Skin Problems: Battling Blackheads and Whiteheads

Skin problems are often caused by what we put into our bodies...the food we eat, the liquids we drink. Water is a necessity for clear skin but many of us substitute it with soda pop (I'm guilty too). Sometimes skin problems are caused by environmental factors such as smog and pollution. While you don't always have control of environment factors, you do have control over what you choose to eat and drink.

While many so called experts will say that what you eat doesn't affect your skin, that's highly debatable and suspect.  I know that when I eat nothing but fresh, fruits and vegetables my skin clears.  You see, eating wholesome fruits and vegetables puts your body into a natural detox mode, in turn the impurities will begin to leave your system.  Initially, your skin may break out for the first few days. This is the process of the impurities being released through the skin. I've personally experienced this a couple of times while detoxing.

If you have oily skin you are prone to getting acne.  Blackheads and whiteheads are forms of acne that can really mess up the skin's health and appearance.  A person may have one or the other or both.  Regardless of the acne condition, blackheads and whiteheads can be successfully treated by a variety of methods.

Blackheads and whiteheads are what's called comodones. When it comes to treating blackheads and whiteheads, it's first important to distinguish the difference between the two.

Blackheads are open follicles in the skin that are filled with oil and dead skin cells. The melanin in the skin has gone through the process of oxidation (oxygen coming in contact with the tissues and body fluids in the skin) which causes the substance in follicle to look black.

Whiteheads are closed follicles in the skin and are also filled oil and dead skin cells. Air is however not able to reach the follicle so, the substance within the follicle does not turn black

When it comes to treating blackheads and whiteheads, you have to be persistent and patient. It takes some time. After all, they didn't just pop up over night (technically), so they won't just disappear over night.

There a number of treatments available on the market....natural and pharmaceutical:

• Extracting the blackheads/whiteheads. Not recommended for you to do yourself because you'll leave a blemish mark. Seek a professional who can use special extracting equipment.
• Use of pure therapeutic grade essential oils such as Tea Tree or Lemon Oil
  
• Use of Pharmaceutical drugs such as Benzoyl Peroxide (for mild acne cases), Retin A (for more severe cases) and Topical or Oral antibiotics

The one thing you can do to prevent an acne breakout is to employ proper daily skin care techniques such as cleansing with the proper cleanser for your skin type, getting weekly decongesting/refining masks, toning and moisturizing with a moisturizer with an SPF of 30 (15 is not adequate no matter what the experts say. Have you checked the effectiveness of our ozone layer? I'd err on the safe side and increas my sun protection)