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Get Rid of Acne Now With an Over The Counter Acne Medication
What over the counter acne treatment will work best for you? Lets take a look at some active ingredients in the most common over the counter acne treatments and what these ingredients actually do.
Benzoyl peroxide is a common ingredient that works as a peeling agent; it's also a mild bleach and can accidentally bleach your clothes. So how does it help your skin? It increases skin cell turnover, which clears your pores, and is also an antibacterial agent.
Over the counter acne creams or gels that have benzoyl peroxide in them are usually 2.5%; although 5-10% benzoyl peroxide creams are also available. But 2.5% is better tolerated and treatments with 5-10% have not been seen to be more effective. So If you want to start using benzoyl peroxide, it's a good idea to start with a 2.5% cream.
Benzoyl peroxide does have side effects: skin dryness, irritation, but most persons develop tolerance within a week or so. Once your skin has developed tolerance to the current dose, you may want to gradually increase the amount you apply so as to attain tolerance at a higher dose; this will clear your skin more rapidly. But if you apply too much or too frequently, this could cause excessive dryness and irritation of your skin.
Salicylic Acid is a phytohormone--a plant hormone that helps resistance against pathogens and infection. It helps plant cells signal other cells within the same plant, and other plants also; it does this when the plants cells are attacked by bacteria. Even though it's naturally available from white willow bark, most commercially prepared salicylic acid is actually biosynthesized from the amino acid phenylalanine.
Skin cells turnover at a certain rate; applying salicylic acid to skin cause this cell turnover to speed up. New skin cells appear more rapidly and this prevents pores from becoming clogged with oil, sebum, and dead cells. Even though it is found in many over the counter acne treatments, many may not know that oral salicylic acid is used everyday as aspirin.
To learn more--read part 2 of this article on over the counter acne treatments at Dr. M's website or blog.
About the Author To learn more on what over the counter acne treatment to use, visit Dr. M's blog. Dr. Alex Hroz writes about issues that affect your well-being, such as teenage acne, with the goal of improving your well being. Get a free pdf guide about over the counter acne treatments and learn how to get rid of acne fast: visit Dr. M's site by clicking the link.
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