Acne, boil, pimples, blemish…whatever we call it, is a far too common problem in younger individuals. It can occur on the face, neck or body.

Sever cases of acne are socially disabling and may result in life-long scarring of the skin if they are not appropriately taken care of. The more severe cases, the so called nodulo-cystic acne, are best taken care of by your dermatologist and may need very strong oral medications to suppress the activity of acne.

Otherwise there are a few trick you can try at home to diminish or eliminate the acne problem. First you should know that the first step to acne care is a visit to your skin care specialist. Depending on your stage and severity of acne, they may recommend a series of chemical peels, laser peel, topical treatments, oral and topical antibiotics, topical retinoic acid, and finally the strongest approach of oral presciption retinoic acid.

Older individuals beyond the 30s., may also have common acne, or instead other confusing rashes that sometimes are mistaken for the common acne. Only your skin care specialist will be able to tell you which one you have if you are the older age bracket.

The skin care for acne starts with a few basics:

1. Food: until very recently, no association of food with acne was established. The common belief that chocolate and fats cause acne has been refuted many times over. A new well-designed Italian study, however, confirmed that consuming milk 2-3 times a week increases the incidence of moderate to severe acne two fold. On the other hand, consuming fish and omega-3 fatty acids decreases the chances of having moderate to severe acne. SO far, no other food association to acne has been proved.

2. Stress may raise the chance of acne, as it makes your skin oilier. Make sure you do not pick at your acne when you have it, or it may leave you with a permanent scar

3. Avoid using harsh soaps and over scrubbing your skin. In general, soaps dry up the skin temporarily, but at the same time, irritate the oil glands in your skin to ironically put out more oil on your skin, and eventually make your skin oilier and with more acne. instead, use a cleanser that gently cleans your skin to avoid this problem.

4. A regimen of products that peel your skin, such as scrubs that contain very low concentrations of salicylic acid two to 3 times a week is helpful, as it removes the top dead layer of your skin and suppresses extra oil production.

5. Finally your skin care professional may advise you to use other products such as different strengths of Benzoyl Peroxide, topical retinoic acid, etc. depending on the severity and stage of your acne.

If you have acne scars, you may need more intensive care to eliminate both the scars and the acne, as ongoing acne problems will give you more acne scars as the destroy your skin structures.