If you occasionally deal with inflammation or acne, you’ve probably heard a lot of advice about how to cleanse your skin, some cleanser for acne are good, and some are not so good. Nevertheless, you want to know how to care for skin with inflammation and what the best acne cleanser to use is .
Determine the stage of acne
There are usually three stages: mild, moderate, and severe. The soft stage is from a few dozen black dots and white pimples to a dozen inflamed spots. Medium – lots of black dots, subcutaneous comedones, inflamed papules, and a few cystic pustules. Severe – many inflamed and cystic pimples.
In the first case, you can cope with home remedies. In the second – also, but if possible, it is better to visit a dermatologist. In the third case, you should not even try to cope independently: there is a significant risk of harming yourself.
Find factors you can influence
Nowadays, the only reason acne is prone is the increased production of androgens (hormones that affect the quality and quantity of sebum) or increased sensitivity of the sebaceous glands. This, of course, cannot be treated by oneself. But there may be other reasons with which you can try to cope.
The first of these is diet. As of today, no strict link between diet and acne has been found, but there is evidence that cow’s milk and foods with a high glycemic index – sugar and white bread – can influence the appearance of acne. And if you suffer from acne, it makes sense to try for a few weeks either to eliminate these products from your diet entirely or reduce their consumption to a minimum. It is not sure that this will help, but it will not hurt. The second one is cosmetics per se. Creams can contain ingredients that clog pores and provoke acne, and they may also contain irritating and allergenic ingredients that can also cause inflammation. So if there is any doubt, try to figure out which particular products cause such a reaction.
You need to pay attention to everything that concerns the skin. Shampoos, hair balms, styling products, hand and body creams can cause acne because both hair and hands touch the face. If pimples are localized precisely in places that you often feel and apply cosmetics, it makes sense to check these products.
Choose active ingredients
Pimples occur when thick skin fat mixed with keratinized cells accumulates in the pores. The pores are permanently inhabited by acnes bacteria, which do not multiply when exposed to air. But when the pore is blocked, airflow is stopped, and the bacteria begin to multiply, to which the body reacts by producing pus and inflammation. All of these processes can be controlled with cosmetics.
Retinoids and salicylic acid can help with excess sebum.
From excess dead cells – AHA acids, salicylic acid, azelaic acid.
Bacteria and inflammation are treated with benzoyl peroxide and surface antibiotics.
Many people ask: how to get rid of pimples overnight fast? To get acne under control, there are several factors to consider. The most important one is the presence or absence of inflammation. If there is no inflammation, that is, no large red pimples, then there is no need to use anti-inflammatory products. But if there is inflammation, anti-inflammatory effects should not be used alone, but with retinoids and peels. Benzoyl peroxide is quite aggressive, so it is best used only on acne-affected areas of the skin and avoids healthy regions. And following these simple rules will help you answer the central question: “how to remove acne scars naturally”? And the other ingredients should be used on the entire face or body if the acne is there.
Figure out how you will combine them
No matter how expensive and effective, active acne remedies can irritate and dry out the skin. Therefore, it is indispensable to combine them properly to not harm yourself.
If you use several remedies against acne, try to apply them at different times or on other days. For example, apply acids in the morning and retinoids in the evening. Or so: benzoyl peroxide one evening and acids the next. Make sure your skin does not become overly irritated or deteriorate with time. Also, don’t forget about home remedies for acne scars overnight.
Consider supportive acne care
Irritated, dehydrated, and over-dry skin cannot heal and perform its protective functions. That’s why it is essential to use a base cosmetic and active ingredients to compensate for the aggressive effects of acids and retinoids. Washing-up solutions should be mild and non-alkaline. Aggressive cleansers break down the skin’s protective barrier and alter the skin’s pH level, allowing bacteria to cause inflammation in the skin.
Moisturizing creams for acne treatment are needed, and it is good if they contain ingredients that support the skin’s protective barrier: ceramides, cholesterol, omega-3 fatty acids, jojoba oil. Soothing ingredients like allantoin, niacinamide, and zinc can also help speed healing.
Remember sun protection
If you have acne, it’s indispensable to protect yourself from the sun. That’s partly because many anti-acne products make your skin more sensitive to the sun. And partly because ultraviolet light causes inflammation in the skin: additional inflammation is hardly necessary with acne. Quite often, sunscreens themselves provoke acne. But some do not; the easiest way to find them is through a unique line of “drugstore” brands.
How to deal with single pimples
Single inflamed pimples can be treated spot on to not irritate healthy skin unnecessarily. But it is better not to use products that dry out the skin. Alcohol-dry leather prevents pimples from healing because it prevents oxygen from penetrating the pores. Therefore, it is better to choose spot treatments to relieve inflammation and kill bacteria but do not dry out. Perfect help patches from acne. They come in two types. Hydrocolloids absorb pus and stick them on those pimples, which have already formed a white head. And patches with active ingredients apply salicylic acid or tea tree oil, reducing inflammation and killing bacteria and treating acne scars.
It is worth noting that after the end of the course of treatment, problems may return. In such a case, supportive therapy should be given, leading to recovery.