How Looking for the Right Facial Cleanser Is Like Dating

Since I was teenager I realized that choosing the right facial cleanser is quite a challenge. It’s almost like dating until you find the right partner. You date some for a few days only to find out they flake out at the last minute. Some you date for a few weeks and just before you think you can call it a steady arrangement, you suddenly get a zit and find it’s been doing more harm than good.

You can try your luck as much as you want with the different brands out there in the market and cast your net wide but it still boils down to one thing: You’ve got to know what you want for yourself—your skin has needs and problems only a few can adjust to. So the next time you’re shopping for the right cleanser, keep the following things in mind.

#1 Stick to a good standard
It is easy to get distracted with the boisterous claims different cleansers have on their labels. Amid those huffing and puffing alpha brands, choose the one which has all the basics dermatologists would approve of. An ideal facial cleanser is hypoallergenic, unscented, void of any artificial colors, clinically proven to cleanse without causing damage, contains no parabens, and is preferably made with organically sourced ingredients.

#2 Avoid getting too harsh
Recently, some cleansers have tapped into our fear of bacteria living in our pores and thus, justifies why they’re upping your facial wash game with antibiotics. But according to dermatologists, using cleansers with antibacterial properties might just harm your skin because the harmful bacteria on your skin will eventually become resistant to the antibacterial properties of your cleanser over time. Only those with serious skin problems should use these kinds of soaps prescribed by their attending dermatologist.

#3 Look for the gentle touch
Antibacterial soaps aren’t the only culprits because even commonplace ingredients in the beauty world such as kojic acid and papaya extract aren’t necessarily always good for your skin. Your facial wash should only have mild ingredients and the least amount of preservatives possible to maintain or restore your skin’s natural balance.

#4 When it’s right, it’s for the long haul
Once you’ve found the cleanser that fits the descriptions we’ve given above, you should be set for a long time. The qualities of a good cleanser apply whether you have oily, dry, or combination skin. Changing cleansers frequently will cause more problems and introduce more substances that your skin might not agree with. Hence, choose a cleanser that’s mild enough for dry skin but effective in removing excess oil and dirt like Savonneux.

Savonneux is a facial foam cleanser that can remove makeup and excess oil and dirt without using harmful chemicals or parabens. Its mild formulation is good for all skin types and when used at least twice daily will leave skin instantly refreshed and revitalized. Even if you have changing needs, Savonneux is the type of cleanser that will still be able to adjust to your problems and bring back your skin to its natural and healthy state.

Savonneux Liquid Cleanser. Available in David’s Salon, Bench Pcx and Spirae Derm Store, G/F Glorietta 3. May also be purchased online via spiraederm.com, Zalora, and Lazada.

source: preen.inquirer.net

Oral contraceptives are a good option for women’s acne – study

NEW YORK - Birth control pills seem to work as well as antibiotics for long-term treatment of acne in women, according to a new review of past clinical trials.

After six months, both treatments reduced acne by just over 50 percent, prompting dermatologists to call the Pill a good alternative for some women and a means of avoiding the drawbacks of stronger oral acne medications or long-term antibiotic use.

Past research has shown that both antibiotics and birth control pills can improve acne, but the new review compared the two options side-by-side and found antibiotics worked better after three months, but after six months of use, results were about equal.

“Oral contraceptives (OCPs) take longer to work because they have a different mechanism of action,” said Dr. Kelly H. Tyler, who was not involved in the new review.

“Antibiotics have anti-inflammatory properties, and OCPs do not have those same properties, so the reduction in acne is going to be more gradual and less dramatic in the beginning,” said Tyler, a dermatologist at Ohio State University in Columbus.

Antibiotics help to reduce inflammation of existing acne, whereas oral contraceptives reduce free or circulating androgens, lowering production of the oily sebum that plugs pores, which lowers the risk of new acne developing, she told Reuters Health by email.

The review included 32 randomized controlled trials of antibiotics or oral contraceptives for treating acne. In general, after three months of treatment, antibiotics had reduced the number of whiteheads or cysts by 48 percent, compared to 37 percent with oral contraceptives.

But by six months, oral contraceptives had caught up, reducing acne by 55 percent, compared to 53 percent with antibiotics, according to the results published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

The authors caution that the antibiotics trials they analyzed included both men and women, which interferes with the comparison to the contraceptive trial results because hormones do play such an important role in acne.

Nonetheless, they write, the findings suggest birth control pills “may have a more important first-line preventive role in chronic acne than previously accepted.”

Dr. Steven R. Feldman, a dermatologist at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, agreed. “This confirms that birth control pills are a good solid treatment for acne, and they’re probably underutilized,” he told Reuters Health.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved many birth control medications for treating acne as well as preventing pregnancy, so there should be no barrier to prescribing them, but dermatologists may still be reluctant, said Feldman, who was not involved in the new study.

Dermatologists often recommend low-dose hormonal birth control as an option for female patients, but don’t actually write a prescription for it, he told Reuters Health. Then the patient returns to her primary care doctor, who may write the prescription, and when the acne clears up the patient does not return to the dermatologist.

If the hormonal option does not work, the patient does return to the dermatologist, which gives dermatologists a biased impression of how effective the drugs are, he said.

“Given the desire to minimize antibiotic resistance and exposure, hormonal birth control could be a good alternative,” Feldman said.

Both antibiotics and birth control can interfere with other medications, and both options have side effects, said Dr. Robert Dellavalle, chief of the dermatology service at the Denver VA Medical Center.

“Severe allergic reactions are very rare but more common with antibiotics,” he told Reuters Health by email. “Blood clots are more common with oral contraceptives.”

According to the review, oral contraceptives are more effective than he had previously assumed, said Dellavalle, who was not involved in the study.

Even if a woman’s employer refuses to reimburse for birth control, they would be required to reimburse for the same hormonal medication prescribed for acne rather than for preventing pregnancy, Feldman said.

“They may or may not cover birth control, but they do cover treatment for acne,” he said. “There should be no issue.”

“Even if you got a denial from your insurer, probably a quick appeal letter might well get that corrected,” he said.

For women with severe acne, a combination of hormonal birth control and antibiotics may lessen symptoms and remove the need for Isotretinoin, a much stronger oral acne medicine that carries a serious risk of birth defects, Feldman said.

Women using Isotretinoin are required to avoid pregnancy because the drug has been shown to be teratogenic, meaning it causes serious abnormalities in a developing fetus.

Feldman said he does not prescribe medications that are so “horribly teratogenic” to women of childbearing age if there is another option that may work. He prescribes hormonal birth control first, to see if it will help clear up the skin and prevent pregnancy in the coming weeks and months. Only if acne is a persistent problem, then he may prescribe the stronger medication as well.

Men do not have to worry about potential birth defects, Feldman noted. “For severe acne in men with scarring, you might even go to Isotretinoin first.” — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com