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Acne sufferer
I am a 34 year old woman and have suffered with spots all my adult life. My skin cleared up completely after a year's course of antibiotics, but the after effects on my health have left me with food allergies. No creams work. What can I do?
Acne is associated with over-sensitivity of sebaceous glands to the hormone, testosterone. Up to 50 per cent of women whose acne continues beyond their teens have increased circulating levels of testosterone.
If you need contraception, it may help to have an anti-testosterone pill, Dianette, which your doctor can tell you more about. As an alternative to oral antibiotics your doctor might consider prescribing a lotion/solution to apply directly to the skin.
Acne has been linked with low levels of zinc in some cases, and supplements may help. There is no evidence that acne is solely caused by a poor diet, although poor nutrition can make symptoms worse. Eat a healthy, wholefood diet full of fresh fruit and vegetables that supply antioxidant vitamins and minerals. Include nuts, seeds, oily fish and wholegrain cereals in your diet as these contain essential fatty acids that have an anti-inflammatory action. Vitamin C, vitamin E, grapeseed or pine bark extracts are also helpful for reducing inflammation.
Products containing dilute, antiseptic tea tree oil, aloe vera or silicol gel are often effective. A field trial of silicol skin gel found that 86 per cent improvement occurred after six weeks use, and it can be as effective as antibiotics. Silicol gel is applied twice a day for around 15 minutes, as a mask, to absorb excess oil, skin cell plugs and bacteria. Once dried it is rinsed off with warm water.
Olive leaf extracts also have a powerful antibacterial action. The active ingredients appear to be iridoid substances which kill microbial infections by interfering with the production of certain amino acids so they cannot grow or reproduce properly. Olive leaf extracts can also inactivate bacteria by dissolving and weakening their outer coating. Clinical studies involving 500 patients suggest it is effective in treating 98 per cent of bacterial and viral infections - better than most prescribed antibiotics - and is another option worth considering.
If you need contraception, it may help to have an anti-testosterone pill, Dianette, which your doctor can tell you more about. As an alternative to oral antibiotics your doctor might consider prescribing a lotion/solution to apply directly to the skin.
Acne has been linked with low levels of zinc in some cases, and supplements may help. There is no evidence that acne is solely caused by a poor diet, although poor nutrition can make symptoms worse. Eat a healthy, wholefood diet full of fresh fruit and vegetables that supply antioxidant vitamins and minerals. Include nuts, seeds, oily fish and wholegrain cereals in your diet as these contain essential fatty acids that have an anti-inflammatory action. Vitamin C, vitamin E, grapeseed or pine bark extracts are also helpful for reducing inflammation.
Products containing dilute, antiseptic tea tree oil, aloe vera or silicol gel are often effective. A field trial of silicol skin gel found that 86 per cent improvement occurred after six weeks use, and it can be as effective as antibiotics. Silicol gel is applied twice a day for around 15 minutes, as a mask, to absorb excess oil, skin cell plugs and bacteria. Once dried it is rinsed off with warm water.
Olive leaf extracts also have a powerful antibacterial action. The active ingredients appear to be iridoid substances which kill microbial infections by interfering with the production of certain amino acids so they cannot grow or reproduce properly. Olive leaf extracts can also inactivate bacteria by dissolving and weakening their outer coating. Clinical studies involving 500 patients suggest it is effective in treating 98 per cent of bacterial and viral infections - better than most prescribed antibiotics - and is another option worth considering.
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