If you want to know some background info about acne please see Acne Overview.

Acne is a pain to have and to treat!  To add to all the confusion there are hundreds of acne products out there.  So -as always, flip those boxes around and look for the active ingredients.

Step 1 -Avoidance of Contributing Factors: This means limit irritating items like headbands, clothes and helmets.  Also avoid over touching of acne prone areas (ie don’t rest your chin in your hand).  Also take care with hair products and make up -these can easily clog pores.

Step 2 -Cleansing of the Skin:

• This is a delicate balance between causing some drying (good) and excessive drying (bad).  The skin should be cleaned thoroughly but gently (no scrubbing!), rinsed with warm water and pat dry -at least twice daily.
• There are tons of soaps out there -be sure to avoid soaps with scents and moisturizing oils.
• Antibacterial soaps are popular but haven’t really been proven to make a difference.

Step 3 -OTC Topicals: there are a ton of products out there, but look at the active ingredients and you’ll find they boil down to…

1.  Benzoyl peroxide:

• Irritates the skin to cause faster cell turnover and rids the skin of extra oil…promoting resolution of the pimple.
• Has some bactericidal effect.
• It can cause temporary drying, redness and burning.  Just a note -it can cause bleaching of clothes and towels.
• It comes in different strengths -up to 20%.  Easiest to find at your local pharmacy is 2.5%, 5% and 10%.   The higher the strength the more side effects.
• Available in lotions, gels, creams, cleansers, masks and soaps.  The gel form works the best!

2.  Salicylic acid:

• Available in 0.5% and 2% formulations.
• Often found in cleansers.
• Helps treat and prevent acne by causing sloughing of skin cells.
• Is not as effective as benzoyl peroxide but is therefore milder on the skin

3.  Sulfur

• Works by increasing sloughing of skin cells.
• Available in 3% to 10% formulations.
• Stinky!
• Sometimes is combined with resorcinol 2%.

4. Zeno

• This is a little battery operated device that delivers heat to the pimple.  It is said to kill the bacteria that is associated with acne -especially the bigger pimples.
• Trials have shown that it is more effective then using nothing at all on the pimple..

Step 4 -Moisturize!

• This step is super important and often overlooked!
• Wait 5-10 minutes after applying topical treatment then be sure to moisturize -otherwise, the skin becomes over dry, which leads to more oil production which leads to….acne!  A vicious cycle.
• Avoid scented moisturizers and be sure to use a facial moisturizer on the face 🙂  body lotion can be too heavy for the face

So, there you have it -an overview of OTC treatment!  Please leave a comment about your personal experience and what products you like best.