Acne Products

There tons of drug store acne products, and acne treatments available to us today. It's a huge market. Let's take a quick look at some of the more common products out there today.

Acne Skin Cleansers

Acne skin cleansers are mostly used to get rid of the accumulated oil, make-up, sweat and dirt on the surface of your skin. In doing so, these products are generally known to make it easier for topical acne treatments (acne treatments that are applied to the skin) to be absorbed, and possibly make the acne treatment work more effectively. You should be aware, however that too much use of these acne cleansers may lead to irritated and dry skin.

Some examples of Acne Cleansers:

Salicylic acid cleansers:

These are known to break down keratin in the blackheads, generally used for mild acne.

SALAC® (Medicis)
NOXZEMA® (Procter & Gamble)
CLEARASIL® (Procter & Gamble)
AVEENO® BAR (SC Johnson)
PANOXYL® CLEAR ACNE CLEANSING GEL (Stiefel)
FOSTEX® (Bristol-Myers Squibb)

Info on Salicylic Acid:

Possibly one of the best methods of fighting acne, there appears to be lots of evidence to support this.
Salicylic acid reduces the number and severity of all lesions associated with acnes by reducing the number of primary lesions.
Salicylic acid is found to be safe even on darker pigmentiation or skin
Salicylic acid is proven to be safe and effective as a initial step in treating acne.

Benzoyl peroxide cleansers:

Acts as an antibacterial and breaks down keratin in blackheads.

PANOXYL® BAR, PANOXYL® CREAMY WASH, PANOXYL® WASH - (Stiefel)
CLEAN & CLEAR® - (Johnson & Johnson)
CLEARASIL® - (Procter & Gamble)
BENZAC-W® wash - (Galderma)

Info on Benzoyl Peroxide (BP):

In the 1930's Benzoyl Peroxide was a leading treatment for acne and skin care, however since then medical science and the understanding of skin care has come along alot further to createmore effective treatments.
Classified by the FDA, Benzoyl peroxide is condisdered as 'safety unknown' due to studies, to learn more click here.
Benzoyl Peroxide has antibacterial activit as well as an anti-oxidant impact.
Some users of Benzoyl peroxide may experience dry or irritated skin as a side effect.

Info Glycolic Acid:

Glycolic acid is an alpha hydroxyl acid, and is one of the most widely used of this family. It is used as an efficacious chemical peel.
Found to have very few negative side effect, even in strong concentrations.
It is possible that long-term daily use of low-strength glycolic acid products could also have some useful effects on acne scars.
Glycolic makes the skin more resistant to ultraviolet light ( reducing the effect of photo-aging), improves its moisture retention, and in general improves its condition.
Glycolic acid, used alone, is fairly effective against acne, and safe (even at higher doses than recommended), by itself however is not considered a complete solution works best as part of a skin care regimen.

Antibacterial cleansers:

TERSASEPTIC® (Stiefel)