An overview of the different acne treatments

When searching for an acne treatment it is easy to become subject to acne information overload. There are hundreds if not thousands of acne cures on the internet and offline in the real world too. Considering that 25% of the population suffer from acne at one time or another this is not surprising.

Everyone and their dog has something to say and sell about acne, even if they have never actually suffered from it in the first place. And this is the fundamental problem. Let me show exactly how the online acne industry works, and how this effects you- the acne sufferer.

Firstly you should know that acne is a problem that people want solved. They want this solved with good quality information they can use themselves, or they want a stand alone acne cure product. This creates two markets pertaining to acne:

1) The information market

This is seen in the saturation of acne articles and informational acne websites on the internet. Information is a commodity and the creators of this content will be hoping for a monetary return on the time and effort it took to create that content. But how do they get money out of writing an article? Well not how you might think.

Generally their article will be a low quality information piece (200-300 words) on an acne related niche, such as acne peels, or dairy intolerances. This will probably not provide too much use for the reader, so they look elsewhere on the web page, which will be flooded with advertisements for acne related products. And this is how they make their money. They get paid for the clicks on the advertisement from their website. These sites are generally known as advertisement sites amongst internet marketers and are usually set up in a short period of time, with short articles being bought at low cost and put on the web site.

Low quality acne information is epidemic on the internet and it is produced purely for money gotten through advertisements. Acne articles are commonly bought and sold on internet marketing forums by the hundreds. Writers churn out the same articles but rewritten and organized so they seem like new content. But the content is usually misinformed and unhelpful.

2) Acne Products

So who are the advertisers? Well mostly they are acne companies with topicals, acne skin care products, cleansers and herbal pills to sell for outlandish prices. They generally don't work and many people fall for the promise of acne free skin by applying something to their face. After 2 or 3 of these types of products they usually stop buying them. The companies survive, as although they don't receive many reorders for their products, they have a constant demand for their products from new customers, young 'just got acne' sufferers.

In summary:

Acne information publishers send customers to acne companies.

My advice is to avoid acne companies who sell topical and herbal products. They invariably just don't work. This is because the problem cannot be fixed by putting something on the face, and herbal products are general tonics that will never work in the long term. Professional herbalists know that herbs are a short term aid or remedy. Acne is far to powerful a disease to succumb to most of these herbal concoctions.

My Acne Story (incomplete version, will write up the rest in the next few days)

When I first started secondary school at the age of 11 the girls couldn't stay away from me. Two years later acne appeared on the scene and my label as a hot biscuit quickly evaporated. Unsurprisingly I retreated into the world of sport (football mostly) and videogames- like most young teenage boys do. My acne was very mild and it really didn't bother me much, besides everyone else seemed to be suffering with it to some degree at school so I just took it as something hormonal that would soon disappear. It wasn't until I sat my GCSE's when I was 16 did my acne turn into a monster that would torment me for the next 6 years. Perhaps the stress of the exams triggered this, yet the relaxation of a beach holiday (with good marks confirmed from the GCSEs) in the summer after didn't stop the spots.

My success with the ladies at this point was at an all time low, I didn't think I was ever going to kiss a girl again to be frank. My confidence was shot, and now there was the problem of college coming up. This I felt was an exceptional opportunity to meet some new hot biscuits but my acne would most definitely count against me. So I went to see Mr Dr. He seemed unamused at my visit for something as 'unimportant' as having a few spots on my face. He showed me pictures of people with horrible acne- much worse than mine- and was basically telling me to stop whining and be thankful I didn't have sever acne.. To me that seemed like someone with a chronic cough being told to be thankful he didn't have lung cancer. Anyway I pleaded with this miserable old sod by telling him about my plight of starting college soon. He gave me the damn antibiotics (tetracycline) scornfully and told me to get the fu*k out his office, (that may be a lie.)

College. Success. My skin cleared up after about a month of antibiotics and about 2 weeks into my first term of college. Girls were queuing up to talk to me, or at least not looking at me in disgust. My confidence and happiness were high at this point and I was back to my old extroverted self.

Alas this period of acne free skin did not last and after a month the antibiotics were starting to wear off. By Xmas my skin was definitely worse than ever and I was starting to get pissed off- it was my first attempt at curing acne and it hadn't worked. I stormed into my doctors office and asked him why he hadn't told me that antibiotics were only a temporary solution. He said he had. Oh. He begrudgingly gave me a course of different antibiotics, but warned me that the results weren't likely to be as good or long lasting as the first course. I was starting to get worried at this point. He was right, the new antibiotics (minocycline) were not working that well and after 2 months stopped altogether. Back at the doctors office he prescribed me a white gel called BP. It burned and peeled my skin. Spots were forming all the time on my face and this stupid gel was like dropping an atom bomb on them. Suffice to say the gel was stopped after the first couple of tubes (two different potencies). I was also prescribed a zinc topical which smelt awful and made my skin worse.

So I was now 17 and acne had well and truly camped on my face like eastern European squatters in an inner city derelict house in the UK. I would show you some photos of this period of my life if they existed. I started to severely dislike people with cameras at that point.

Sick of seeing me the doctor sent me to a skin specialist called a dermatologist. The appointment was in 5 months time though. During this time I made my first forays into more alternative therapies; things tried were zinc, tea tree oil, milk thistle and bunch of other stuff I couldn't care to mention. The appointment with the dermatologist was unproductive- she put me on more antibiotics (eurymicin), then 4 months later accutane.

Oh accutane was fun!

It made my face look like goose flesh, meant I couldn't drink alcohol and made me feel irritable and achy. But my skin cleared up after just finishing the 5 month course. It stayed clear (ish) for about 3 months. I never had another appointment with the dermatologist. What's more, she (or is this the system?) never wanted to see me after accutane to see the results, they never checked up with me at any point after I finished the course. Very scientific...

So at 18 years old I had gone down the conventional western medicine route and found from experience that they had nothing to help me.

So between 18 and 21 I tried these things without any positive results:

Acupuncture
Homoeopathy
Many herbal remedies
Chinese herbal medicine (tea and pills)
Detoxes & Fasts
Cleansing diet
Mucus free diet
Blood Purifying Diet
Liver Flush
Low Glycemic Diet
Non-Inflammatory Diet
Some methods from some popular Acne E-books
Certain herbal concoctions and topicals found on the Internet...

I was starting to spend money now to solve my problem not too mention many unusual diets.

At university I tried to maintain the diet explorations but this became increasing difficult due to alcohol and partying... Besides these diet were not helping my acne and they were difficult to maintain. It was at this point that I experimented with some vegetable smoothies, being non-invasive and or time consuming.

So by the time I was 21 I had tried a whole range of acne treatments and hadn't seen any consistent results from them. I decided from that point on to only try treatments that were workable for me. I stopped eating potatoes and chips as I knew these definitely broke me, usually within an hour or two of eating them. I then tried to cure my acne with supplements having had some partial success with them in the past, i.e. I had noticed some benefit to taking vitamin c.

Between the age of 21 and 22 I tried these supplements individually and in certain combinations and various types and brands:

Vitamins A
Beta Carotene
B-Vitamins
Bee Pollen
Vitamin C
Vitamin D
Vitamin E
Vitamin K
Zinc
Selenium
Potassium
Chromium
Other Minerals
Spirulina
Soya Isoflavanoids
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Astaxanthin
Neem
Saw Palmetto
Enzymes

to be continued...Im still thinking about which other ones I have taken....and I will be adding detail of what happened between 18 and 21.

Acne Lies For Profit

How do you control a population of people? You could physically imprison them, but a more practical way is to withhold true information from them or overload them with false information to hide the truth. In other words you deny them the information that would set them free. Trap them in ignorance.

Well if you have acne you are being controlled by others who wish to profit from you. They saturate you with information so that you cannot find the solution to your problem. This keeps you looking for more solutions spending more and more...

...and it leads only to further frustration, desperation and insult to injury- a light wallet.

Acne is a multi-billion dollar industry, but none of the companies or people in it have a true scientific approach to curing your acne. In truth most money spent is not on scientific research and development but on marketing. They market that they are scientists in their white lab jackets conducting research! Think of it like this. How many times have you bought a new product and been ask by the company/owner/writer if it worked for you? They do not care about your acne. They care only about their profits. Their products invariably do not work. Most do not offer a money back guarantee and if they do only a minority of acne sufferers ask for their money back- hardly a dent in their profits. Yet they hardly ever get a repeat order and would go out of business if it wasn't for the fact that they can just sell to the next batch of spotting youths, marketing their lies and ripping off their vulnerable new customers again and again.

Most of these self-proclaimed experts and practitioners have never scientifically researched acne. To them it is just a profitable market because you are so desperate for the solution you will try anything.

Im sorry if Im stepping on some big toes here or if you think this sounds like a wild conspiracy theory. I'm putting together a page of proof of this so look back here soon, but if you know anything about Internet Marketing you will know I am talking the truth.

It's a cruel twist in the story of an acne sufferer who all that time thought the enemy was his acne, yet all along the enemy was his helper- the one who offered a solution. The acne sufferers helper masterminds his enslavement.

You may have initially thought the internet offered new hope to you after the failed dermatologist 'treatments'. But has it done anything but waste your time and money? You would not be here looking if the Internet had already offered you the solution.

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So where does this leave The FaceMaster Course? Well I hope you do try it despite what I have just said. I know I can definitely help you clear your acne. I had acne for 8 years until just a few months ago. All you can do really is trust me, appreciate that the information has been made available and that I am spending time trying to get people to read it! For me I can think of nothing better than turning a very negative condition that I had for 8 years of my life into a massive positive for others, because believe me, only those that have had acne would care enough to help properly and end the confusion.

And don't forget that if you do the course you will be helping others with acne too! When you complete the course by successfully clearing your acne, you can help others achieve the same by telling them it works which means more people will try it and say goodbye to their misery too!

Welcome the FaceMaster Blog!

This is the blogging home of The FaceMaster Course. Expect to find an invaluable resource on acne treatments from someone who had acne for many years. I'm not a dermatologist, a nutritionist or a practitioner in any form. But I have studied acne in many capacities for years. I've read all the books, tried almost every treatment personally and developed my own method for curing acne. This method has been successfully used by myself and many others.

One of my main aims is to help people treat their acne successfully by teaching them to adopt a refined, focused and scientific approach to their own treatment. More on this in future posts.