benzoyl peroxide – acne treatment made easy
Unfortunately, there is no cure for acne. In fact, there is not even a perfect treatment.
The most powerful acne medication available is accutane. However, when you consider the many many serious side effects of accutane, and the fact that some people (albeit the vast minority), have accutane based side effects for years after treatment, it is really only for serious acne, and even then, with great amounts of caution.
The next strongest acne treatments are antibiotic based pharmaceuticals. These too, work to treat acne. However, they create a tolerance in the body for antibiotics…and that is not good. There have been people who developed such a tolerance to antibiotics that medicine such as penicillin and other antibiotics no longer work to stop infection or sickness. Again, not to be used lightly, and not without caution.
Then, there is benzoyl peroxide. As far as it’s effectiveness in treating acne, it is almost as effective as antibiotics, and many times safer. It can be used for long periods of time, even years, without any side effects. If one does experience side effects, it is usually a slight redness or skin dryness, and that is usually only seen with high concentration benzoyl peroxide (5% – 10% or higher).
The only real downside is that some people are allergic to benzoyl peroxide. However, for everyone else, this is the best all around treatment for acne. It’s safe, it’s very affordable, and it has been proven to work over and over again.
As for herbal alternatives to benzoyl peroxide, tea tree oil has also been clinically show to be effective in treating acne, and can even work without any irritation, or for those allergic to benzoyl peroxide.