WHAT CAN YOU DO YOURSELF TO AVOID OR TO TREAT ACNE
Sometimes Acne is so severe that special medical treatment is required, and sometimes the causes of acne necessitate medical treatment. But you can do much yourself also. Here are listed things you can do yourself to prevent or treat acne:
1. Some advices about diet that may help prevent and cure acne:
- Do not consume a great amount of fat.
- The fat you add to the food should be natural oils. Olive oil is ideal, but use other types of oils too, like walnut oil, sunflower oil and soy oil. However, do not use only soy oil as many tend to do. Using only soy oil will give you too much of some fatty acids and too less of others.
- Eat much fish, seafood and not so much meat.
- Eat food with a high fiber content to regulate the digestion, like vegetables, whole cereals, full corn bread and fruit.
2. Here are some things you should avoid.
- Do not use greasy or heavy cosmetics that clog your skin and are difficult to wash away.
- Do not use strong irritating antiperspirants.
- Do not wash with strong soap or cleaners that dry up your skin and take away all the natural oily protection in your skin.
- If you perform body-building, do not use anabolic steroids or other hormonal supplements.
- Use clothes that allow air to reach your body surface to avoid collection of humidity and overheating of your skin.
3. Use of rinsing milk or solutions
You can rinse your skin with mild products especially made to dissolve the plugs in your pores, and to make the environment in your skin unfriendly to bacteria causing infection. Some of these products are just products to wash your skin with one ore more times a day; others should be on during night and flushed away in the morning.
Salicylic acid is a mild ingredient often used in these products to dissolve the comedones. The products usually also contain ingredients that work antibacterial and stimulate the skin’s own cleaning activities, like Tea tree oil or Echinacea extract.
4. Use of gels and creams to treat acne and protect your skin
After the rinsing, you should apply some treatment gel, cream or lotion onto your skin to achieve these effects:
- To make your skin soft and elastic.
- To protect your skin against the environment.
- To acts further to dissolve the clogging of your pores.
- To soothe and alleviate inflammation.
- To kill the bacteria causing infection or make an environment hostile for the bacteria.
- To stimulate the skin to clean itself.
- To stimulate the skin to heal.
- To be used as a isolating layer between the skin itself and cosmetics
In order to protect, make the skin soft and further dissolve the comedones, many products contain natural plant oils that are easily absorbed into the epidermis, like Tea tree oil, Rose hip oil, Lavender oil and Olive oil.
Ingredients used in products to reduce inflammation and to stimulate healing may be: Aloe Vera extract, Viola Tricolour extract, Rose hip oil, Vitamin E and Vitamin A.
Tea tree oil and Grapefruit seed extract are natural antibacterial agents used in many of these products. In other products artificial compounds like Benzoyl peroxide are used.
5. Oral supplements to fight the acne process and nourish the skin
Supplements taken by mouth to nourish your skin may be useful. The purpose of these supplements is more or less the same as that of nourishing creams.
- To make the sebum more fluid so it drains more easily.
- To stimulate the substance exchange and cleaning processes in your skin,
- To stimulate your skin to heal,
- To give your skin building nutrients necessary to heal.
Ingredients often used in these supplements to stimulate the cleaning and healing processes in the skin are: Vitamins A, C, B1, B2, B3, B6, C, D, E, Folic acid, Beta carotene, Bioflavonoids, Magnesium, Copper, Zinc, selenium, anti-oxidants from Green tea, Metylsulfonyl methane.
Nutrient found in these products used as material to rebuild damaged skin and to give a sebum with better consistency are: Evening primrose oil, Olive oil, Flax seed oil, Borage oil, Soy oil, Wheat germ oil and Lecithin.
Gum guggul extract used in oral products has an anti-biotic effect, and helps against spreading of the acne infection and thus helps against scar formation.
Tags: Acne5
Jan 31, 2010 | | Acne
What is Acne?
Acne is a chronic disorder of the hair follicles and sebaceous glands. Some of the characteristics of acne include black heads, pimples, cysts, infected abscesses, and rarely scarring. Acne usually occurs during adolescence in both men and women. To be more specific, acne starts during puberty and tends to get worse for people with oily skin. Acne badly affects teenage boys. Only mild to moderate forms of acne occur in middle-aged women. Acne can be seen most commonly on the face. The other places where it can occur include the neck, chest, back, shoulders, scalp, and upper arms and legs. Most forms of acne are the result of heredity and hormonal problems and has nothing to do with a harmful diet or poor hygiene.
Types of acne
Acne starts in a similar way for all but can take different forms and can react in a unique way according to the body conditions of the individual. A basic lesion called the comedo is the begining of acne. The comedo is an enlarged hair follicle plugged with oil and bacteria residing under the surface of your skin, that waits for the right conditions to grow into an inflamed lesion. Whenever the skin produces more oil, the bacteria grows within the swollen follicle. The surrounding skin becomes increasingly inflamed as your white blood cells fight against the intruders. Two main types of acne include non-inflammatory acne and inflammatory acne.
Non-inflammatory acne
Closed comedo:
If the plugged follicle stays below the surface of the skin, the lesion is called a closed comedo. This usually appears on the skin as small, whitish bumps. This condition is otherwise called as whitehead.
Open comedo :
If the plug enlarges and pushes through the surface of the skin, the lesion is called an open comedo. The dark appearance of the plug is not due to dirt, but due to the buildup of melanin, the pigmentation element of the skin. This condition is otherwise called as blackhead.
Inflammatory acne
Papule:
This appears on the skin as a small, firm pink bump. The papules are tender in nature and are often considered an intermediary step between non-inflammatory and clearly inflammatory lesions.
Pustule:
These are small round lesions that are inflamed and contain visible pus, which appear red at the base with a yellowish or whitish center. Pustules do not contain a large amount of bacteria. The inflammation is caused by chemical irritation from sebum components such as fatty free acids.
Cyst:
These are large pus-filled lesions that are usually present deep within the skin. The cysts are very painful lesions, as they are inflamed. Cysts form as a result of the contents of a comedo spilling over the surrounding skin and due to the response of the local immune system in producing pus. The cysts often leave deep scars.
Acne conglobata:
This is a rare but serious form of inflammatory acne that develops primarily on the back, buttocks, and chest. In addition, to the presence of pustules and cysts, there may be severe bacterial infection.
Symptoms
The common symptoms of acne include persistent, recurrent red spots or swellings on the skin known as pimples. The pimples become inflamed and get filled with pus. The pimples usually occur on the face, chest, shoulders, neck, or upper portion of the back. Some of the other symptoms include dark spots with open pores at the center, which are known as blackheads, bulged spots under the skin without openings, which are known as whiteheads, and red swellings or lumps filled with pus, which are known as pustules. The pustules can develop from blackheads or whiteheads. Inflamed fluid-filled lumps under the skin known as cysts are also a symptom of acne. These cysts can become as large as an inch across.
Tags: Acne5
Jan 29, 2010 | | Acne
Ask anybody who has ever suffered from acne what was the least enjoyable part of the whole experience and probably the most possible answer will be the scars – acne scars that remain long after acne is gone. If having acne is considered bad, then what about having acne scars for several years more ? If acne scars are what you want to either avoid or get rid of, then a few tips are presented here …
Prevention is better than cure
If you are still in the early stages of acne then you might want to consult a qualified dermatologist at the earliest to prevent acne from getting worse. Getting rid of acne fast can greatly reduce the chances of scarring later on. A qualified dermatologist can help determine your skin type and the particular triggers that may exacerbate your acne help you get rid of acne fast.
What if you already have scars?
Well, if your acne has already progressed beyond the initial stage of whiteheads and blackheads and you now have pimples and scars on your face, then you have to do two things at the same time – get rid of pimples and get rid of acne scars.
Before discussing how to eliminate acne scars, you may want to know…
What are acne scars?
Acne scars are caused when pimples either get inflamed or do not heal fully. Acne scars are formed when at least one of the layers of healthy skin is injured. When the skin is damaged and bleeding, the body forms new tissue fibers at the place to heal the wound and stop the bleeding. It is these tissues that may appear as a scar.
So getting rid of scars requires that the scar tissue be replaced by healthy tissue by some process or method.
Becoming completely free of acne scars that already have been formed depends on two things : 1) The severity of the scarring and 2) the treatment method you follow. The more severe the scarring, the more effort and time it may require before the scar can completely heal.
Treatment methods for acne scar
There are several methods to heal acne scars but in practice very few of them may be very effective. And some methods may have side effects that you may want to be aware of before you start such a program.
Laser Resurfacing: A carbon dioxide laser burns away the damaged skin, layer by layer. The depth of penetration is controlled. As the outer layers of damaged skin is removed, new skin cells begin to form as the healing process starts and in a few weeks, a younger looking smoother skin surface begins to appear. This is how the process is supposed to work, at least in theory. Laser resurfacing is a relatively new process and you might want to ask your dermatologist about the effectiveness of this method in healing acne scars.
Dermabrasion: This uses a spinning diamond instrument or a rotating wire brush to wear down the outer layers of the skin that have been damaged. And when the skin starts healing, younger and smoother skin will replace the old skin removed by abrasion. The healing process may take up to 3 weeks.
Chemical peels for acne scars: Acidic solutions are applied to the skin to peel away the damaged layers and the new skin that is formed is usually smoother. Chemical peels range from mild to deep penetration. Though chemical peels can be applied at home, it would be advisable to get a dermatologist to apply it.
Punch grafts: More suitable for deep and pitted acne scars, this method involves punching a hole to remove the scar and then removing a small piece of undamaged skin – usually from the area behind the ear – and using it to replace the damaged skin.
There are treatments for acne scars. But the question you may want to ask is…
Do They Work?
All of the treatments mentioned above seem to have a moderate success rate – while they seem to work well for others, some are less than delighted with these treatments. While results like these may be expected with any medical procedure, your face is a very important part of your life and you will want to be absolutely certain that any treatment will be beneficial to your sense of well-being and not otherwise.
In case you want to read other acne treatments that seem to work very well, you may want to see how to get rid of acne marks .
Tags: Acne5
Jan 28, 2010 | | Acne
1 Know What You Buy
When it comes to acne treatment product most people just simply buying based on advertising they watch. Each people is different as well as skin, so before you buy acne treatment product make sure you know anything about your skin.
2. Acne Demand Great Deal of Patience
“You want to get rid from acne right away? Then buy this ABC product.” Saw something familiar? How many times you’d been enticed by those kind of ads, and I can guarantee 100% only disappointment you’ve get so far.
3. Never Pop Pimples!
When you get acne and see your face in front of mirror, did you hear those little sound screaming to you “Pop The Pimples!” Don’t hear that no matter how tempting it might be.
By doing so you just put yourself in long-term adversities. It will leave you scar and remove scar leaving by your “pop the pimples” act could literally consume a lot of time and money.
4. Be Careful with The Side Effect of Acne Treatment Product
Be informed about your skin type and acne treatment product you use. Easiest way to do so is just visiting your doctor and ask him/her about possibility of acne treatment product you use could occur some side effect.
A few side effects that may occur are:
- allergic reaction
- respiratory tract irritation
- flaking of the skin
- redness
- inflammation of the skin
To avoid this you could natural acne treatment product that use herb as their main material. One ingredient you will consistently find in natural
acne treatment products is tea tree oil, because tea tree oil kills bacteria.
the point here is before you use anything do some research first
5. Want to Remove Your Acne Scar and Do it Quickly and Efficiently?
Then you should consider trying acne laser scar treatment. I’m not a doctor, so don’t ask me the procedure, you can just phone the free line number of close medical center and ask for more information.
What you should consider to use this option is because it is fast, no side effect (ask your physician for confirmation) and not much pain involved.
Tags: Acne5
Jan 25, 2010 | | Acne