Many people suffer with the skin condition known as acne or Zits; however, many effective treatments are available. The number of people afflicted around the world is huge so science research is making advances; the result of this effort is a growing range of effective treatments. Although the number of acne skin care products and treatments might at first seem endless, they can actually be categorized into three areas: <UL TYPE="square"> *Drugstore or Internet: Preventative medication *Over-the-counter: Treatment *Prescription: Issued for specialized medication from a doctor etc. </UL

Those that fall into the preventative category are based around general skin conditioning to help stop acne from forming; products like skin cleansers and toners fall into this category. Many people these days use products like this to maintain their skin; many use these products to protect their skin from the environment even if they do not have the acne condition. More specialized cleaners are designed in the same way as acne skin care products; they are formulated to reduce and limit the amount of oil in the pores of our skin. These products prevent the oil from getting trapped in pores and can hamper the growth of bacteria, this can lead to the bad skin condition.

General skin care treatments also include special exfoliation products like skin peels; there is now a variety of this type of product available over the counter. This type of peel helps reduce the chance of oil clogging up the pores as well as removing other skin impurities; this can reduce the bacterium growth on your skin. Many different, specially formulated acne skin care products designed to reduce the problems have now been made available without prescription. These products have benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid as ingredients which cause a bad reaction in the bacterium. these include creams, cleansers and peels that slow down acne formation.

It is preferable when you first start using this type of product to keep the concentration of it low, around 5.5 percent is best; should a reaction occur, products containing alpha hydroxy acid are generally safer. As with any type of zit cream, you may need to try a few acne skin care products until you find one that will suit your skin; if nothing you use is effective then speak to your dermatologist for advice. Only doctors or skin care specialists can prescribe some medications, including the use of antibiotics and certain ointments.

In more serious cases your skin care specialist may decide that a small surgical procedure can be used to remove the oil and infection from your pores; this is not something you should ever attempt yourself. An alternative that has been shown to work well is hormone therapy; hormone changes are known to be one cause of acne. There is no longer any reason to despair if you have this skin complaint or are prone to its effects.