There are several products on the market that can help treat your acne. The different kinds are hormonal therapy, topical antimicrobials, topical retinoids, and oral antibiotics.

Hormonal therapy is typically given in an oral contraceptive to women. This helps level out the amount of sebum being produced; which in turns helps acne less severe.

Topical Antimicrobials are used to treat the mild to moderate inflammation of acne. Topical antimicrobials can come in four different solutions: cream, lotion, gel or foam. Choosing the right form needs to be done by your dermatologist as this decision is made on your skin type.

There are also different kinds of topical antimicrobials available on the market right now; they are azelaic acid, benzoyl peroxide, clindamycin, erythromycin, and sodium sulfacetamide.

Azelaic acid is prescribed for mild to moderate inflammatory acne, and can create peeling of the skin. Benzoyl Peroxide is available over the counter and in many over the counter acne treatments and will kill the acne bacteria in your pore.

Clindamycin is an antibiotic that can be administered as a pill or a topical cream, it can cause dry skin. Erthromycin helps to reduce inflammation and acts as an anti microbial. Sodium sulfacetamide is a topical ointment that helps treat inflammation and open the pores.

Topical retinoids are used for mild to moderate severe acne. It works by unclogging pores, and allows the antibiotics to enter the hair follicle and kill the bacteria. There are three types of topical retinoids, they are as follow: adapalene, tazarotene, and tretinoin. Adapalene is a gel or cream that unclogs pores to allow the medication to kill the acne bacteria. Tazarotene is available in a gel or cream and is used to keep pores to clean.

Tretinoin is used to gradually unclog pores and keep them unclogged.

Oral antibiotics are prescribed for moderate to severe recurring cases of acne. They reduce redness and inflammation by killing the responsible bacteria. There are three types of oral antibiotics, they are as follows: erythromycin, tetracycline, tetracycline derivatives.

Erythromycin in the oral form is used to kill and prevent many different types of acne causing bacteria.

Tetracycline is used to treat papules, and pustules. This is typically prescribed when you are the victim of pus filled lesions. Tetracycline derivatives are doxycycline, and minocycline. Doxycycline is used to treat inflammatory acne, and minocycline is used to fight acne.

Alternatives to Medicine:

If you do not like the options listed above there are also several alternative routes that you can take to treat your acne. They are as follows: nutritional therapy, herbal medicine, aromatherapy, detoxification, fasting, and colon therapy, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, and meditation.

Nutritional therapy involves taking supplements of vitamins that are known to strengthen your skin and help fight acne. The vitamins are as follows: zinc, selenium, vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin E. Some foods that contain zinc are dried beans, wheat germ, oysters and clams.

Herbal medicines that help with acne can be derived from different types of plants. These herbal remedies can help eliminate the bacteria that cause the acne and inflammation. Some different herbs that can do this are as follows: tea tree oil, calendula, burdock and cleaver, and vitex.

Tea tree oil is made from a shrub that grows in Australia, and is well known for the antibacterial properties it possesses.

Calendula is also known as marigold. The marigold can be used as an anti-inflammatory and antibacterial after the dried flowers have been placed in hot water and steeped. After the flowers have been steeped and cooled they are applied to the skin like a face wash.

Burdock and cleaver are used in an alcohol and water solution that can be used as a cleanser. Vitex is also know as chasteberry. The chasteberry has been used to level out hormone levels in women. Aromotherapy products can be placed in water and used a face wash. The following herbs have proved to work: bergamot, chamomile, juniper, and lavender.

Detoxification, fasting and colon therapy can help with acne because some view acne as the body saying it can not get rid of the waste.
Homeotherapy can be used with the following prescriptions: kali bromatum, hepar sulphuris calcareum, and sulphur. But the prescription needs to be chosen specifically for each person.

Hydrotherapy works by placing ice on inflamed areas, soaking your skin in ocean water, or quickly rubbing your body with a cold wet washcloth.

Meditation can help lower yoru stress level and then help prevent acne caused by stress.

Acne is caused by a blockage of sebum oil in your follicle. This happens for reasons that are still not understood. There are different types of acne that all of us have experience. They are as follows: whitehead, blackhead, pustule, papule, nodule, cyst, and milia.

All kinds of acne begin as micromodome. A micromodome is a blockage under the skin that is not inflamed.

A white head begins as a micromodome. The white head is excess sebum that is caught below the skin surface. It may show on the skin surface as a white bump, or be completely invisible to the naked eye.

A blackhead begins as a micromodome also. A blackhead happens when the sebum reaches and break through the surface of the skin. The oxygen in the air turns the top layer the black color, hence the name. The oxygen reacts with the melanin that is in the sebum.

A papule happens when there is so much blockage that the follicle wall ruptures. After the wall ruptures white blood cells come rushing in to fix it and the area become inflamed.

A pustule forms after the papule. This is when the papule begins showing on the surface of the skin. So at this point you would have a broken follicle wall and inflammation, as well as the sebum seeping to the surface of the skin.

A nodule is when the complete follicle falls apart and becomes extremely inflamed and hurts to touch.

A cyst is a pus filled lesion that can hurt, or not hurt.

Milia occur when skin that is normally sloughed off get caught in little pockets on the skin.

Myths?

Washing your face more often helps stop acne.
~This is not true as acne is not caused by dirt; it is caused by a sebum back up in your follicle. Contrary to popular belief frequent washing may be the cause of your acne. The easiest way to avoid this is to wash your face only two times a day with your bare hands, as a washcloth could also cause irritation of the skin follicles.

Stress causes acne.
~Stress affects the hormones that may cause acne, but does not directly cause acne to happen. In order for the hormones form stress to affect acne you need to have an existing acne problem.

Masturbation or sex causes acne.
~Completely not true. This began in the 17th Century, young adults were told this so they would not have premarital sex.

The sun will help get rid of acne.
~This may help your skin for a short amount of time, but is not a long term solution.

How to properly pop a pimple:

Take the below steps to properly pop your pimple and reduce scarring.

Disinfect a sewing needle with rubbing alcohol.

Gently press the needle into the pimples surface, to break it.

Gently, but firmly squeeze from the bottom to release the fluid. DO NOT try to force the pimple as this will cause problems.

If you keep trying to force the pimple to pop you will probably end up scarring your face.

A PARP is also known as a Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase and it repairs damage done to our body, it is a useful function and basically a PARP enzyme regulates our body, repairing damaged DNA. Usually this is a normal function which stops cell death however Doctor de Bono and his colleagues have done research to suggest that cancer cells may use PARP repair method to their advantage.

An inhibitor cancer drug is a new type of cancer treatment which inhibits (stops) a function that cancer uses to its advantage. One of these is the PARP function. Currently PARP inhibitor clinical trials are featuring two parp drugs named BSI 201 (BiPar Sciences) and Olaparib (Astra Zeneca). These PARP inhibitors are in phase two trials and have been proclaimed to be a major breakthrough in cancer research.

PARP Inhibitors are currently being trialled for use in ovarian, breast and prostate cancer and are being trialled targeting mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. One of the reasons this drug is such a promising target is that it has shown significant anti-tumor effects and yet has caused no side effects (doesn’t appear needed for general healthy functioning) for those that have received the parp inhibitors. If PARP trials prove to be successful this may be one of the most exciting cancer treatments we have seen for a long time.

Currently one woman on the trial has shown a full recovery from advanced PARP breast cancer, whilst this is not a cure for cancer it has shown promising early signs in one third of those treated has reduced the size of tumors.

For more information please go to parp-inhibitors.com.