Archive for the ‘ Skin Conditions ’ Category

Birth Control Pills & Acne

Monday, June 13th, 2011

Are Birth Control Pills an Effective Acne Treatment?

Acne Pills? If you suffer from acne, you have probably heard of the same three or four remedies over and over again … don’t pick your pimples, wash your face twice a day, use Clearasil and try birth control pills. However, there are plenty of considerations to take before you even book an appointment with the doctor to get those pills, and the most important one of those is whether they will actually be an effective treatment for your skin! Today we check out the literature and advice on using birth control pills as an acne treatment.

How are birth control pills supposed to help with acne?

There are actually myriad causes of acne, with a substantial list of factors interacting in different ways to cause pimples and blackheads. One of these potential causes is a high concentration of androgens, male hormones that cause thickening of the skin and increased oil secretion. Androgens are the reason that men often have more severe acne than women, and it is thought that the oestrogen in birth control pills helps counterbalance this excess of male hormones.

Can guys use birth control pills for acne?

No doctor will prescribe birth control pills for males. Messing around with your hormonal balance at any stage of life (but especially at puberty) can cause widespread and sometimes unexpected and serious bodily changes. Birth control pills can only be considered as an acne treatment if you’re female.

Will birth control pills help clear up my acne?

There are many causes and contributors to acne, including:
• A tendency to develop blocked pores
• Excessive sebum production
• Ineffective wicking of the sebum out of the pore (hair usually helps transport the sebum to the surface of the face)
• Ease of colonisation with p. acnes, the bacteria that causes pimples

If the cause of your acne is excessive sebum production and/or a tendency to develop blocked pores due to thick skin, AND these factors are caused by high androgen levels, AND you are female, birth control pills may help!

However, if your acne is caused by factors other than androgens or you are male, birth control pills will be little use to you.

Will any type of birth control pill help with acne?

Some types of birth control pills can raise androgen levels within the body. If you are prone to breakouts, let your doctor know when you get a prescription, so she or he can choose a brand with a net androgen suppressing effect.

Also, there is no evidence yet that the quarterly contraceptive injections (usually Depo-provera) or the slow-release hormonal contraceptives that are inserted subcutaneously are useful in treating acne.

Are there any side effects?

It is difficult to find an acne treatment with more side effects than birth control pills have! While they are a good solution for women who would have taken them for contraceptive purposes anyway, everybody needs to consider that:
• Your risk of blood clots (ie, strokes and thromboses) is slightly increased by taking contraceptive pills
• Cervical cancer is more common in smokers who take birth control pills
• The pill can cause weight and mood changes in some women

What are the alternatives to birth control pills for acne treatment?

Although acne can be a difficult condition to manage, there are currently plenty of safe and effective treatments, including:

Laser acne treatment: To help kill of colonies of p. acnes, fill in scars and slow sebum production.

Topical retinoids: To increase cellular turnover, prevent blockages in the pores and kill bacteria by exposing them to the air.

Benzoyl peroxide: Works in the same way as topical retinoids.

Oral antibiotics: To help prevent colonisation with p. acnes.

Nowadays, there really is no need to suffer with basically untreated acne. There are plenty of creams, gels, solutions, lasers and pills that can help with your skin … and many are more widely suitable and have fewer side effects than birth control pills!

Posted in Acne and Acne Scarring, Skin Conditions | No Comments »

Amazing Results from Acne Scar Treatment

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

Our Supporting Regimen for Amazing Results from Acne Scar Treatment

Lasers have truly revolutionised the way that we perform cosmetic procedures, making them safer, faster and less risky. Who would have though, thirty years ago, that a laser could remove scars, get rid of freckles, stop you from getting acne … AND clear up the acne scars?! Acne scar treatment with laser therapy has been proven to be safe and effective … but it can be discouraging to complete when you go back home and start getting new lesions some time later that just create new scars. Today we check out the highly effective skincare regimen that can help you get the most lasting results from laser acne scar treatment, using ordinary chemist-bought products.

Daily Skincare Regimen Post-Acne Scar Treatment

In order to keep your skin as clear as possible and help prevent any new breakouts that impair the results of your laser acne scar treatment, follow the simply 3-step regimen in the morning and at night time.

Step 1: Cleanse
• Apply a very generous amount of cleanser designed for acne-prone skin (not soap!!) to your hands
• Work up a good lather on your hands
• Apply the cleanser to all of your acne-prone areas, especially the areas that had laser acne treatment
• When you’re applying the cleanser, use an ultra-light touch. Irritating your acne has been scientifically proven to make it spread and become worse
• Pat your face dry very carefully, without rubbing or scrubbing

Step 2: Apply Benzoyl Peroxide
Benzoyl peroxide increases the cell turnover rate of your skin, meaning that populations of P. acnes bacteria don’t have a chance to get a foothold. If you had laser acne treatment, the light energy will have destroyed much of the bacteria colony within your skin – the benzoyl peroxide helps to maintain those results.
• Choose a 2.5% formulation of benzoyl peroxide. Some chemists sell up to 10% formulations, however these can be quite drying. If you’ve had laser acne treatment, your skin will be producing little sebum and with stronger solutions may become excessively dry.
• Wash and dry your hands before applying, so you don’t spread oil or bacteria over your face
• Apply small dabs of benzoyl peroxide all over your face
• Gently rub it over your face, not into your face
• Avoid the area around your eyes
• Leave the benzoyl peroxide on
• At the beginning, use smaller amounts of benzoyl peroxide to help stop your skin reacting badly.

Step 3: Moisturise
If you’ve had laser acne treatment, your skin won’t be producing as much sebum … that’s it’s mechanism of action! After ordinary laser acne treatment or acne scar treatment, your skin might be particularly dry. Using the right moisturiser is vital to helping prevent new pimples and helping it heal.
• Use a 20 cent piece-sized amount of moisturiser
• Avoid the eye area, so that you don’t spread benzoyl peroxide there
• If your moisturiser doesn’t seem strong enough to control flakiness, add 5-6 drops of jojoba oil and mix it through your bottle. Jojoba oil will not block your pores.

We love seeing the fabulous results that laser acne treatment and laser acne scar treatment create … if you follow the simple regimen, you’ll give yourself the best chance of keeping those fabulous results!

Posted in Acne and Acne Scarring | No Comments »

Laser Acne Treatment

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

Laser Acne Treatment: Will It Work for You?

Laser acne treatment is often held up as one of the gold standards in taming zits and pimples. It has the potential to help fill in acne scars and substantially decrease oil production, as well as decimating the populations of bacteria that feed off the oil to create those horrible red and yellow monsters. However, most of us are taught that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is … and many suitable candidates for improved skin have ignored laser treatment for this ironic reason. Laser acne treatment is not a ‘miracle solution’ – but it is definitely one of the most effective weapons in the arsenal. Today we look at the skin types and conditions that laser acne treatment works best for, to help answer the question – “Will laser acne treatment work for you?”.

Types of Acne Most Suited to Laser Treatment

Laser acne treatment works best on several specific types of acne:
• Papules: By reducing the populations of p. acnes in your skin
• Pustules: By reducing the populations of p. acnes in your skin
• Whiteheads: By reducing your skin’s oil production
• Blackheads: By reducing your skin’s oil production

Laser acne treatment is less effective at treating nodular and cystic acne (where you have painful, large lesions deep within the skin). The wavelengths of light used in laser acne treatment are not able to reach that far into your skin.

Best Lasers for Acne Treatment

There is quite a large variety of different lasers, and not all of them are suited to laser acne treatment. The wavelength of the particular laser will determine what substance in your skin it is attracted to; some lasers are attracted to water in your skin, some to melanin, some to the haemoglobin in blood, and some target the sebaceous glands in your skin.

The Candela Smoothbeam is one of the most respected and widely used lasers for acne treatment. It operates at a wavelength of 1450nm, a setting which has very little attraction to either the melanin or haemoglobin in your skin, but it strongly attracted to water.

Laser acne treatment will work best for you if the laser used is specifically designed for acne treatment and acne scar treatment; if your clinic uses the same laser and wavelength setting for hair removal and acne treatment, you’ll get poor results.

Skin Types Best Suited to Laser Acne Treatment

Unfortunately, despite what Cosmo and Cleo would have you believe, there are far more different skin types than just ‘Oily’, ‘Dry’, ‘Combination’, ‘Tans easily’ and ‘Burns easily’! There are literally dozens of different skin types, with combinations of oiliness, proneness to blockages, natural melanin content, melanocyte’s sensitivity to UV light … etc. Laser acne treatment is effective for most skin types, however rarely a skin type that has a poor reaction to the laser may be encountered, and treatment cannot continue.

Duration of Effectiveness

Acne is caused by a range of genetic factors, possibly in combination with various lifestyle factors such as exercise levels, exposure to UV, diet and exposure to pollutants. Laser acne treatment cannot erase these genetic factors, but it can mitigate them over the medium term. Regular treatments, often in conjunction with other medical therapies, usually work best for acne. There are few people for whom laser acne treatment as a sole therapy, will ‘work’ in the long term.

Laser acne treatment will work, usually to a significant extent, for most people. The best way to know and experience the results for yourself is to come in for a personalised consultation and a trial session!