1) Do you stay up late at night with anxiety about your acne? Is it causing you insomnia as a result?

2) Do you take prescription drugs and get little or no relief? Nothing seems to work!

3) Is your skin always dry, itching, and peeling from the side effects of chemicals and drugs? Is it a pain to spend the money and yet put up with all these discomfort?

4) Do you have trouble looking in the mirror and being happy with what you see? When was the last time you liked the reflection you see?

5) Do you avoid getting out in the world due to your acne? Do you rather stay at home with the thought that at least its safe haven where nobody sees your blotchy face?

6) Does your life revolve around your acne condition? Do you find yourself spending too much time on it instead of enjoying other activities in life?

7) Do you find yourself hiding your skin when other people are around? When you talk to people, do you try to avoid eye contact?

8) Are you spending ridiculous amounts of money with little or no results? Have you been trying everything you can find?

If your answer is YES to almost every question, its time you seek real HELP!

Do not let this drag on already because its affecting the quality of your life. You should not be spending the prime of your life this way!

"Although I was skeptical about your program, the results were completely amazing! I was finally able to clear my skin of the acne and I have been able to keep it off for the last 4 months. The best part about your program is that you have provided me with the confidence and knowledge to be able to keep the acne away for the rest of my life. I am forever grateful!"

(Craig D'Souza)

"I think what you have done with your book is great! I found it simple to follow and straight forward. I followed your program with good success. The acne has not cleared completely, about a 70% improvement, but I am continuing with your advice. Your book has been the only thing that has gotten me this far, so I am not giving up. Also thanks to your book, I have discovered other ways to help clear up Candida. Thank you again for caring!"

(Anne Balian)

"I have to be honest. When I first bought your program, I did not really believe in it. So, I did not give it a try right away. I did try one of the natural methods for taking care of your face and since it did help me, I decided to give the rest of your program a try. After the first three days, my face had not changed one bit. I thought, "Man, this does not work at all." However, on the fourth day, I woke up to an almost clear face. I continued with the program as specified and by the end of the week, my acne was completely gone! Now I am following the directions you have given for removing scars and I can't wait to see the results. THANK YOU for helping me change my life!"

(Ryan Hernandez, 26)
(Portland, Oregon)

"I decided to buy your book for my 26 year old daughter, who has suffered through many courses of RoAccutane and with severe acne for 11 years. My wife and I were both amazingly surprised with the results of your 3 day program! She called us recently full of confidence and extremely happy to say her skin is clear, which is something she hasn't said for years. Also two of her work colleagues have commented on her fresh looking skin, of course my daughter called me straight away feeling so pleased. This is such a quick fix and something that anyone can easily achieve by following your straight forward instructions. Thank you again!"

(Keith Woods)
(Auckland, New Zealand)

"Yes, I did try your natural program for getting rid of acne and was shocked and surprised it worked so well. I saw instant results on the second day with much of my acne clearing. With the rest of the recommendations and changes your book advised me to make, I have managed to stop the acne altogether!"

Thank you,

(Rehanna Mohammed)

Well, the list is just too long! Probably the next testimonial comes from you! Check out this AMAZING, NATURAL acne clearing program now!

Acne at its most basic is a disorder of the hair follicle or pore. It starts when greasy secretions from the skin's sebaceous glands plug the tiny openings for hair follicle (plugged pores). If the openings are large, the plugged pores take the form of blackheads. If the openings stay small, the pores take the form of whiteheads. Both types of plugged pores can develop into swollen, tender inflammations, pimples, nodules or cysts.

The areas of the skin that are most susceptible to acne are those areas that contain the largest number of oil glands. Acne usually affects the face most but some people get it on the chest, back, scalp, neck and arms too.

Acne can be classified as mild to extremely severe. It can affect anyone from puberty to their adult years. It is not unusual for women, in particular, to develop acne in their mid-to-late 20's even when they have no such problems when they were teens!

Medically, acne is caused by changes in your hormone levels, called androgens, that cause the sebaceous glands to enlarge and secrete more sebum. In some cases, genetics or heredity can also play a part. If your parents have suffered from acne, its possible you will too.

Other factors that may aggravate acne include:

1) Medications and steriods
2) Stress
3) Diet
4) Unsuitable cosmetics or facial products
5) Excessive skin irritation
6) Menstrual period (for ladies)
7) Pollution
8) Personal hygiene

No one factor alone causes acne. That's why it is so tricky!

Scale 1 (MILD): Multiple black heads and white heads. Topical medications may help.

Scale 2 (MILD TO MODERATE): Occasional, small papules (small reddish bumps smaller than 5mm), reddish macules (flat reddish patches).

Scale 3 (MODERATE): More active lesions are seen, with multiple papules and pustules (small bumps that are filled with pus).

Scale 4 (MODERATE TO SEVERE): Multiple papules, pustules and nodules (bigger bumps, usually bigger than 5mm), often early scarring (reddish, depressed marks, or protruding lumps) may be seen.

Scale 5 (SEVERE): Very severe acne, multiple nodules and cysts (big bumps with fluctuating content, sometimes with pus draining out of the cysts), often with scarring seen.

What stage do you think you are at now?

Eight out of every ten teenagers will go through some form of acne. Mild acne is considered as part of their growing phase in pubert, continuing throughout their teen years.

However if they suffer from severe acne, it can be extremely traumatic to a teenager, leaving life-long physical and emotional scars. Severe acne has significant impact on the way teenagers view themselves. Effects can include social withdrawal, low self-esteem and self-confidence, embarrassment, depression, poor body image, anger and discouragement.

So what's the best way to deal with teenage acne? The simplest and most important thing a teen can do, is to learn to take good care of their skin, keeping it clean and as oil free as possible. This is not a cure but can help keep acne breakouts to a minimum.

Eating healthy and drinking plenty of water will also help relieve acne symptoms. For girls, try to minimize the use of cosmetics, especially those that are comodogenic.

Hair sprays or hair gels may also aggravate your acne problem, so if you use them, do wash your hair daily to keep the grease away.

Avoid touching the face unnecessarily to reduce the chances of introducing bacteria onto the skin. And keep those hands away from your zits! Do not squeeze or pick on them as you may get them infected instead and increase the chances of scarring.

Not again?

Just when you thought you have left your skin problems behind in your adolescent years, its back to haunt you!

Adult acne hits especially hard on women in their 20s to 30s. Sharp hormonal fluctuations often occur during ovulation and menstruation, pregnancy, perimenopause, and menopause, and can also be caused by using certain birth control medications. Women may see their acne suddenly develop, or worsen, during these periods of life.

Acne in adult men usually starts in the teen years and stays with them into adulthood. Men tend to have more severe and longer lasting acne than women, because of the higher levels of testosterone within the body.

Besides hormonal reasons, the use of medications such as steroids, certain birth control treatments, hormone therapies and other medications can also cause acne breakouts.

Unsuitable cosmetics and skin care products like sun block, cleansers, moisturisers, etc with an oil base will also block pores and trigger acne easily.

Adult acne can happen to anyone, any race and sex. The key is to avoid any products which may clog the pores. It can be frustrating, but with the right treatment, adult acne can still be successfully controlled.

Having acne can be really depressing. It affects how you feel everyday, looking in the mirror and wondering why everyone else has a blessed complexion except you. Besides reasons such as insufficient sleep, hormonal changes, etc, it could also be due to the wrong types of food you are taking in daily!

These are some types of food believed to aggravate acne, so do avoid it or make changes to your diet whenever possible.

1) Reduce your intake of dairy products such as milk, cheese and even ice-cream.

Studies have shown that a lower consumption of milk products will tone down acne breakouts. If you worry about a deficiency in calcium, you can get calcium supplements for that extra boost. Soy milk is also a healthy alternative.

2) Reduce your sugar intake

Foods like candy, cakes, donuts, cookies, pastry, chocolates, etc, have high sugar content and should be avoided when possible. Sodas and artificially sweetened drinks have also significant sugar content enough to give you an acne breakout. You should cut down on these totally if possible, and preferably switch to drinking more water, green tea or other herbal teas.

3) Reduce intake of nuts

Most nuts such as almonds, pistachios, peanuts, walnuts and cashew nuts are rich in fats and proteins that are not easily digested by our digestive system. Our immune system does not recognize these fatty acids and produce antibodies against them. Our sebaceous glands are susceptible to these antibodies and they get inflamed as a result, producing excess sebum, worsening your acne.

4) Avoid Vitamin B & E supplements

Some people do observe an aggravation of their acne condition after taking these vitamins. If possible, avoid these supplements and get your vitamin fix naturally from the food you eat.

Start making small steps to combat your acne problem, instead of allowing acne to control your life!

Authored By: Angela T.

These are certain factors known to aggravate acne. Be careful!

1) Stress

Acne often worsens during periods of stress and worry. Recall why you always seem to have a fierce breakout when it is always nearing your exams? It is not just a coincidence! Try to minimize your stress levels by engaging in a healthy lifestyle. Eat healthily, go for exercises and have good sleeping habits. Curbing your stress level will make you happier and tame your acne at the same time.

2) Picking at Your Acne Spots

I bet you are often guilty of this. It is always hard to resist picking and squeezing on acne spots with the impression that this will unblock the pimple and speed up the healing process. This is in fact a wrong impression and will often cause unnecessary injury to your skin. In the process of squeezing, you may also introduce bacteria and worsen the inflammation of your acne. You also risk getting darker and deeper scars that will take a longer time to heal.

3) Unsuitable cosmetic products

This is often the result of a vicious cycle of an acne sufferer. When you have acne, all you want to do is to cover up your blemishes and pimples with concealers, foundation, etc. Well, the more you break out, the more make-up you use right? This may in fact aggravate your acne as the cosmetic product you use may have comodogenic ingredients that worsens your condition instead.

4) Climate and Work Conditions

Acne tends to flare up in hot, humid climates and work environments. You may notice that after a long period of working at the kitchen, your acne might actually get worse! Under humid conditions, the outer layer of your skin might swell and block the opening of the sebaceous unit and cause acne to develop. Some jobs that require contact with certain chemicals may also aggravate acne. These chemicals include cutting oil in engineering and manufacturing industries, diesel oil in motor mechanics and others like insecticides, fungicides, etc.

5) Certain drugs and medications

Some drugs, like corticosteroids or testosterone pills that bodybuilders might use to build muscle mass may aggravate acne. Certain medical creams, especially those that are thick and oily, may worsen your acne situation if used excessively and inappropriately.

6) Premenstrual reasons

For ladies, many do observe a flare in their acne just before their menses. This is due to the fluctuations in hormone levels over the menstrual cycle. The acne breakouts usually come and go as the menses end. So men, you are still more fortunate in having one less aggravating factor!

Authored By:
Angela T.

Benzoyl peroxide is primarily an antibacterial agent. When applied to the skin, it penetrates the follicles and reduces the population of the bacteria responsible for our acne breakouts, P. acnes. Benzoyl peroxide works by introducing oxygen into the pore, killing the P. acnes bacteria which cannot thrive in an oxygen rich environment. Benzoyl peroxide also has a mild comedolytic action as well and helps to clear irritating whiteheads and blackheads.

Benzoyl peroxide is available in concentrations of 2.5% to 10%. It is usually in gel, cream or lotion form. For new users, it is advisable to start with the lowest concentration once daily. If no irritation occurs after about two week's of use, you can move on to applying it twice daily. It may take several weeks before any improvement is seen. If your skin can take it, you can try to move on to a higher concentration gel.

Benzoyl peroxide is usually quite effective for mild to moderate acne cases. However, there are inconveniences you may have to live with while using it. Last time, I always wonder why every pillowcase I have seemed to have a problem of being stained at the two sides where I usually rest my face. I realized that it was because of the benzoyl peroxide cream I was putting on my face before I sleep! Benzoyl peroxide will bleach your clothing as well, so if you have body acne, you may want to wear an old shirt whenever you wish to apply it on your body. Although quite easy to use, but it can cause you some inconveniences in your daily life.

Some people also suffer from the side effects of using benzoyl peroxide, especially if they use it in high concentrations or frequency. They may observe dryness and chapping or redness on their skin. Be especially careful to avoid the eyelid and lip areas during application, as these areas are generally more sensitive and may get easily irritated. As with any medication, discontinue the use of the benzoyl peroxide product and consult a doctor if your condition does not improve.

Worried about having to treat your acne with medications that could give you side effects? Why not give natural therapies a try?

Oral antibiotics are the most commonly prescribed oral medication in acne treatment. They are the first line of oral treatment, and have somewhat been proven quite safe and effective over the years. Oral antibiotics work in several ways. They reduce the population of P. acnes, the bacterium involved in the formation of inflammatory acne. Systemic antibiotics also inhibit the action of certain pro-inflammatory chemicals.

Treatment of acne with oral antibiotics often brings some results in about four to six weeks. It usually begins with a higher dosage and is reduced gradually over time. During this initial period, the acne patient must take the medication regularly, as non-compliance or irregular intake will affect the effectiveness of the drug. As the acne starts to clear, the dosage of antibiotics will be reduced and eventually stopped. Generally, inflammatory acne takes at least a few months to clear, so patience is the key!

The very common types of oral antibiotics used are tetracycline, doxycycline, minocycline as well as erythromycin and cotrimoxazole. Usually the doctor will consider how suitable the drug is for each patient and the side effects that may occur before deciding which to prescribe.

Of course, the long duration in the consumption of such oral antibiotics is often a cause of concern in many acne patients. However, this method has been used over decades and is deemed to be established and safe. Once the acne lesions clear, usually antibiotic treatment will stop and the patient will resume topical medication to maintain the acne condition.

Over time however, for some patients, the P. acnes bacteria may become resistant to the antibiotic used to treat it. When that happens, acne may reappear and another antibiotic may be prescribed to substitute the current one. Alternatively, other forms of acne treatment may be suggested for the patient.

Hate the idea of resorting to medications to solve your acne problems? Learn how you can treat it the natural way with results so quick that it will surprise you!

The chemical name of accutane is actually isotretinoin. It belongs to a family of drugs known as retinoids. Isotretinoin works by reducing the sebaceous gland activity and is also anti-inflammatory. It also prevents the formation of new comedones and indirectly reduces the number of P. acnes bacteria in the sebaceous gland and on the skin surface.

Isotretinoin is recommended for treatment of nodular acne and severe acne that does not respond to all other medications. It is usually a last resort prescription, but in recent years it has become a trend that accutane is prescribed earlier in the course of acne treatment to prevent any possibilities of significant scarring.

Treatment with isotretinoin is available in the form of 10 or 20 mg capsules. A full course of treatment usually takes four to eight months. Most doctors prescribe the drug to patients based on body weight, starting with a low dosage and increasing gradually over several weeks. After one to two weeks, the patient will observe their skin getting less oily, and after about a month, the acne will show some signs of clearing. In some people however, they might feel that their acne seem to get worse in the beginning weeks of therapy, but this is temporary and will eventually improve

Prior to starting isotretinoin treatment, doctors will usually perform a blood test on the patient to check on their liver functions and triglyceride levels. Women should also have a pregnancy test to make sure they are not pregnant as isotretinoin has been reported to cause harm to unborn babies. Women who wishes to take isotretinoin but are sexually active should be responsible enough to plan a reliable form of contraception as pregnancy should be avoided throughout the therapy.

Besides the important precautions taken towards pregnancy, isotretinoin also carry certain side effects. You should always be aware of these potential side effects before deciding whether to even start the treatment.

Common side effects:

1) Dry, cracked and sore lips - These could be relieved by applying Vaseline or moisturizers.

2) Dry, irritated eyes - Patients who wear contact lenses may experience more discomfort as the production of tears is decreased.

3) Dry skin - This affects especially patients already suffering from eczema. Frequent use of moisturizers may be required.

4) Dry mouth and nose - Sometimes nosebleeds may occur.

Other severe side effects to note:

1) Headaches, nausea, vomiting - This could be due to a rise fluid pressure within the brain (intracranial pressure). Patients on isotretinoin must be cautious not to take vitamin preparations containing high dosages of vitamin A or oral tetracycline antibiotics.

2) Isotretinoin can also increase the amount of triglycerides (fats) in the blood and may cause elevation of enzymes in the liver. This will cause jaundice, hepatitis and abdominal pain. Patients should limit their intake of alcohol always.

3) Exposure with sunlight should also be limited, as some patients may notice increased sensitivity to sunlight while on isotretinoin.

4) The patient may also feel more easily depressed and for extreme cases, suicidal thoughts may arise. Do watch out for signs and inform your doctor when it gets worse.

5) There might be mild hair loss and join pain or muscle aches, which will occur at higher doses of isotretinoin.

Personally, I have taken accutane for a year, and I admit the treatment did help my acne problem. But as I was planning to get married, I decided to give it up as I worry about issues it may cause if I might have a baby next time. The effects of accutane were not permanent for me though as my acne came back and I had to find other ways of dealing with it!

Although the potential side effects of isotretinoin (accutane) treatment looks worrying, but it is true that it remains one of the most effective and powerful drugs against severe acne. As long as all the necessary precautions are taken, and the patient is safely monitored, it is still one of the best choices of acne treatment by medication.

Still dislike the idea of resorting to medications to solve your acne problem? Learn how you can deal with it the natural way instead!