If you have a Mount Etna that’s trying to erupt on your face, you want it gone. You don’t care whether it’s caused by a hormone, a microbe or you’re uncle’s genes. Just make the bad thing go away. On the internet, you’re going to find all sorts of conflicting information as to the best method of eliminating zits, blackheads, whiteheads and ugly pustules caused by acne. Most information out there is all about globbing stuff on your zits. However, appallingly few sites deal with the root cause of those zits.
What happens if you don’t fix the root cause?
Let’s examine the significance of not dealing with the root cause of acne. Say, you’re sitting there with Mount Etna on your face. You hop on the internet and look for an acne magic eraser. Once you think you’ve found the right acne product, you race to the nearest pharmacy and buy it. Just for giggles, let’s say it works. Wonderful, but what if you have more than one Etna? What if you have dozens popping up all over your face? You’re embarrassed to go out where people are going to see your acne riddled face. You might get totally depressed. So you slather the stuff you bought on your face, but it makes your skin flake. Now you need to add a moisturizer to get rid of the flakes. The acne improves, but as soon as you quit slathering, back comes the acne.
Fixing the problem
The ultimate solution is to deal with your acne on a more permanent level by implementing life style changes. The best place I found that addresses life style change as an acne treatment is www.acneresearch.org. The site, at least so far, has no advertising and isn’t selling anything. I’m sure that will change as their site grows since their team has to pay the grocer just like you and I do, but for now it’s pure. One of the team that developed the site has a PhD in biochemistry and the program they recommend to treat acne makes sense. Here’s why. Despite the fact that acne has been plaguing humans in advanced civilizations for at least a couple of thousand1 years, there are small groups of primitive people who have little or no acne in their populations. For instance, one study found that only 2.7% of impoverished urban and rural Brazilian children showed evidence of acne2. Another study compared the incidence of acne in three Peruvian populations (ages 12 – 18 years old) to whites and those with mixed ancestry. The incidence of acne in the indigenous population was 28% compared to 45% white and 43% mixed2. But wait, there’s more and it gets even more interesting. The Kitavan islanders of Papua New Guinea and the Aché hunter-gatherers of Paraguay had no acne. Yep you read it right, zilch, zero incidence of acne.
So what’s so different about these primitive people?
The islanders ate mainly root vegetables, fruit, fish and coconuts. Roughly two-thirds of the Aché diet included sweet manioc, peanuts, maize, and rice. Flour, sugar and meat made up only one-fourth of their diet. Hmmm, maybe diet does have something to do with acne3. Still doubtful? Consider this. There were no recorded incidents of the northern Canadian Inuits having acne until they incorporated soda, beef, dairy products and processed foods into their diet4. There appears to be sufficient evidence to indicate that diet plays a part in acne, but what about other factors such as sleep, stress, and exercise? What part do they play? Enter the argument posed by the folks at acneresearch.com. What follows is a brief summary of their technique to win the war on acne. You can find detailed information on their site. One thing you will not find there are recipes used to treat flare ups. One used successfully from ancient times to present day is honey and more recently tea tree oil. You can find great homemade acne treatments by clicking here. What the folks at acneresearch.com recommend: Go to bed at the same time and get enough sleep – This is to stabilize your melatonin cycle. When the melatonin cycle is not functioning properly, illness including insomnia depression, acne, cancer and dementia may result.
- Exercise – Exercise regulates testosterone linked hormones and your adrenal glands produce fewer hormones that are linked to acne.
- Supplements to take –
- Zinc (start with 100mg on an empty stomach at night)
- Sellenium (200mcg/day – no more)
- Vitamin B complex (100mg with last meal of the day)
- Vitamin D (6000IU/day of D3 (not D2))
- Chromium Picolinate (200mcg/day)
- Calcium (500 mgs/day) & Magnesium (250mgs/day)
- Alpha Lipoic Acid (100 mgs)
- Fish Oil (1000 mgs/day for general health)
- ECGC (Green Tea Extract)
- Diet – Base meals on lean meats, seafood, fresh fruits, and fresh vegetables. Leave refined sugars and dairy products completely alone.
- Skin care – Gently wash face twice a day (no hard scrubbing as that can make acne worse). If you’re a guy, shave daily. For dry skin, use non oily moisturizer like jojoba oil or honey. Avoid topical medications.
Now you’ve got a way to declare war on acne and win, but you need something for that Etna marring your perfect skin. You want something that will heal your skin without damaging it. Try these homemade acne treatments.
Now go have fun and relax.
- Grant, RNR “The History of Acne” Section of the history of Medicine 44 (1951): 647-52.
- Freyre EA, Rebaza RM, Sami DA, et al. “The prevalence of facial acne in Peruvian adolescents and its relation to their ethnicity” J Adolesc Health 22 (1998): 480- 484.
- Cordain L, Lindeberg S, Hurtado M, et al. “Acne vulgaris: a disease of Western civilization. Arch Dermatol 138 (2002): 1584 – 90.
Now go relax and have fun.