Home remedies for acne scars include the use of sandalwood, ice, tomato, cucumber, eggs, turmeric, Aloe Vera, apple cider vinegar, lime juice, honey, water, lavender oil, fenugreek and a variety of other fruits and vegetables.
Home remedies for acne scars are useful in cases of severe infection or when acne has been irritated, squeezed, or scratched. The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) reports that this intense skin condition afflicts as many as 50 million Americans. Mild acne scars heal on their own, while the deep scars might remain for a person’s entire life. Mild acne scars can be safely and effectively treated with home remedies using natural products. What is Acne?
Basically, acne refers to the blackheads, whiteheads, and short pink bumps called papules, which appear on the skin in the form of cysts as a result of prolonged contact with dust, polluted air, sweat, or dirty water. Acne usually occurs on the face, but areas like the legs, buttocks, shoulders, chest, and back are also not spared by this skin condition. According to the dermatologists at the Acne Research Institute in California, men and women can even experience acne at 25 or 35 years of age, sometimes even older, which many people don’t know since acne is typically associated with teenagers and pubescent individuals.
Acne is caused due to plugged pores and an outbreak of lesions, as reported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Acne can be an embarrassing and unsightly condition to experience when you are a teenager and an adult, but once those hormonally charged years are over, and you have reduced the chances of acne flare-ups or recurrences, the scars, spots, and after marks of acne can still cause a lot of self-esteem and confidence problems. That is why curing the condition of acne is not enough, the acne scars must also be taken care of before you can firmly put acne behind you! Home Remedies for Acne Scars
SOME OF THE COMMONLY USED HOME REMEDIES FOR ACNE SCARS INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: Sandalwood Paste: Apply a mixture of sandalwood paste in rosewater and leave it on your face overnight, then wash it off the next morning. Repeat this process until there is a marked improvement in scars. The usefulness of sandalwood in skin care is very well known. It has actually been one of the traditional, essential elements of make-up kits for women in India for many years. Even today, there are several brands that prepare soaps that names sandalwood as one of its key ingredients. Tea Tree Oil: This is one of the most popular remedies for curing acne problems. This diluted oil is applied on the spots affected by acne. There is a strong belief that this oil consists of terpinen-4-ol, which eliminates bacterial activity and easily kills the bacteria permanently. It neutralizes the acne bacteria called Propionibacterium and other dangerous bacteria, which dwell on your skin and can quickly develop into acne. Ice: Applying ice to the face helps to tighten pores and to reduce secretions of acne causing sebum. Ice also works as a natural astringent to tighten up pores around marks and scars, making scarring less obvious, by decreasing the size of the pores that were affected by the acne in the first place. Aloe Vera & Sage: Sage and Aloe Vera are well known healing agents, which can bring relief to acne scars. Soak sage in hot water, allow it to cool, and then apply it on the skin. Aloe Vera can be applied directly to the skin. Face mapping is a technique used in traditional Chinese Medicine & Auyerveda by Chinese medicine practitioners and reflexologists. It is often used on skin analysis prior to a Facial Dermalogic, which gives great opportunity for understanding how certain areas of your face are related indirectly or directly with your health, indicating imbalances in key organs in your body. While internal problems can be one of the main reasons for acne, especially if you get cystic pimples, there are several other factors that can be responsible for breakouts. These range from skin care products, hygiene, hormones, allergies, genetics, etc. However, understanding what it means when you get pimples on certain facial zones is a good place to get ideas about how to clear your skin. So what's your skin trying to tell you & what organs should you be paying attention to? Forehead: Break outs can usually mean a build up of toxins in the digestive system & bladder. Up your intake of water to flush out the toxins and improve your diet or take a closer look to see if there are foods that you have a tolerance to. Eliminate processed foods and refined sugars where possible. Facial Region Advice of Solution Forehead
Eyes, orbital area & the space above your nose: Redness, flakiness, oiliness (inbetween the brows), itchy eyes here is related to your liver and possible allergies. Cut back on the booze, heavy, fatty or rich foods (are you eating out a lot?) and also dairy. Saturated fats are difficult for the liver to proces, so go easy on the grease... Whilst refined sugars will convert into fats and cholesterol if the liver processes too much! Fresh orange or even lemon juice are great for invigorating the liver & also great for cleansing both your body & liver. Facial Region Advice of Solution Between the Brows
Under the eyes & ears: Notice any dark circles under your eyes? It's not just a lack of sleep that's an issue, you're most likely dehydrated. The area under your eyes & your ears, if they appear redder/hotter than normal are related to your kidneys so keep hydrated and reduce your intake of alcohol, moderate your intake of caffeine, avoid too much salt in your diet and if you must, do a detox. I always notice how some of my friends who have a low tolerance of alcohol (or are allergic to alcohol) react to drinking when I see their ears & cheeks go red! It's always the first place to color. Nose: Apparently redness, broken capillaries & puffiness are related to any underlying heart or blood problems. (Or you may simply have a cold & have been blowing your nose too much!) Facial Region Advice of Solution Nose
Cheeks: This area is related to the lungs and respiratory system. Irritation from pollution, smoking or passive smoking will cause broken capillaries, puffiness, inflammation or minor breakouts here. Facial Region Advice of Solution Left Cheek
Right Cheek
Mouth area: Any congestion here shows underlying problems with your stomach and digestive system - up your intake of fibre and try to eat clean - include lots of fruit, veggies! Facial Region Advice of Solution Lip Area
Chin area: I don't know if this applies to everyone, but breakouts here are usually very common for many women. Hormonal imbalances & even stress are the main causes. I normally just take Omega 3 vitamins & switch it up with Vitamin E with Evening Primrose Oil. Research shows that Vitamin E is actually better for PMS. (via Livestrong) Apparently, depending on which side you have breakouts as this area is also related to your ovaries, you can probably determine which side you're ovulating... now that's just weird! Facial Region Advice of Solution Chin and Jaw
It is also important to keep in mind that the above remedies are just suggestions that may or may not apply to everyone. Since everyone's skin is so unique and different, what works for one person won't necessarily work for another. Ultimately, it is up to you to do proper research before using or doing anything to your skin. Acne can be as much internal as it is external and while lifestyle changes may not make acne go away completely, healthy habits will provide long-term benefits both to your skin and your health. You might just think this is all a load of rubbish and most likely don't apply to you, but next time you experience any congestion, breakouts or notice anything out of the ordinary on your face take another peek at this face map again! Are there any noticeable correlations? There I stood, for what felt like the millionth day in a row, picking and poking at the acne on my face. This problem had been going on since I was 17 years old and ten years later, it wasn’t getting any better. If anything, it was getting much worse. Now the acne had started migrating downward, showing up along my jawline and neck as well as on my face. Deep-rooted, cystic acne that never seemed to go away. I didn’t know what to do anymore. Living With Adult Acne I had already tried every acne product on the market. Sure, some of it worked temporarily, but it would eventually stop working and then the acne would get worse. Some days I stayed at home because there just wasn’t enough makeup in the world to make me want to show my face in public. Some days I wanted to scream and rip my skin off because I hated so much what I saw in the mirror. I felt ugly and gross. Other women had beautiful, glowing skin and I looked like a pizza-faced teenager. I’d heard the term “adult acne,” but I never expected to experience it myself. Especially considering the skin I had as a child. Growing up my skin was gorgeous. It was soft, hydrated and beautiful. It was like perfect porcelain. Then around the time I was graduating from high school, my checks started breaking out, badly. I blamed it on the cortisone shots I was getting from my doctor to manage the pain in my neck, but when it never went away, I started to suspect something else. A Break In The Case As I got older, the acne got worse, and other health problems showed up: heartburn, anxiety, acid reflux. It was the week of my 26th birthday, my face was badly broken out and I was having heartburn almost every night. Then in the middle of the night, I had a panic attack. Freaked out and looking for answers, I turned to my doctor. I wanted to get to the bottom of the problem once and for all. After an unsuccessful attempt to get an answer from my doctor, I took matters into my own hands and enrolled in a distance-learning nutrition school. I was going to get to the bottom of these panic attacks and heartburn, and finally have an answer. I dedicated the next year of my life to studying nutrition and learning all about food and its effects on the body. Then something amazing happened. I was listening to a lecture on food allergies, and the doctor who was teaching the class started listing off all the symptoms that gluten and dairy allergies produce: anxiety, heartburn, GERD, acid reflux, stomach pain, ear infections, sinus infections…the list went on. One-by-one the symptoms started resonating with me. Constant ear infections? Check. Sinus infections? Check. Reflux, stomach pain? All the time. Maybe I had food allergies. Eliminating Gluten and Dairy For the next week, I removed all gluten and dairy from my diet. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I was committed to giving it a shot. After all, nothing else had worked. The first few days were rough to say the least. I missed cheese. I had dreams about pizza and crispy loaves of Italian bread. But I wasn’t having any stomach pain. I wasn’t having a single episode of heartburn. And amazingly, without even trying, my acne was clearing up. It was clearing up! It was like a miracle happening right in front of my eyes. When I reintroduced gluten and dairy into my diet after the elimination period was over, I immediately saw my symptoms—and acne—return. Amazed and so grateful, I cried. I finally had the cure for my acne. A cure that no one was talking about. Don’t eat chocolate or greasy food, sure, I’d heard those acne tips before. But removing gluten and dairy? News to me. They certainly didn’t mention that in all the magazine articles I’d read about “getting rid of acne for good.” Now I’ve been gluten-free, dairy-free AND acne-free for almost three years, and I’ve never felt or looked better in my entire life. If you’ve been struggling with acne for what feels like most of your life, if you’ve tried everything and nothing has worked, give an elimination diet a try to see if gluten and/or dairy could be your problem, too.
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