Products To Avoid When Treating Acne

There are many over-the-counter products available for treating and helping to prevent acne. Some are developed specifically for this purpose, and contain acne medications and substances designed to unclog pores and reduce the chances of acne from developing. Others are simply cleansers, designed to do nothing more than cleanse the skin and remove excess oils and dirt, which helps control breakouts.

So which products are helpful, and which could actually be harmful to your skin? Soap is one of the most basic products used to cleanse the skin, and for some people is okay to use on acne afflicted areas. It can, however, aggravate these areas depending on one’s skin type, skin sensitivity, and actual acne condition. That is why it is important to use a cleanser that will work best with these factors. This will help you avoid further irritation to the skin and will promote faster healing. If you have sensitive skin, stay away from fragrant soaps, as the chemicals in them can cause breakouts. If your skin is oily, use soaps that are virtually oil-free, as products containing a substantial amount of oil will add oil to your skin, causing the pores to become clogged and subsequent breakouts to occur.

Cosmetics can cause acne to worsen. Certain makeup products contain chemicals that while on the skin, clog the pores and irritate the skin, causing breakouts. If you are suffering more breakouts than normal, or if you feel something is irritating your skin, you may want to find out what is in your cosmetic products that might be causing this to occur.

Instead, use cosmetics that are non-cometigenic, meaning they won’t clog your pores. If a product irritates your skin, stop using it and find one that doesn’t. Product containers now contain information about what is in the product, and what it should be used for, and often times, what skin types it works best on. You can gain information by reading these labels.

As mentioned above, remember not to over wash your skin, as this can cause it to become irritated and breakouts to occur. Also, wash gently. Harsh scrubbing will not remove any more dirt and oil than gentle scrubbing, and will also cause irritation.

Do not squeeze pimples, as this causes the bacteria to go deeper within the skin, and the area around the pimple to become irritated and inflamed. Instead, cleanse the area and use a toner to alleviate the problem and bring out the pus.

Be sure to choose your acne products carefully. You might even try sticking to one brand for your daily regimen, as this will help you be consistent. Often times, a specific line of products is engineered to work together, and will promote healing and prevention in the same way.

Stay away from harsh products that can irritate your skin, and change products if what you are using is not working for you. Consult a physician if use of over-the-counter hygiene products isn’t doing the trick.

The relationship between the sun and wrinkles

Many may not be aware, but the sun and wrinkles are closely related with each other and reading further will help you piece together the relationship between the sun and wrinkles.

It is a fact that exposure to ultraviolet light, whether UVA or UVB, that is derived from sunlight, accounts for 90%PRCTG% of the symptoms of premature skin aging.

Since most of the photoaging effects occur by the age of 20, the amount of damage to the skin caused by the sun is determined by the total lifetime amount of radiation exposure and the pigment protection.

Among the changes in the epidermis caused by continued exposure to the sun include, many harmful, thinning of the epidermis and the growth of skin lesions such as actinic keratoses, squamous cell carcinomas and basal cell carcinomas,

Prolonged exposure to the sun cause collagen in the dermis to break down at a higher rate than just chronologic aging.

Collagen fibers get damaged by sunlight and causes the accumulation of abnormal elastin and when this sun-induced elastin accumulates, enzymes called metalloproteinases are produced in large quantities.

Under normal conditions, metalloproteinases are responsible for fixing sun-injured skin by manufacturing and reforming collagen.

However, this process does not always work well and some of the metalloproteinases actually break down collagen, resulting to the formation of disorganized collagen fibers known as solar scars.

And when the skin repeats this flawed rebuilding process, wrinkles develop.

As the sun continues to be the principal suspect in causing wrinkles, the most important skin-care product available to prevent wrinkles is sunscreen, but most people do not use sunscreen correctly.

It would be best to consider the important factors with sunscreen use, especially with the spectrum of UV radiation absorbed, the amount of sunscreen applied, and the frequency of application.

As mentioned earlier, the sun gives off ultraviolet (UV) rays that can be divided into categories based on the wavelength.

UVC radiation is absorbed by the atmosphere and does not cause skin damage, while UVB radiation affects the outer layer of skin, the epidermis, and is the primary agent responsible for sunburns.

UVB does not penetrate glass and the intensity of UVB radiation depends on the time of day and season.

UVA radiation, on the other hand, penetrates deep into the skin and works more efficiently and cannot also be filtered by glass, but overexposure to UVA can also be dangerous.

The intensity of UVA radiation is more constant than UVB without the variations during the day and throughout the year.

Regardless of their wavelengths, both UVA and UVB radiation can cause wrinkles as it breaks down collagen, creating free radicals, and inhibiting natural repair mechanisms of the skin.

A classification system of sun-sensitivity is the Skin Phototype (SPT) classification, which is being used to determine the potency and spectrum of protection that sunscreen formulations help protect from these radiation, as well as inhibit, if not minimize, wrinkles.

People with skin types I and II are at the highest risk for photoaging effects including wrinkles and skin cancer, thus the proper use of sunscreen to block both UVA and UVB radiation is an important in the battle against wrinkles.

As promised, the relationship between the sun and wrinkles has been established and the age old agae still holds true that says, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.