:Clear Skin Blog

I’ve received a number of questions about what exactly is the best way to spread out and take your Clear5 tablets, so here is a basic guide for new customers who want to know all the details.

Personally, I recommend most first-time users start with 6 tablets per day. Although many users get great results with 4 tabs, I can’t know from here what exactly your skin type or acne severity is, nor how efficiently your body processes vitamins (we have some users who are very reactive to vitamins, and start out with only 2 tabs). As such, I recommend the 6-tab dose since it maxmizes your success rate, is just as safe, and even if it provides a little more than you need, chances are that you will see results that much faster, and thus be able to decrease your dosage sooner as well.

The important point is to spread out your dosage to at least 3 intervals per day. This ensures a high rate of absorbance and the regular release of out time-released tablets, which release for about 6 hours (as long as current technology allows for water-soluble tablets). For a 6-tablet regimen, take 2 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon, and 2 before bed. This is the easiest starting dosage (esp. since students don’t need to take a pill to school for lunch), and seems to be just as effective as using 4 daily intervals (each meal and before bed) for most 6-tablet users . Taking Clear5 with food does not appear to have much, if any, effect on success. However, combining Clear5 with meals does lessen the chances of stomach irritation that is sometimes felt by first-time users (this naturally stops happening after 2-3 days, once your body adjusts to the vitamin).

Always take those tablets with plenty of water (2 glasses is best). Clear5 tabs are easy-to-swallow, but drinking enough water makes sure they go down easily, and let’s face it, most people don’t drink enough water. That water helps flush out toxins, hydrates your cells, and makes it easier for the chemical reactions Clear5 enables to take place. Water speeds the transport of healthy nutrients into your cells and unwanted wastes out of them.

Note that for those who would rather conserve their first bottle and start with 4 tablets, in this case I recommend spreading out to the full 4 intervals per day. Take 1 tablet with breakfast, lunch, dinner and before bed. At the lower dosage, this makes sure your absorbance is as high as it can be by avoiding competition and maintaining the release of vitamin B5 for most of those 24 hours.

Once you begin lowering your dosage, do so gradually. Decrease your dosage by 1 tablet and maintain that dosage for a few weeks, then decrease another tablet, etc. Try to keep your doses spread out until you get down to 1-2 tablets per day.

No Comments

Acne Rosacea is often confused with acne vulgaris (the common form of acne), but is in reality a very different disease, and one which presents different problems, and different barriers to treatment than acne vulgaris. If you are an adult who experiences persistent flushing along with acne, you may need to consider alternate treatment methods.

Rosacea is a long-term skin disease that in serious cases can also effect the eyes. There are different stages of rosacea, but the primary symptom is a redish flushing of the skin. Often, dilated (bloated) blood vessels under the skin may become visible, and small red bumps can form, sometimes with the white puss that accompanies typical inflammatory acne. This redness can be accompanied by a burning sensation and itchyness, and in some cases the layer of skin begins to thicken unnaturally. The drying effects of rosacea can also spread to the eyes and eyelids, leading to potential vision problems.

The exact cause of rosacea is unknown, but experts speculate that it has to do with blood vessels which are too easily stimulated to dilate, and can remain dilated indefinitely. It is a quite common disease, effecting about 14 million in the US, mostly adults over the age of 30. Rosacea tends to effect only the face. Cases of body rosacea are very rare.

The acne-like pustules that accompany rosacea look very much like typical acne, but since their cause is very different, not all the same treatments will work. Unlike acne vulgaris, which has to do with the oil glands in your pores, acne rosacea is directly related tothe underlying blood vessels. Topical and oral antibiotics can still effectively kill off the bacteria that forms in rosacea papules and pustules, but these treatments will do little to reduce the appearance of inflammed red patches in the skin. The condition of rosacea can also make it easier to irritate the skin with topical treatments, bringing on new breakouts. Cleansers and exfoliants tend to have little effect since these lesions have even less to do with surface dirt than typical acne.

The bottom line is to treat rosacea differently than you would acne. Oral antibiotics are often necessary, both to prevent bacteria without further inflaming the skin, and also to kill demodex mites, which are five times more prevalent in patients with rosacea. Laser treatment can be used to reduce the appearance of blood vessels which have broken or become too easily visible. There is no cure to rosacea, but with a dermatologist’s help it can be treated to prevent the more serious problems.

No Comments

Do you get enough sleep? A lot of people don’t, and this can end up having negative effects for your skin and ultimately causing acne. Even adults should try and get at least 8 hours of sleep every night, especially if your skin is acne prone.

One of the problems with irregular sleep patterns and sleep deprivation is that your body is forced to make up for the lack of sleep, and one of the ways your body does this is by increased hormone levels. This in turn leads to higher sebum production (more oily skin), which can directly result in clogged pores and acne. It is also during sleep when much of the rejuvenation and repair of your skin cells takes place. The body needs those hours of sleep to revitalize itself after the day’s work. Frequent lack of sleep has been shown to both increase the chance of outbreaks and decrease the speed of scar healing - that’s not a good combination for acne sufferers.

So especially if you’re already an acne sufferer, get to bed a little earlier and make sure you get enough sleep consistently. (tip: drinking plenty of water also helps those cells rejuvenate better during sleep)

Another sleep-related factor to consider for clear skin is your bed sheets and pillowcase. Most people tend to wash their clothes regularly, but some let their bedding go for a long time without similar consideration. Don’t forget that bacteria can buildup on places such as your pillow case and interfere with clear skin (especially since your body also sweats while you sleep). You expose your skin to these fabrics every night, so try to wash and change your bedding regularly.

No Comments

We’ve added a few new entries to the acne testimony page. The page is getting pretty long, so it’s a fairly small update. I suppose I could start breaking it into multiple pages, but that might just make it less inviting to read, and well, I guess there is something cool about a really long page of user-submitted testimony (I remember back when we started getting testimony from just the first few users of All-in-1. The page was pretty short back then…).

On a related note, our latest formula update has had a very successful response. I initially had reservations about cutting some competing B vitamins out of the formula, as the fact is it just “looks good on paper” to have a long list of vitamins on the label. However, our customer feedback has been extremely conclusive that B5 works better when other B vitamins are taken separately, so as to avoid competition for receptor molecules. Both the science and the user testimony has backed this up, so don’t be fooled by competitors that try to include every B vitamin out there. Our new formula simply works better, period. Even customers who had gone back to the All-in-1 classic formula (pure time-released B5, 1000 mg tabs) after seeing inferior results with the old Clear5 formula are now finding that the new Clear5 works better or just as good, and is easier to take.

No Comments

Essential fatty acids make up one element of a clear skin diet that is often overlooked. Don’t get turned off by the word “fat” in there, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are highly beneficial ingredients for the overall health of your body, including your skin. In fact, one of the symptoms of a deficiency in these acids is dry, itchy skin.

Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids play a vital role in hydrating skin cells, maintaining the fluidity of your cell membranes. This helps your skin stay smooth, firm and healthy - less likely to be damaged or scarred than dry skin. Essential fatty acids also reduce inflammation and improve the body’s ability to respond to insulin (high insulin levels are often associated with acne).

Your body doesn’t produce these acids on its own, so food sources or supplements are required. Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are generally found in fish and vegetable oils, particularly in salmon, flaxseed oil, olive oil, and walnuts. Unfortunately, these fatty acids are largely destroyed by heat. So for instance, you’re much more likely to benefit from a salad dressing with olive oil, rather than a food that was cooked in it. If the foods are hard to come by, supplements are an easy alternative (flaxseed oil supplements are popular and effective). A supplement that includes vitamin E will help prevent the fatty acids from becoming oxidized

No Comments

While vitamin B5 is very effective for preventing acne and nontoxic even at high doses, not all B-family vitamins are as safe. When taken at dosages close to those typical for B5 acne treatment, some B vitamins can have side effects that actually obstruct clear skin, and moreover, can prove toxic to your body. This is important to keep in mind, as I’ve noticed some message boards perpetuating the idea that you should take all your B vitamins at similar doses while on B5. This idea that “equal balance = health” is simply a medical falsehood when it comes to vitamins. Your body requires a lot more of some vitamins than others, and doctors have been treating health conditions with increased doses of specific vitamins for years. Acne is no different.

Some B vitamins that can specifically have negative effects on your skin (when taken in doses similar to B5) include Niacin and B6. While both of these vitamins are beneficial to your skin at recommended levels, high levels of Niacin can cause “niacin flush” - a reddish flushing of the skin that can be painful to the touch. Niacin flush typically happens with doses over 75 mg. Doses over 2 grams can also lead to the more dangerous side effect of liver toxicity. Although less common, vitamin B6 can also lead to allergic skin reactions. Some users of high-dose B6 supplements have reported acne as a result. Vitamin B6 and other B vitamins compete for absorbance by the same receptor molecules, so it pays to remember that taking high levels of these supplements at the same time as B5 can also diminish the amount of B5 that your body absorbs, dampening the potential benefits of B5 acne treatment.

Keeping a healthy supply of B vitamins in your system doesn’t have to be complicated. Taking a B-50 complex will usually provide way more than enough of all these vitamins, without the risk of toxicity. Taking your B-complex at a different time than vitamin B5 also ensures any competition for absorbance is minimal, and if you’re taking a time-released treatment such as Clear5, there is unlikely to be much competition even if they are taken together (provided your B-complex isn’t time-released as well, of course).

No Comments