Are you suffering from acne? Here is the basic regimen recommended by many skin doctors (a.k.a. dermatologists). Wash your face with a non-drying cleanser. Apply a weak benzoyl peroxide solution (e.g. Oxy or Clearasil) to the pimples. Wait for it to dry. Apply moisturizer. Do this twice, once in the morning, and once more in the evening.
Obviously, this helps many sufferers, or the professionals would not still be recommending it. On the other hand, if this advice fails to work for you, many skin doctors will ignore you or prescribe antibiotics. Either way, this is not very good for you. Firstly, taking antibiotics long-term is usually not a good idea. Secondly, many people have some sort of negative reaction to antibiotics. Some people, like myself, suffer from mild nausea when we take the prescribed antibiotics. Others get gastric pains. Not to mention that the antibiotics stop working for some patients after a while.
Sadly, in the long run, the "take a pill twice everyday treatment" fails for many acne sufferers. So, is there no hope to get rid of your acne? Well, first you should try and figure out if you are doing the basic regimen correctly. One important point to keep in mind is that acne is worsened by skin irritation. That means if any part of your basic regimen causes your skin to become irritated or inflamed, then you are more likely to get acne. What can you do, then? Just change to a different brand or product. For example, if the brand of cleanser you use causes your skin to become irritated, switch to a different brand of cleanser with different ingredients. If you were using benzoyl peroxide 5% and it causes your skin to turn red and inflamed, try benzoyl peroxide 2.5%. If you were using a cream-based benzoyl peroxide, maybe change to a gel-based formula. Does your moisturiser make your skin too oily? Then switch to a different brand or formulation.
Now, this experimentation takes time. You need to be patient. Give each brand some time, say a week to work. If it fails, then make another change. If your acne clears up a little, but some still remain persistently, try increasing the regimen to 3 times a day. Sure, many experts claim that 2 times is best, and 3 times is too often. But in my experience, sometimes increasing it to 3 times a day helps. Though I have to admit that some outbreaks become worse with 3 treatments daily. Clearly, your mileage varies. You just have to try it out yourself.
