Herbal Acne Treatments That Work
By Greg Podsakoff
In the United States alone, there are over 40 Million
people who struggle with acne. Many of these people treat acne using
chemicals such as antibiotics, prescription drugs, benzoyl peroxide,
and salicylic acid.
However, there is a growing number of people who choose
herbal acne treatments over traditional medications. Usually, herbal
medications have far fewer side effects, and are not as dangerous
as some of the prescription drugs.
The problem however, is that the United States does
very little to regulate the herbal supplement industry. Unlike traditional
chemical medications, herbal medications are not required to be clinically
proven to work, or even to be safe. An example of this lack of regulation
recently came to light with ephedra related deaths, and ephedras subsequent
ban.
This lack of regulation results in many different
acne products on the market. All of which claim to heal, prevent,
or even cure acne with few, if any, side effects.
The truth is, there are very few herbal acne treatments
that are scientifically proven to work. Traditional chemical treatments
are still the most effective in stopping acne.
There are only 2 herbal treatments that have been
clinically proven to help stop acne, tea tree oil and green tea cream.
Tea tree oil is a natural oil, derived
from the Melaleuca alternifolia, a particular type of tea tree found
exclusively in Australia. While it has been used from hundreds of
years by the native aboriginals as a treatment for just about anything,
it has only recently been accepted by modern medicine as being a viable
anti-bacterial agent.
Even though tea tree oil has been suspected as an
anti-bacterial agent for some time, A groundbreakings study was conducted
in 1990 by I.B. Bassett, which compared tea tree oil to benzoyl peroxide
in the treatment of acne.
It was found that tea tree oil is as effective as
a 5% benzoyl peroxide solution. It takes longer (6 weeks) for the
tea tree oil to be as effective, but participants in the study reported
none of the side effects associated with benzoyl peroxide, such as
redness, skin irritation, or dry skin.
This study has helped tea tree oil become a recognized
and legitimate herbal acne treatment. However, there is no need to
purchase an expensive cream that contains tea tree oil. Just applying
several drops of the oil directly on the acne has shown to be the
most effective way to apply tea tree oil.
This was the only herbal acne treatment that had been
proven to work until recently, when Dr. Jennifer Gan-Wong conducted
a study that shows green tea can also effectively fight acne.
Dr. Gan-Wong compared a green tea cream with 3% green
tea, to a 4% benzoyl peroxide solution, and found that the results
in treating acne where the same for both the tea and the peroxide.
These results were recently presented at the 2003 annual meeting of
the American Academy of Dermatology.
These findings are relatively recent, and are not
yet corroborated by additional independent studies. However, this
evidence does demonstrate that the natural anti-bacterial properties
of green tea can be effective to treat acne.
For those of you who are confused by the plethora
of herbal acne treatments available, there really are only 2 that
have been proven to be effective in fighting acne. Green tea cream,
and tea tree oil.
While many other herbal acne treatments may be good
to moisturize the skin, or reduce oils, these are the only two that
should be considered truly effective acne treatments.
Greg Podsakoff is a former acne sufferer, and editor
of http://www.acne-treatments-guide.com
