Acne, sometimes known as Zits, is a menace to people who suffer from it; but that doesn’t mean it’s something that can’t be tackled. Research in skin care treatment has been advancing for some time now; gradually more effective topical treatments are being discovered and made available. The acne skin care products available fall into these categories:

• Over-the-counter: Preventative
• Drugstore: Relief treatment
• Prescription only: From a doctor or dermatologist for more serious conditions

General acne products are used as a preventative measure and include cleansers, make-up removers and other similar products that can help prevent acne. This is a market where many people use this type of product every day to condition their skin. They use these products to protect their skin from the environment even if they do not have the acne condition.

There are acne skin care products that are more specialized in there approach and are formulated to reduce and limit the amount of oil in the pores of our skin. These products prevent the oil from getting trapped in pores which is what encourages bacterial growth that leads to acne.

General skin care treatments also include special exfoliation products like skin peels. They work by reducing oil plus other contaminants from the skin and in the pores; this can reduce harmful bacteria and stop their chance of growth.

Many different, specially formulated acne skin care products designed to reduce the problems have now been made available without a prescription. Skin care products have been formulated to extract the excess oil that bacteria need to promote the development of acne. These products have benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid as ingredients which the bacterium reacts badly too.

You should start with a product that has lower concentration of benzoyl peroxide (e.g. 5%) and see how your skin responds. Alpha-hydroxy-acid based moisturizers are also popular as a skin care regime. As with any type of zit creams, you may need to try a few acne skin care products until you find one that will suit your skin. If this is proving difficult, your dermatologist should be able to help.

Prescription treatments are prescribed by a dermatologist and can include ointments that can be applied on the affected area or oral antibiotics or just any topical ointment. Under certain circumstances, having the infected material removed from the pores under a local anesthetic may be suggested by your dermatologist. This is something you should never attempt yourself.

An alternative that has been shown to work well is hormone therapy. Studies have shown that hormones can cause acne and skin care treatments that are hormone based have proved to be effective in many cases. Tackling this skin condition is not the problem it once was and if treated properly, permanently marked skin doesn’t have to happen.

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