There are millions of people around the world who suffer with acne (Zits); however, many effective treatments are available. Medical investigation and research is ongoing and making interesting discoveries; as a consequence, many of these new treatments are very affective. There are a broad range of acne skin care products available: <UL TYPE="square"> *Preventative: Creams, lotions etc. to help cleanse and tone the skin *Drugstore: Relief treatment *Prescription only: doctors or dermatologists prescribe special treatments </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. Whilst many sufferers use these products there are even more who just want to keep their skin clean and conditioned; many use these products to protect their skin from the environment even if they do not have the acne condition. Some of these products are designed to act like an acne skin care product and act against the causes of this complaint; devised primarily to limit the amount of oil or sebum forming in the pores. These skin care products are designed to prevent this from happening.

General skin care treatments also include special exfoliation products like skin peels; most can even be purchased over the Internet in addition to normal outlets. The peels clean the skin by removing all surface pollution and dead skin cells which can block the pores. There are specialized acne skin care products available over-the-counter, they do not require the need of a prescription. These products have benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid as ingredients which cause a bad reaction in the bacterium. they work by removing the excess oil from the skin and halt the growth of acne.

Generally it is best to start using this type of product with only a small amount of benzoyl peroxide (less than 5.5 percent is recommended), just to see how the skin reacts; an alternative to this includes products which contain alpha hydroxy acid. It is not always possible to find an acne skin care product that works first time; however, if nothing you try seems to work, you should contact a dermatologist. On-prescription treatments are prescribed by a dermatologist and can include ointments that can be applied on the affected area or oral antibiotics or just any topical ointment.

Your dermatologist may suggest a minor surgical procedure to remove the contents of pustules; specialists never recommend the sufferer tries this themselves as it can cause permanent skin damage. An alternative that has been shown to work well is hormone therapy; studies show that hormone based skin care treatments often prove effective. Science has produced many effective treatments for this unkind condition.