Help for Troubled Skin

Posted by beautyguru

I am constantly getting emails from readers asking about which all-natural and organic products are best for clearing up acne. This is where I have to be honest and say that I have yet to find an all-natural product line that totally clears acne. But here’s the thing: I do know of a set of products that will clear up acne for good...it’s just that they happen not to be 100% natural. This is perhaps the only time in which I am going to recommend a set of products that isn’t totally natural because acne is an issue in which effectiveness in eliminating the problem is absolutely essential.

So if you’ve tried everything under the sun to clear up your skin but nothing has worked, I can promise you there’s hope. You’re not going to find your solution at another dermatologist’s office. You won’t find it by purchasing the miracle 3-step system you just saw advertised. And you’re definitely not going to find it in an Internet e-book that promises you clear skin in three days. You also won’t find it in a natural home remedy—like taking copious amounts of vitamin B12, slathering your face with coconut oil or making a mask of crushed up aspirin (any of those sound familiar?). You probably could find it if you eliminated all sugar from your diet, and ate only raw plant foods from now on–but what are the chances of that actually happening?

So where can you turn for a solution to troubled skin? The answer: A little business you’ve probably never heard of in San Leandro, California. It’s called Face Reality Acne Clinic and it’s owned by Laura Cooksey. Laura is not a dermatologist. In fact, she was a massage therapist who had tried everything to get her skin clear. Finally, when she was 35-years-old she met an esthetician who told her what to do to clear up her skin. She did what the esthetician told her to do, and, lo and behold, it worked. She decided right then and there that she too would become an esthetician to impart her skin-clearing secrets to others plagued with bad skin.

Face Reality has a system that will help anyone get their acne under control in about 6-12 weeks. And the breakouts will never return. I know this because I haven’t had a single breakout in four years…beginning about three months after I first used their skincare products. I didn’t have terrible acne, but I had those monthly hormone-related flare-ups that the dermatologist told me simply “could not be avoided.” Well, I’m happy to say the dermatologist was wrong.

Face Reality is a real bricks-and-mortar business. But you don’t have to live in California to benefit from their expertise. In addition to the clients they see in-house, they also take long-distance clients through a program you can access on their website.

Read a collection of Face Reality client reviews here if you still don’t believe clear skin is possible.

Also check out the Face Reality Blog for a lot of useful information. With the proliferation of Internet sites claiming to have a “miracle acne cure” (if you just pay them $40!), I thought this recent blog post from the Face Reality staff was especially helpful:

Acne Free in 3 Days!! Secret Acne Cure!! Clear Skin Overnight!! NOT.

I see these ads every day and I have to laugh.  The old adage “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”  And in this case, it is also true.  One cannot possibly get their skin clear in just 3 days (or overnight) because of one little-known fact.

Acne takes up to 30 to 90 days to form.  A pimple that you see today probably started as a microcomedone up to three months ago.

This is why it takes about three to four months to see your skin clear up.  Three months worth of acne is going to surface, even when you are using the perfect acne regimen.  That regimen is keeping the NEW micromedones from forming, so you won’t see them surface 3 months from now.  So, just because you are seeing some breakouts doesn’t mean that your regimen (if you are on the right set of products) isn’t working.  These are lesions that got a “foothold” in the pore as a microcomedone before you started using products.

Another issue that arises in acne home-care protocol is that you need to take into account the skin’s ability to adapt to product.  You cannot start out with a regimen (albeit perfect for your acne type/skin) and just keep it the same.  Your skin will adapt and start to form acne lesions again.  This is why you need someone who can coach you through the process of getting clear.  Knowing when to bump your regimen up a notch and when not to should be left in the hands of an experienced acne specialist.

So, don’t waste your money on the false promises out there (and they are EVERYwhere!).  Go to a tried-and-true acne clinic that will give you all the facts and support you need to get your acne under control.  And know that your acne will not be under control the next day…..

The Acne Drug

Posted by beautyguru

A Beauty Guru reader recently sent me an email in which she mentioned that her dermatologist had just prescribed her a generic brand of Accutane. Her email made me want to share a little bit about what Accutane (and its generic versions) do to the body.

Roche Holding AG, the manufacturer of Accutane, has been sued continually for the countless mental and physical health problems developed by Accutane users. They’ve already paid out $45 million in damages.

It’s well known that taking the drug causes inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Actor James Marshall, who starred in A Few Good Men, sued Roche for $11 million in damages because he lost his colon after taking Accutane. Martin Sheen actually took the stand to testify on his behalf. A 24-year-old woman who had part of her intestines removed won $10 million from Roche.

But that’s not the scariest part of the drug. The scariest part is psychiatric in nature. In 2005 the FDA warned that all Accutane users (and users of the generic forms of the drug) should be observed closely for symptoms of depression or suicidal thoughts. Brain scans taken in 2004 showed that people taking Accutane suffered a 21% decrease in frontal brain activity. Yes, that’s right a 21% decrease in frontal brain activity. That’s the part of the brain that plays a role in mood and social interaction.

This has led to many families suing Roche over the years. Families of people such as:

  1. Charles Bishop, a 15-year-old who crashed a plane into a skyscraper after eight months on Accutane
  2. Matthew Turney, a 16-year-old who shot himself
  3. Steven Wertheimer, a 14-year-old who stood in front of an oncoming train
  4. Bart Stupak Jr., the son of a Michigan congressman, who took his father’s gun and shot himself in the head
  5. James Bencz, a 31-year-old firefighter who was found at the bottom of a lake with a 44-lb barbell strapped to his body

As if all this wasn’t enough to make you run screaming away from the drug, Accutane has a 100% guarantee of birth defects if taken while pregnant. You have to be on birth control while taking the drug or they won’t even let you take it. The Mayo Clinic said, “Isotretinoin (the generic name for Accutane) is associated with severe birth defects.” According to the Accutane website “There is an extremely high risk that severe birth defects will result if pregnancy occurs while taking Accutane in any amount, even for short periods of time.”

Roche finally took Accutane off the market in 2009, but it wasn’t for the reason you might think. The truth was that the generic versions of the drug (isotretinoin), were outselling them. Accutane simply couldn’t handle the competition. Now drugs with new names such as Claravis, Sotret, and Amnesteem, are being prescribed across the U.S. But all of these drugs are still Accutane—just with a new name. .

Here’s the thing: The psychological problems people with acne face can seem so bad at times that compromising their health is not really an issue if it means getting rid of the acne for good. But Accutane is absolutely not the way to go. In fact, dermatologists do not have the solution for acne at all. But there is a solution…something that will eliminate your acne like Accutane does without putting your mind and body in harm’s way. Read about it here.

The Dermatologist’s Protocol

Posted by beautyguru

So you’re having some  breakouts and you realize Proactiv isn’t going to cut it. What do you do? You schedule an appointment with a dermatologist, right? Well, I’m going to suggest you cancel that appointment. And here’s why…

About 85 percent of Americans have trouble with acne at some point in their life, and most people turn to a dermatologist for help. But let me explain to you how that industry works. If you’ve ever been to a dermatologist, you already know that they follow an “acne protocol.” They start out by putting you on a topical treatment, such as Retin-A or Differin. Then, when you come back in a few months and say “I’m still having breakouts,” they move on to the next phase of the “protocol” by prescribing antibiotics, such as tetracycline, doxycycline, minocycline or erythromycin. Then, when you come back a few months later and say, “Um, yeah…I still have acne,” they put you on oral contraceptives or a drug like spironolactone that will alter the levels of testosterone being produced by your body. Finally, when you come back after all of that and say, “Yep, still having breakouts,” they begin considering Accutane—one of the most dangerous drugs ever to be released to the public.

I used to read about how dermatologists use this “protocol,” but I never believed it was such an industry standard until I experienced it firsthand…not once, not twice, but three times during both high school and college. I saw different dermatologists each time in different cities, but the protocol was exactly the same. And what was the end result of all my doctor’s visits? Nothing. My skin hadn’t changed. The acne remained.

Here’s the thing everyone must know: Acne is big business. The dermatology industry didn’t set out to deceive millions of people, but because acne is a such a huge source of revenue for both their industry and the pharmaceutical industry, they can never actually address the true cause and eradicate it. It’s like cancer. If the root causes of cancer were addressed and there was no more cancer, millions of people would lose their jobs and billions of dollars would be lost on chemotherapy and radiation.

What do I mean by root causes of acne? For instance, it is well known that one of the root causes of acne is diet. We know this because we know that acne is mostly found in the Western world. It’s not much of a problem in non-Westernized countries where refined carbs and sugar are consumed in much lower amounts. But a dermatologist will never suggest you cut processed foods out of your diet. Why? Because there’s no money to be made by doing that. The dermatologist’s office doesn’t have a deal with the produce farmers of America; they have a deal with the pharmaceutical companies.

And a dermatologist will also never say, “Um, maybe you shouldn’t use that particular brand of skincare products or makeup on your face because of all the terrible chemicals that are in it.” Why? Because it would be the most hypocritical thing they could say when their “protocol” involves countless synthetic chemicals and harmful substances.

There is some good news, however. After many failed attempts by dermatologists to clear my skin, my skin is completely clear right now and it definitely wasn’t because I did what they suggested. It’s because I did what one very smart woman in California recommended. Find out more about her here.

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