Popular Acne Treatments - 3 Treatments Offered by Medical Experts Today

Acne is a very devious skin disorder. Your face can stay clear and blemish free for a certain period but without warning, pimples, cysts and pustules can pop out. For people who have been suffering from the effects of long-term acne (some acne starting as early as nine years old), it can be very traumatic, often resulting to withdrawal from social activities. Relationships can be affected as well as routine and social interaction. It is a deep-seated physical as well as emotional disease that can literally and figuratively scar a person for life.

Because of this, some people resort to more drastic solutions to reducing acne. Some acne treatments that are offered by medical experts today include laser treatment, cosmetic procedures and some experimental procedures like detoxification therapy.

1. Laser Treatments

Laser treatment is considered to be one of the more popular skin care treatment. There are many types of laser and light-based treatments but the following are the most common:

a) Blue-light therapy
This has already been approved by the FDA and the most popular type of acne laser treatment. It works by destroying P. acnes, the bacteria responsible for causing acne. It is also used as an alternative to treat acne which has proven stubborn against other forms of treatment. Blue-light therapy is considered a breakthrough because it does not make use of ultraviolet light which has been discovered to damage skin and at sum, promote skin cancer.

b) Pulsed light and heat energy therapy
This involves mixing light pulses and heat to destroy P. acnes. Pulsed light and heat energy therapy also reduces the skin's ability to produce oil or sebum. It works by shrinking the sebaceous glands and is used to treating moderate acne.

c) Pulsed dye laser treatment
As yet, there have been no consistent results with this type of laser treatment to date. In this treatment, a low-energy pulsed light is used to treat acne as well as acne scars. However, random healing of subjects with mild to moderate acne has been reported but no definitive results have yet been determined from the experiments.

2. Cosmetic procedures

Cosmetic procedures have long been resorted to by the rich and famous for erasing wrinkles and other fine lines. Studies have shown that when used with other treatments, it can effectively reduce the effects of acne. Chemical peels using salicylic acid or glycolic acid can help unclog pores that give rise to acne. It also removes whiteheads and blackheads and clear away dead skin cells. Another method that is gaining popularity is microdermabrasion which uses crystals to exfoliate the skin, unclogging the pores and reducing the appearance of acne.

3. Detoxification

This is one of the experimental forms of getting rid of acne. This, however, is based on sound medical philosophy. The body, due to internal problems and accumulated toxins in the body often manifests its physical symptoms in skin disorders like eczema, psoriasis and acne. Detoxification can be simply done through fasting. You must be careful and ease slowly into the detoxification process by careful apportioning of food. A vegetable, fruit and nut diet can be followed during this period. If you need protein in your diet, you can start the first few days of the diet with lean white meat like turkey and slowly eliminate it in your dietary intake.