What’s in an Acne Cream?
Right now, in a drug store somewhere in the world, someone is buying an acne cream or gel. That acne sufferer may be an “old hand” in the acne battle or he may be a fresh recruit but in either case, he’s seeking to find some product that will cripple his acne and reduce his breakouts. How successful he will be is sometimes just a matter of chance.
You see every acne sufferer has his or her own individual body chemistry. Plus, the intensity of their acne eruptions is individual too. That’s a lot of combinations. But when you look on the drug store shelves you find only a small number of acne products by comparison. How do you cut to the chase and find which products hold the most promise for your acne treatment? Well, part of the answer is in knowing what goes into the acne skin cream in the first place.
All acne creams are created to combat breakouts but they’re formulated to do so without doing too much peripheral damage to the rest of your skin. Their aim is not to over-dry the skin, which leads to wrinkles and age lines, but rather to keep the skin lubricated somewhat while still drying up your pimples and blackheads. The trick is in figuring out what combination of acne cream ingredients work best with your skin – what’s the best acne cream for you. Start by looking at what the active ingredient is.
The active ingredient is the key chemical piece of any effective acne lotion or cream. It usually begins to break down right after it comes into contact with the skin and that’s when it produces its desired acne-fighting effect. There are two main, tried-and-true chemicals that are used in acne blemish creams as active ingredients. They are Benzoyl Peroxide and Salicylic Acid.
Now while these ingredients fight acne in similar ways, they can also produce different reactions with different body chemistries. One ingredient may produce more effective results on your skin than another or your skin may tolerate one chemical better than the other. Finding out what works best with your skin takes a little discipline.
When you’re trying to find the right acne cream treatment it’s probably a good idea to start with products that use only one of these chemicals and see how your skin tolerates it. Stick with that product for a few weeks or at least products that are built around the same active ingredient. Later on, you can switch to the other type of chemical-based products if you think they might produce better results.
Another tip to remember is to begin with the lowest possible concentration of these chemicals. Don’t zero-in on the “maximum strength” versions of any anti acne cream right off the bat. In the first place, there are studies that suggest the higher concentrations aren’t necessarily much more effective than the lower concentrations at fighting blemishes. And in the second place, it’s just good common sense to see how your skin will react to the chemical before you begin wholesale application of it.
A normal over-the-counter Salicylic Acid acne cream will generally come in concentrations from 1% to 2% while a Benzoyl Peroxide acne cream can have concentrations between 5% and 10%. Don’t take that to mean that the Salicylic Acid products are necessarily weaker. They’re not. Their chemical compositions are different and require different concentrations to produce more or less the same effects.
And don’t forget that for every action (chemical), there will be a reaction (from your skin). That may be anything from slight drying, to irritation, to itching, to burning, or even swelling. You must take care when using any acne product.
Both Benzoyl Peroxide and Salicylic Acid do their acne work by causing the skin to peel at a higher rate. As this peeling occurs, the shed skin takes away with it the oily plugs (sebum) and bacteria that were clogging up your pores and causing the acne in the first place. Over time the job can get easier as the larger blemishes are dried up and there’s less and less sebum and bacteria to shed away. That’s why you shouldn’t stop using an acne product immediately after your skin clears up but rather continue to use it (but probably at lower doses or intervals).
Remember that there are lots of other chemicals that also go into these creams for acne. They’re there to do everything from hydrating the skin to creating a pleasant fragrance over the chemical smell. Your skin will have some reaction to them as well. Another reason you should start off slow.
If you use acne creams wisely, and carefully observe the reactions they produce, you’ll be able to figure out which type of product produces the best results for your skin. There’s no such thing as a miracle acne cream but you can find an effective acne cream. It all starts by knowing what’s inside.
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