:Clear Skin Blog

Wow, busy today. Anyway, I just wanted to give you all a quick word on the number one cause of acne scars. What is this cause, you ask? Well, to put it simply, the main contributor to acne scars is impatience.

Yes, you should generally avoid “picking at your zits” as they say. However, popping a zit that is about to burst through the surface of your skin anyways is not really that serious of an offense against the laws of clear skin. What’s really a cause for alarm is when you can’t resist the urge to try and force that pustule that has not reached the surface of your skin to pop. I’m talking about those deeper cysts that show either no visible white spot or a very faint one that is clearly buried a ways down.

Do yourself a favor and do not try to force acne to the surface prematurely. Use a spot treatment such as benzoyl peroxide or tea tree oil and think about something else. Yes, there may be an uncomfortable bump on your skin for a few days, but if you furiously pinch at your skin trying to force it out, you’re just going to inflame the spot and make it more visible. Most likely, you will not get the pustule to the surface, or you may get part of it to the surface, only to have more bacteria form in the now inflamed area and have to deal with a recurring blemish that can stick with you for months. The force of the acne pustule breaking through your skin prematurely can leave a crater-like scar, and these can last years - with almost nothing you can do about it.

So have some patience and give your skin the time to expel this waste in a safe way. Most of the time, your body will begin breaking down these pustules below the surface, and they may just melt away after a few days (especially if you’re supplying your body with the right nutrients to do so). Otherwise your skin will eventually push these buried pustules closer to the surface of your skin, where, if you must, it’s usually safer to pop them out. Keep up a good diet with enough vitamins and minerals (Clear5 will help your body metabolize these underlying spots faster), use limited spot treatments to kill the bacteria (Neosporin may also help take the red out of an inflamed spot), and you should be able to avoid acne scars in almost every case. Most acne scars are not caused by the zits themselves, but by the people trying to get rid of them in the wrong way.

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Whew, I didn’t run the marathon this morning, but I feel tired enough to have. One of my college friends dropped by this weekend to support his brother who was running in the Bank of America Marathon in Tampa Bay (a convenient excuse to visit Florida ^_^). As it happened, the race was scheduled to start at 6 AM this morning, so we were up at 5…with about 4 hours of sleep since going to bed around 1 constitutes “getting to sleep early” when you have a friend in town. Unfortunately, we were woken up not by our alarm clocks, but by the sound of rain pounding against the windows. Thankfully the rain had eased to a drizzle by the time the runners set off, and we managed to get downtown on time to see the start of the race. The officials could have done a better job, as one of the contestants who had been within the top 4 runners ended up being disqualified because he couldn’t understand the confusing nature of the directions in the an area where the half-marathon split from the full marathon. He was clearly a great runner and it was unfortunate to see someone disqualified because the course was poorly labeled.

My friend’s brother did quite well, finishing the half marathon in about 1:40, ahead of the main pack, but everyone had a good time and I’m sure plenty of money was raised for charities. The weather could have been better, but at least it wasn’t anything like the sweltering heat here in the summer (probably why the marathon was scheduled so early in the morning). Now if I can just manage to stay awake for the rest of the day…

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Our inventory backlog has been cleared out and the manufacturing delays caused by the blizzard in the northeast are behind us, so Acne Vitamins is back up to full speed operations! All new orders will ship out at our normally fast turnaround time of within one business day. I can breath easily again ^_^ (that was a long week). We’ll also be increasing our manufacturing lead time to ensure there are no delays like this in the future. Of course, the shopping cart has been updated so that anyone who’s seen the former delay message will know that we are back to high-speed operations without having to check the blog.

Unlike our pilot batch of Clear5, the product is now packaged in the same size bottles as All-in-1, with improved high-gloss labels that look a lot better than the previous digital ones. Orders of one or two bottles will now ship in our classic white boxes that are incredibly durable and fit in most mailboxes (hehe…they may be a little too durable, as I know they can take some work to open). Other than these changes, everything is back to normal at Acne Vitamins. Thank you to all those who have waited patiently while we fixed things up!

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Being a single guy, I can sometimes go for long periods of time without doing the laundry ^_^. Many people share my bad habit of wearing the same shirts over and over again until it gets to be “that time of the year” when we remember how to use the washing machine. Unfortunately, when you don’t keep your clothes clean, you may be creating an ideal environment for bacteria to build up that can then get in the way of clear skin, particularly on your back and body.

Bacteria spread by your clothes is something that a lot of people don’t even consider, but the fact is that your clothes are almost always in contact with your skin, and especially when you wear tight clothing, the moisture that is trapped when your skin can’t breath can lead to bacteria building up in your pores. Even when you don’t notice it, your body can be letting off heat via sweat, and a lot of that sweat ends up absorbed into your clothing. Because of this, regularly washing your clothes can actually be an important part of maintaining clear and healthy skin.

This is all that much more important when you know that you’ve been sweating, such as after playing sports or working out. You should always change out of those sweaty clothes soon afterwards, not sit around in them for a prolonged time. A more subtle and often overlooked factor is your bed sheets. Everyone sweats while they sleep, and if you’re one of those people who hardly ever bothers to wash your sheets, you’re probably exposing your skin to a lot of bacteria every night. Keep those fabrics that come in contact with your skin clean, and you will have a much easier time keeping your skin looking its best.

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It looks like Acne-Vitamins should be back to full-scale operations by either late this week or early next week. The delays are killing me, but there’s not much I can do at the moment. I’ve made some minor site updates, with some graphics tweaks on the home page and better wording on the acne vitamins guide and adult acne guide. We’ll also be updating the testimony section again soon, since some of the new stuff I’ve received is really good! In the next week or two, I’ll be writing another acne help essay for the article sites. I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t had much time to promote the site, but hopefully that will change once things get back to normal. The next article will focus on spot treatment, possibly comparing natural tea tree oil with benzoyl peroxide.

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Since one of the contributors to acne is the build-up of dead skin cells leading to clogged pores, regular exfoliation (shedding your top layer of skin) can help to maintain clear skin. However, remember to keep your exfoliation gentle on your skin. Exfoliating too frequently or too harshly will only leave your skin irritated and invite acne under the surface.

Exfoliation naturally occurs, but the problem lies in that it does not always occur evenly, leaving clumps of dead cells that can cause skin problems. Some acne medications treat this problem using acids such as Glycolic or Salicylic Acid to burn away the top layer of your skin. However, exfoliating acids can be harsh for many people, and it can be frustrating to find one that works without drying you out (and continues to work down the road). A better solution for those with sensitive skin is simply an exfoliating scrub (St. Ives’ Apricot Scrub is a popular example) that allows you to exfoliate as much or as little as you want, without penetrating too deep beneath your skin. Sure, these scrubs will not prevent acne under the surface, but if you have a mild case of acne due to uneven exfoliation, these products may work where others fail. Following with a moisturizer may still be a good idea.

Exfoliation is not something you need to obsess about. You don’t need to use these types of products every day, and you probably shouldn’t. If you use a scrub 3 or 4 times each week, that is usually plenty. A tricky aspect is treating those areas other than your face, but a good bath sponge with some texture can serve the same purpose just as well for your back and body. Remember that when your pores are bloated with excess sebum, they are more likely to get clogged with dead skin cells, so vitamin B5 can definitely aid in the fight as well.

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With Valentine’s Day come and gone, you may have some extra chocolate on your hands. For some acne sufferers, high-sugar foods such as chocolate are a scary thing, as many believe they can lead to acne. This is a debated subject on the net, with sites such as Acne.com openly stating that “contrary to popular belief, chocolate does not cause acne.” While I expect this is true for most people, most of the time, my more recent research has led me to believe that it’s not quite the universal fact some sites would lead you to believe, and you really should pay attention to your diet if you want to maintain clear skin.

The reasoning here is related to B5 theory: that Coenzyme-A (which your body creates using vitamin B5) is required for the metabolism of acne-causing sebum. In the case of sweets such as chocolate, these may also contribute to draining your supply of Co-A, since your body uses plenty of Co-A in order to metabolize all that sugar. The unpredictable factor is that some people’s bodies are simply more efficient at metabolizing these foods than others, and as such, a box of chocolates can have no effect on one person, and potentially lead to a break out for another.

A Priest once told me “All things in moderation,” and this is really some of the best advice you can follow when it comes to sweets and your skin. A few pieces of chocolate are not going to make you break out, but if your metabolism has a weakness for sugar, a box of chocolates very well could. You may have noticed that certain foods often lead to skin problems, so just put some limits those foods. You don’t need to totally cut our your favorite treats, and by practicing a little more moderation, you may even find them more enjoyable when you do indulge. Don’t forget that B5 can help in a big way! B5 increases your Coenzyme-A supply, thus allowing your body to do a lot more work at once - metabolizing sugars with plenty of Co-A left over to take care of breaking down your skin oil.

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Well, it happened. Acne Vitamins is experiencing a little crunch as our demand has outstripped our resources, and right at the time when our manufacturer (based in New York) is experiencing delays due to the blizzard that is blasting the northeast. Basically, what this means is that Clear5 is selling faster than we can produce it right now, so there will be a 1-2 week delay on all new orders as of 2/12/06. I’m doing everything I can to minimize this delay and get us back up to our normal next-day turnaround time, and I apologize to all those people who will be stuck without Clear5 for a week or two. I’ll also be making some changes to our inventory and manufacturing systems to ensure that this does not happen again in the future.

The message about our shipping delay is also up in bold print on the front page of the shopping cart, so you can’t miss it. Thanks for your patience and support!

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Our acne testimony page has been updated with a few new testimony entries that we received during the last month or so. It was a little hard this month finding testimony that wasn’t laced with more questions than feedback, but still, the testimony page is steadily becoming a rather long exercise in vertical scrolling. Thanks again to all the users who sent in feedback, even if your comments didn’t end up on the testimony page, we still appreciate it!

We’ve also had a number of customers inform us that they found out about Acne-Vitamins from recommendations by friends and family, and we’re glad to know that our product is working well enough for people to spread the word. We definitely appreciate your referrals! Unfortunately, our inventory turnaround is very tight right now with the sales spike from last month, so we may hit a backlog soon. If it’s bad enough to delay orders, I’ll be posting it up in the shopping cart, but hopefully the delay won’t last more than a week if it comes to that. I’m already taking steps to make sure we don’t experience this problem in the future. Needless to say, it would not affect current orders.

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Tying together the principles about water and your diet in relation to acne, salt can be a big contributor for acne prone skin.

When you’re not drinking enough water each day, your body begins to regularly store up water in your tissues as a precautionary measure. This can create excessive pressure on your skin cells that results in clogged pores - and the bacteria trapped in these clogged pores often builds up, eventually becoming acne pustules.

Salt can contribute to this since it naturally drains water from your body. When you eat foods that are high in processed salt, your body requires a lot of water to eliminate the excess salt from your system. The problem lies in the fact that many people simply do not supply their body with enough water to do this.

Again, the solution is simple: just drink more water (preferably 8 glasses of water each day). However, it may also be a good idea to consider how much of your daily diet consists of foods that are high in salt. A bag of chips every now and then isn’t going to kill your skin, but you should probably follow it with a tall glass of water (much better for your skin than a beer ^_^), and if you know you eat a lot of salty food every day, cutting back a little will probably help.

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