Acne Skin Care Treatment : Over-the-counter Treatments

Are you an acne sufferer? You may be thinking about the many convenient over-the-counter methods for treating your acne.

You are not alone. As a go-to solution, most people who are acne sufferers will just go to their local pharmacy and buy medication over-the-counter, based on whatever knowledge or information that they get. It could be recommendations from family members and friends, it could be that impressive sales copy from a magazine, it could be that television ad.

However, it is highly advisable to seek consultation with a qualified doctor before you get your hands on any kind of over-the-counter products. The doctor is able to give you his professional opinion on the best and most suitable course of acne skin care treatment for your case.

You can find large numbers of acne skin care treatment products hitting the shelves regularly, and so deciding on which is the best product can be a daunting task. You may be influenced by your friends. But what worked for your friends, may not necessarily work well on you. Your friends may have different levels of complexity of the acne condition, so it is really difficult to judge. The best way is to do your own research on the active ingredients in various acne skin care treatment medications. Here, I have outlined two of the most popular ingredients in acne treatments.

Benzoyl Peroxide

This is one of the most popular active ingredients in acne treatment medications. Found in ointments and gels, the benzoyl peroxide does it's job by fighting the bacteria which causes your acne. Not only that, it will also remove dead skin cells that collect on the surface of your skin. What has it got to do with skin cell? Well, it is these dead skin cells which, when combined with sebum, create the unsightly blackheads, whiteheads, and pimples.

Benzoyl peroxide has so far been proven to be safe and effective. It can also be used as an after-care solution to keep your skin free from the bacteria that causes acne. But like all the other ingredients out there, benzoyl peroxide does have one side effect. Prolonged usage of this ingredient will lead to dry skin. However, this can be prevented by slowly decreasing the frequency of the benzoyl peroxide that is applied to your skin.

Salicylic Acid

Besides the benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid is another popular ingredient used in acne treatment medications. What this acid does is to mainly clear up the dead skin cells which may accumulate too quickly, clogging up the pores as a result. The salicylic acid should continue to be used even after your skin is cleared of acne, to prevent any future outbreaks. Like benzoyl peroxide, the salicylic acid will cause you to have dry and irritated skin.

It is safe to say that the benzoyl peroxide is the most versatile among all the other ingredients for the battle against acne. It can be used in cleansing liquids, lotion, cream and gels which can be applied directly onto your skin. The creams and lotions can be applied onto the affected areas as and when required, while the cleansing medications are usually applied once or twice a day.

Just a word of caution : avoid getting the benzoyl peroxide into contact with your eyes, mouth or nose, as it will cause inflammation and some irritation.