Acne outbreaks may not be a debilitating disease, and cannot even be considered as an illness or sickness at all, but it is still a serious matter as the embarrassing skin blemishes could result i...

When it comes to OTC acne fighting ingredients that are commonly found in the best products for fighting acne, whether adult acne or teenage acne, there are a few ingredients that really are better at fighting acne while also not drying or irritating the skin too much.  The best one between benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid is, in my opinion, salicylic acid. 

I especially think it’s the best choice for women in their twenties, thirties and forties and higher who are battling both aging skin and dryness, and may also be battling the occasional breakout.  I know, so unfair that we have to battle both aging signs like crow’s feet and fine lines AND acne, but it seems to be the way of the world these days with more and more adult women, and men, getting acne later in life. 

Salicylic acid is a highly recommended ingredient in topical acne treatment products for adults because it not only gets into the pores and unclogs them, but it’s ideal for aging skin because it does not have the drying and irritating properties of many of it’s counterparts, and it also has an added benefit for aging skin that many don’t know about.

Salicylic acid is an excellent natural exfoliant, meaning it sloughs off those dead layers of skin cells that crop up every single day, very easily, leaving a refreshed, glowing layer of skin and accelerating the turnover of the skin cells so that wrinkles look less deep and noticeable and the skin takes on the fresh look that tend to go fade with age as our skin has less tone as well as less ability to turn over because our cells do not renew themselves as quickly as they did when we were younger.

Salicylic acid is even found in many acid peels, and is an excellent peel for those that are treating acne and acne scarring because it is gentle enough, but also gets the job done of getting those dead skin cells to turn over and “forcing” our skin to make new ones. 

If you have acne, then you know how important it is for your face to remain as free from bacteria as possible, especially since those of us with  acne problems tend to secrete much more sebum (oil), on our faces and other acne zones, and this tends to attract more bacteria and debris that is pore clogging and acne-triggering.  One of the things we need to be careful of is what we are putting on our faces.

What I mean is we need to be careful how often we touch our faces with our hands and fingers, since they are basically breeding grounds for bacteria because we use them for everything and touch a million door handles and other germy surfaces every day, but we also need to be mindful when we are applying makeup, moisturizer, or anything else that the instrument we are using to apply it is germ and bacteria free, so we minimize the risk of a clogged pore.

If you’re like me, you use a makeup pad to apply your foundation.  These makeup pads, of course, over time, build up not only the liquid foundation in their sponginess, but they can also begin to breed bacteria if they go too long without being either washed thoroughly or replaced. 

Because foundation is a liquid, the pad does stay moist for a while after we have swiped it over our faces, and because of that moisture, bacteria and even mold can grow in it very quickly.  You want to make sure you are consistent in replacing them, maybe every week or so, or I know that many of them now are reuseable because you can wash the foundation out of them and reuse them. 

While using bacteria-filled things on our faces is not the main reason for acne, it’s really mainly a hormonal and inflammatory issue, it can most definitely aggravate the condition, and as a staunch acne-fighter, I’m sure you want to do everything possible to avoid a breakout! 

Well, it’s on the verge of becoming a new reality, well, a new and improved reality since the first try was a flop due to too  many side effects, including inducing male acne in the men who took them, presumable due to hormone shock and imbalance, but a newer and better male birth control pill is supposedly on the near term horizon as an option in couple’s birth control endeavors.  Many women now take the pill, some for reasons other than birth control alone, but most for reasons that include birth control. 

As we’ve talked about before, many women use the birth control pill in part to help clear their face of acne, and some have had great success in clearing either adult or teen acne by taking specific types of birth control pills that allow the woman’s hormones to be a more controlled level at all times rather than go up and down constantly as they do in nature. 

One of the major complaints with the first male birth control pill was that the men who were taking them broke out a lot, and some got very severe acne, presumably a hormonal side effect of the pill.  The newer male contraceptive pill would be available in several different options, like the female birth control pill, including a daily pill, a gel that would be administered to the skin and utilized transdermally, and a patch.  Still, many men are leary of taking a pill and messing with their hormones, much like women understandably are.  In fact, many recommend women do not stay on the pill for more than ten years.

The reason that acne may have resulted in that the balance of the testosterone and the progestin released in to the man’s blood stream to help turn off sperm production was a little off kilter, and this in turn threw off their oil production, and resulted in hormonally induced acne, but men who have tried the newer versions have seen little side effect, aside from maybe a little bit of weight gain. 

Well, I saw a demo of what this new tool for clearing acne and creating gorgeous, clear pores can do, and it is one of the most interesting and novel concepts in skin care that I think I’ve seen to date (and I’ve seen a lot, but this one is very advanced, although I’m sure they’ll keep blowing our minds with this new stuff for skin care).  It’s called the Isolaz (pronounced Iso-Laze) laser, and the treatment has a twofold approach to help clean the pores and prevent further acne breakouts from occurring.

When I watched the demo video for the treatment, the device itself had a brand name of Aesthra.  The treatments are incredibly expensive though, at 500 bucks a pop (they say you need about three treatments, and may need maintenance treatments here and there as well), so this is definitely not for lighter wallets, and of course it would take some thought before spending this type of treatment, no matter how effective. 

The cool thing is that the treatment can be used for all four types of acne and be successful in treating all four, and it is supposedly painless and comfortable.  I went online and saw some before and after pics of patients who had Isolaz treatments, and a lot of the results were truly remarkable.  However, you do have to be careful with some before and after pics because of course any product or service is going to show their best results, and nothing works the same on everyone.

How it works :  Isolaz laser treatments, as I had mentioned before, work on a two pronged approach.  The device first goes all over the face and uses a gentle sucking motion to clean out debris and bacteria, all of which cause whiteheads, blackheads, and general acne bumps and roughness, and then it goes in and zaps the pores with an IPL (intense pulsed light) laser, which helps destroy bacteria and creates an ideal environment for the pores to stay clean and clear for a long time. 

They also say the Isolaz treatments may help to shrink the pores, which is a quality that we are all envious of, because small pores make for a beautiful complexion as we all know.  If this treatment does all it says it can, it probably is worth the price, however of course we wish they’d bring the price down a few notches so it’s more affordable to those in need of treatment.