How do I Get Rid of Acne?

Acne be GONE!

Acne has to be one of THE most confidence zapping conditions for individuals. It can leave individuals with a constant feeling of embarrassment and anxiety. What I find most upsetting is how long people persist with advice from lay people (or from the internet) who offer advice on an array of shop bought products that anecdotally ‘worked for me.’ There is a better way, trust me. It’s time to talk to the experts, no more hiding away.

So here is my starting point, If you are feeling any level of anxiety about your skin you must get proper advice and use proper medical grade products. This is essential because there are plenty of readily available solutions and treatment plans for you which will produce rapid results if you are in the right hands. Our aim at Couture Aesthetics is to give you your confidence back and help you find that spring in your step.

Acne is caused by an excess of oil in the skin. This is partly genetic but can also be caused by hormones and some medicines.  The sebaceous glands release sebum along their ducts which flow into the hair follicles. It’s these glands and follicles which become blocked. Skin debris and excess sebum allows a particular bacteria, which usually lives on the skin without problem, to grow without control causing the selection of skin blemishes we describe as acne. Acne can appear as blackheads, white heads and pustules and people often have a mix of each type of spot at any one time. Treatment starts with the best possible sebum clearing wash as possible. These are often based in salicylic acid as it’s one of the few acids where the molecules are small enough to pass down the hair follicles and reach the sebaceous glands.

So here’s the challenge.  If you don’t do the right thing with your acne quickly and persevere with poor quality treatments then there is a risk that the acne scars.  Leaving dents in the skin and sometimes pigmentation as well.  Getting rid of this kind of damage is much more challenging than getting rid of the initial spots.  

So what’s the plan for treatment. Well the very first thing is to “switch off” the acne. The majority of treatments are topically applied to the skin.  However oral treatments are available and may include antibiotics,  a particular type of oral contraception (which blocks the response of the sebum producing follicles) or if very severe you may be a suitable candidate for the Medicine “roaccutane”, which is an oral form of vitamin A.

However, in the many cases, topical vitamin A is sufficient, mixed in with products to stabilise the surface of the skin and clear the pores.  You should expect to see some improvement within 4-6 weeks.

Once the acne is under control then the focus can shift towards managing any longer term scarring and pigmentation. There is no quick fix here but ongoing home skincare mixed with products that lighten and brighten the skin can work wonders, in partnership with peels and micro-needling.  Our client who has shared her pictures has had 3 treatments at Couture Aesthetics and you can see the results. Her acne scars are improving massively and with time, they will disappear entirely. As she sees the improvement week on week, we both feel confident in the end goal, an absolutely clear complexion. Progressive skin care is a journey, it takes time, patience and the right combination of treatments but the visual results speak for themselves.

Self Care

1.     See an expert and Invest in medical grade skincare as advised.

2.     Do not give up on the treatment set.  It will take up to 6 weeks for you to start seeing the difference

3.     Do not pick or squeeze spots.  This will potentially make scarring worse

4.     There are always benefits of a healthy and balanced diet and high GI foods are known to increase the sebum production of the skin so you may like to limit these. If you think your acne is food related keep a food diary

5. Be kind to yourself!

Three treatments over 3 months plus at home skincare

Products used; Alumier MD U.K.,