What I have finally learned about acne  

Finally I have learned what I wish I had learned before about acne, especially the horrid cystic acne.

Cystic acne spots will not come to a head, they need to disappear on their own.

Many of the things that you need for skin treatment and acne can be found in your local drug store.

Use a very mild cleanser for your skin. If you use Stridex pads, use them without alcohol.

Use a good GENTLE exfoilant 3 times per week, but do not use one that has rough grains in it. There is an excellent one by Ice Elements (at there website or on HSN) which is my Holy Grail product. It is a light weight gel which just rolls the dead skin off and removes plugs from your skin. Hot water is not necessary for your skin. The Ice Elements people are fantastic and give you very personal assistance over the phone.

Oily skin can be over treated and dry out, the result of this is that the oil glands will overwork and the cycle of oil, drying will repeat itself. Keep your skin moisturized with a light weight moisturizer. It can/can't include actives depending on what you use as a treatment.

Mineral makeup can be good for your skin, the ingredient Bismuth however, can be an aggravator. The product BE, Rare Mineral Blemish Therapy can work wonders on many people for blemishes, it works wonders for me for Cystic Acne, I put it on as soon as I feel the first burn and they are gone by the next morning. This is the only BE product that I use. There is also a night time treatment available but I have no experience with it.

I use a tiny bit of a Niacin cream from an on line Pharmacy under the Blemish Therapy, which helps reduce inflammation.

Green Cream, a high potency Retinol (less than prescription strength) is available on line. There are three levels, you can use it 3 times per week and increase your level over time.

If you have older skin, and are concerned about wrinkles and dark spots or spots from acne, a product called MaMa lotion is good. I alternate that with the Green Cream. MaMa lotion, has Malic and Mandelic acid which helps acne, aging and lightens dark spots from age or acne. You must use a sunscreen while using this product, everyone should use a sunscreen before adding makeup.

IF you use the Green Cream and/or the MaMa lotion or comparable products available in the drug stores, you may want to put a moisturizer on over your green cream, if so use a non-active moisturizer. That means not including any ingredients such as Retinol, benzoyl peroxide, sacylic acid, Vitamin C, etc. Complex 15 or other very pure creams or lotions are fine. These products are used at night. When applying your makeup you may use moisturizers that have active ingredients.

As I have slowly learned about skin care I have learned about serums that are helpful but the basics are here. Studies have shown that chocolate does not cause zits but only you know if that is the case. While I have mentioned a few products that are expensive, for the most part there are equivalent products in the drugstore except for the exfoilant. I have done a lot of damage to my skin by using a drug store brand. I am not paid, nor am I selling any product. Drug store brands are getting better and better. Olay and Neuterogena are top quality and in the makeup arena some of the really inexpensive brands are down right fabulous.

Hope this helps some of you. I take a lot of medication and I know that is toxic to my system. None of these are on conflict with my medications. I can answer questions to the best of my ability.