What is acne?
Acne is a skin condition that begins when oil (sebum) and dead skin cells clog up your pores and become infected. It is characterized by red spots or blemishes on the face, neck, chest or back. It is common condition in young people but can also happen to women in the time around your menstrual cycle.
How do we treat acne?
Cleansers
The most important thing to do when you have acne is to keep your skin clean. We have a number of products here in Dun Laoghaire Pharmacy that we would recommend as cleansers for the treatment of acne and these are; La Roche Posay© Effaclar Purifying Foaming Gel, MooGoo© Milk Wash, NeoStrata© Foaming Glycolic Wash and Vichy© Normaderm.
Treatments
When looking for a treatment it is important to find something to dry out the spots, look for things with benzoyl peroxide in them. Acnecide© 5% w/w gel is an excellent product to treat acne as well as La Roche Posay© Effaclar K(+). NeoStrata© Spot Treatment Gel is a targeted treatment for just putting on the spots. A more natural treatment is the MooGoo© Blemish Cleansing Moisturizer.
I’ve tried all these products but nothing is working for me!
If none of these acne treatments are working for you then we recommend that you go to see your doctor. They will most likely give you an antibiotic cream or tablets to try and help clear up your skin. When you’re on these antibiotics it is still very important to cleanse and moisturize your skin well as a lot of these antibiotics can cause your skin to become very dry.