Now if you’ve ever taken antibiotics, maybe you’ve noticed that things got better at first – this is because all that bad bacteria has been destroyed. It’s a known fact that superfluous bacteria on your skin leads to acne. However, this is only destroying a symptom of a true cause – that is a weak immune system. A weak immune system allows this bad bacteria to overgrow in the first place. Overgrowth of bacteria is only one step on the ladder of causes. The only way to keep a good ratio of healthy and unhealthy bacteria in your body is to practice healthy eating habits.

Antibiotics causing acne to become worse is a very common issue. A simple search on the acne.org forums show dozens of these cases:

Tetracycline (Antibiotics) Reviews – Acne.org Reviews

I was on tetracycline for about a year before i had to come off it because it made me lose so much weight and I was becoming resistant to antibiotics in general. It’s great for a temporary solution, but unfortunately when I came off of it again after a few months my acne went from being mild/moderate to severe when I went away to college and practically impossible to control since.

after a month all of the zits came back even in places on my face i never had them before

You have to keep using it, once you stop they come back. I have been on them for years. Everytime I think I should stop using them I break out all over again!!!

I stopped taking the pills for about two months and decided to start taking them again. I found that my acne had worsened. My cheeks are red and they feel/look almost like I have a rash. I’m not sure what to do. I’m frustrated.

later..after i was taking it for over a year, it entirely quite working and my acne got very very very bad. way way way worse than when i started a year earlier. this happened to be right when i started college.. really made it easy meeting ppl

Is it possible for antibiotics to make it worse? – Acne.org Forums

I have been on lymecycline before and it worked very well.
I stopped taking it for 6 months to see how it went and it wasnt good.
Ive just started again 3 weeks ago and my acne is worse than ever.

and she changed my minocycline to lymecyline, saying she couldn’t see any reason why it would get any worse, and it might improve things, and keeping me on dianette. now my skin is TERRIBLE

Antiobiotics make you worse? – Acne.org Forums

I was on Mino for around 8 months and I was the clearest I’ve ever been. Then a few months after I stopped taking the antibiotic twice a day, my mild acne came back and turned much much worse.

Taking antibiotics have a three step process in dealing with acne:

1. Both healthy and harmful bacteria is destroyed, acne gets better temporarily
2. Bacteria becomes resistant or patient goes off of the drug, immune system is compromised and bacteria overgrows
3. Acne gets worse

What’s even scarier is the fact that once the antibiotics cause your skin to get worse, unhappy patients go back to their dermatologist (the very same dermatologists that made their problem worse in the first place) and the derm prescribes them more antibiotics! Here are a few quotes from those same threads which show just a few people’s experiences.

My doctor put me on mino again but I’m seeing another doctor soon to see if I can get Accutane, because I don’t trust the mino.

I dont think Ill ever do Antibiotics again. Its all my one derm EVER wanted to give me. Its not good for you I dont think.

The fact is, dermatologists prescribing acne sufferers with antibiotics is an effort in futility. It will do nothing to cure your acne and in most cases will make things worse. Not to mention all the other health implications that antibiotics can cause. (See Another Antibiotic Hits the Dust & New “Ramp” Antibiotics May Be Fatal)

Antibiotics Fact Sheet:

• Doctors over prescribe antibiotics in almost all cases. In turn, antibiotics are widely available and overused. (See Free Antibiotics: Wrong Prescription For Cold And Flu Season, Experts Say)
• Antibiotics are never a risk correct treatment for acne. Acne can always be cured naturally without the risk of it coming back much more persistently in the future. Antibiotics prescribed before or after major surgery would be one example of risk correct usage.
• Many natural treatments are much more effective and safer than medical antibiotics including coconut oil, garlic, oil of oregano, cloves and clove oil.

An inherint problem of acne is that sufferers are desperate. Everyday they have acne is a day other people will see it. Sufferers want to it gone ASAP (I know I did!) The problem with this is that it took many years of unhealthy eating to become sick enough to get acne in the first place. Antibiotics and the Dermatologists that prescribe them throw out the notion that your acne can be cured within a month or less with a prescription drug. It doesn’t work that way! To cure your acne, you must do it naturally, and it takes time and dedication. If you can grasp and understand this concept, you’ve already come half the way to curing your acne.

References

1. Tetracycline (Antibiotic) Reviews, http://www.acne.org/tetracycline-antibiotic-reviews/20/page6.html
2. Is it possible for antibiotics to make it worse?,  http://www.acne.org/messageboard/antibiotics-worse-t116580.html
3. Antibiotics make you worse?,  http://www.acne.org/messageboard/Antibiotics-worse-after-t132906.html
4. “Another Antibiotic Hits the Dust,”  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2006/05/27/another-antibiotic-exits-the-consumer-marketplace.aspx
5. “New ‘Ramp’ Antibiotics May Be Fatal,”  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/07/05/ramp-antibiotics.aspx
6. “Free Antibiotics: Wrong Prescription For Cold And Flu Season, Experts Say”, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090116111137.htm

Companies like Neutrogena, L’oreal(see L’Oreal accused of using banned chemicals) and pharmaceutical companies create and market these topicals for two reasons.  To treat a specific symptom which may be one cause of your acne and to make as much money as they can doing so.

Inneffective – topicals don’t treat the true cause

One example of a prescription topical pharmaceutical companies have created in a lab is Benzamycin. Let’s take a look at the active ingredients in Benzamycin:

• Benzoyl Peroxide, hydrous, equivalent to benzoyl peroxide 5%
• Erythromycin 3%

Erythromycin inhibits lipase production whilst benzoyl peroxide reduces the comedone count and has antibacterial action.[2]

In theory, this should stop acne from forming, thus curing your acne. WRONG. If you’ve read, ‘The Ladder of Causes‘ you’ll know that this effort is futile. Benzamycin may help curbing your acne initially, but what happens when you stop? Your acne comes back.  Acne sufferers are lead to believe that if their symptoms are temporary alleviated, then it is an effective treatment. WRONG. Effective means your acne is gone and will never come back. There is only one effective treatment of acne, and topicals aren’t it. The true cause of acne deals specifically with your diet and nutrition and healing comes within.

Damaging – Active and inactive ingredients are absorbed into our bloodstream and change homeostasis

We partially absorb everything we put on our skin. That foundation with a million different chemicals is absorbed by our skin. Those chemicals in that commercial shampoo you are using is absorbed by the skin, too. The same goes with Benzamycin and any other topical to treat acne.

In vivo, the higher the concentration of benzoyl peroxide applied, the greater the amount absorbed, as indicated by the urinary excretion of ¹⁴C-benzoic acid. [3]

Absorption is not specific to active ingredients. Inactive ingredients are absorbed as well. Let’s take a look at the inactive ingredients in Benzamycin.

• Carbomer 980
• Sodium Hydroxide
• SD Alcohol
• Lemon Fragrance Oil
• Methyl Salicylate
• Docusate Sodium 75% Solution
• Purified Water
• Ethanol 70 HSE*

* Added by the pharmacist during reconstitution.

Pharmaceutical and OTC Companies don’t take into account the accumulative harmful effects of absorbing these ingredients into our bloodstream. They are probably aware of said effects, but don’t bring it to attention with their greed and money on their minds. Check out just a few chemicals in common topicals that are harmful to our body when you apply them topically. If you are really interested in this concept, I suggest you read ‘Dying To Look Good‘ by Christine Hoza Farlow, D.C.

Absorption of these ingredients has a two prong effect[4]:

1. Localized accumulation of toxic residues with the need for homeostasis.
2. Accumulation of toxic residues circulated through the blood stream with the need for excretion

It is very common for acne sufferers to incur new or increased skin symptoms after using strong topicals. This is due to the concept of homeostasis.

Homeostasis is the property of a system, either open or closed, that regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, constant condition. – Walter Bradford Cannon

Many will find that once applying a topical, their skin will become red and inflamed right after application. They may also find that it causes their skin to become dry. This is an acute reaction from toxic ingredients that is damaging, no matter what other people might believe. After consistent application, toxic residues build up localized to the skins layers, and the body naturally will find a way to get rid of these toxins back out through the skin. Your body will effectively find a new level of homeostasis where an acute reaction doesn’t occur every application. This produces the symptoms classified as chronic, such as rosacea, consistent dryness, poor healing, etc. Every time you use these topicals with harmful ingredients, you are taking one more step to making your problems chronically worse. Here are a few excerpts from sufferers with these experiences.

On Ziana Gel, a prescription topical medication used to treat acne.

Pros      Helps clear up already existing pimples quickly and is easy to use.
Cons     It is expensive, it didn’t prevent my acne from forming and caused me to have break outs worse then before. [5]

Cortisone Gel, a prescription topical steroid that has been cited to cause permanent redness on the face, whether it helps acne minimally or not.

I think you’ll be okay if you’ve just started using it – I’m really just saying not to use cortisone on your face long term, no matter how tempting it is. I did a) because it’s what my dermatologist prescribed, so I thought it would be safe, and b) it really was the ONLY thing that seemed to control my sebderm. I kind of got used to the fact that the skin on my face always looked pink, because that was such a vast improvement from when my face was covered in nasty sebderm blotches – lesser of two evils if you like. People always used to say “do you have sunburn on your face?” – in winter [6]

Many will feel the desperation to use topical acne medications even if it were to cause other symptoms, simply because they want their acne gone under whatever circumstances. There is a much better, healthier, and effective way to curing your acne. That is through diet and nutrition and it will help anyone and everyone. Simple rule, don’t put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t want to eat. A great topical to use is coconut oil.

References

[1] Borradale D, Kimlin M, Australian Sun and Health Research Laboratory, Vitamin D in health and disease: an insight into traditional functions and new roles for the ‘sunshine vitamin’, 2009

[2] EMC Medicines, Benzamycin Gel – Summary of Product Characteristics, 2007

[3] David Yeung M.S., Vick Toiletry Research Division, Richardson-VicksInc., Shelton, CT, and the Department of Dermatology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, Benzoyl peroxide: Percutaneous penetration and metabolic disposition. II. Effect of concentration, 2008

[4] Ottmar Stubler, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology How Do Drugs Absorb Into The Skin (Percutaneous Absorption),

[5] Acne.org, Ziana Gel Reviews, 2010

[6] Acne.org, Cortisone Lotion Getting Rid of Redness, 2010

Please read the following articles to get you started:

• Congratulations Are in Order
• Processed Food Causes Acne
• Vegetable Oil Causes Acne
• Sugar Causes Acne
• Raw Crushed Garlic – Acne’s Worst Enemy
• Saturated Fats Heal Acne

Think about any normal human. We all experience fluctuations in hormones during our teen years, then why doesn’t every teen get acne? The fact is, our diet effects our hormones and our hormones can effect our skins health. This is shown clearly in my ‘Ladder of Causes‘ article.

When we eat foods that are damaging to our health, and fail to consume the vitamins and minerals necessary for maintaining health, we are causing our organs and glands to become inefficient. There are libraries filled with books talking about how the pituitary gland effects that hormone – how the thyroid gland effects this hormone. Luckily, this isn’t within the scope of our topic.

To maintain a healthy regulation of our hormones, we need to eat healthy. Lets stray away from acne for a second and talk about obesity. There are millions of fat people in our world, and most of these fat people have gone on diets. They’ve starved themselves, gone on the apple diet, gone on Atkins, etc. Mostly all of them fail – or they succeed temporarily and fail in the long run (whoa, that reminds me of most acne sufferers, too!) This might strike some bad emotions out there, but it’s naive to think that calorie restriction is a long lasting cure to obesity. Let me explain.

Hormones have very important and specific roles in our bodies. One hormone does this while another hormone does that. To make sure all your hormones are in check, you have to eat healthy. I repeat this so often because it’s a very important concept to grasp. As long as you eat healthy foods, it doesn’t matter how much of it you eat – you will not be fat nor will your get acne. Did you know that there are hormones that regulate fat storage? When the common dieter restricts certain foods, they are usually missing out on necessary vitamins and minerals.  This causes some specific glands to function improperly, which in turn causes an incorrect balance of hormones. The very same hormones that regulate fat storage(and sebum production)! In most obese peoples minds ‘nothing works – it must be genetics.’ But in actuallity, if they were eating the right foods along with getting the right vitamins and minerals, they wouldn’t have to live another fat day in their lives. Why don’t you share this article with three of your friends – chances are, if you live in America, one of them is fat.

What does it mean for the acne sufferer? It means, stop eating those Krispy Kreme donuts, dumb ass.

Your body wants to keep the toxins away from your vital inner organs, so it brings these toxins to your extremeties, e.g. your sinuses, your skin, etc. This is a good thing. What happens when you accumulate too many toxins over time? Cancer. Notice it usually takes decades of accumulating toxins for cancer to manifest itself.

The same goes with acne, and all skin ailments for that matter. Your body is getting rid of the toxins through your skin – hence your acne. In a sense, acne is a good thing (rolls eyes.) The skin is a very efficient way for your immune system to get rid of toxins.

What does this mean? It means if you have acne, your body has accumulated more toxins then it can get rid of through your bowels and urine. This is a very simple yet important concept. Realize that acne is caused by toxins and toxins are the result of poor dietary habits.

What Accutane Looks Like Before It's a Pill

Let me quickly get one point out there before some readers get distracted. Accutane is the most damaging drug you could take to ‘treat’ your acne. Ah, that feels better – maybe now a few more of you won’t take that leap – that leap off the cliff.

If you’ve read ‘The Acne Cure,’ you’ll know that I am a big proponent of vitamins and minerals. Vitamins and minerals are necessary to maintain health. They are necessary to maintain healthy cells, healthy organs, and healthy skin. Thanks to the modern diet, many of the vitamins minerals necessary for health are removed. Yippee.

Accutane is a vitamin A derivative. Derivitave simply means it is ‘derived’ from vitamin A, but isn’t actually vitamin A. It’s easy to think that Accutane is just another form of vitamin a – when in fact it isn’t. If you’ve read my other articles, you’ll notice that i’ve said your body can consume as much healthy food as you want – it will take from it what it needs and throw off the rest. The same goes for most natural vitamins. Notice I said natural vitamins. In fact, your body can take upwards of 80,000 IU of vitamin A per day.

Here’s the difference between vitamin A and Accutane. EVERYTHING. They shouldn’t even be put in the same sentence. Accutane is the furthest thing from natural – it is made in a lab by a Russian guy named Boris and an Indian guy names Deepak. Your body was not built to consume unnatural foods, chemicals, what have you.

Honestly, i’m not really surprised that so many people take Accutane. I clearly remember the feeling of being desperate and clasping my hands on any drug or topical that was said to work. The fact is, Accutane does help some peoples acne. Why does Accutane work for some? The people who created Accutane realized that sebum production had some part to do with why acne is formed on the skin. So they rashly thought(with money on their minds), if you stop the sebum production, you stop acne.

You fools. Thanks for ruining so many lives – and so many more lives to come. Please realize that sebum is necessary for maintaining healthy skin. People with perfect skin produce sebum. Sebum is not the cause of acne. Sebum is not the cause of acne. Sebum is not the cause of acne. Sebum is only one small step on the ladder.

So Accutane stops sebum production – a natural healthy bodily function. That’s like giving someone who feels burning when they go to the bathroom a drug to make them stop peeing. It isn’t natural. And how does Accutane stop sebum production? Simply put, it fucks up your body. It fucks up your body so bad that it can’t produce a necessary component of healthy skin.

If you don’t believe me, ask anyone who’s taken it. It makes your skin very, very dry. It makes your lips chapped and causes skin to peel off of them. It makes your eyes dry to the point where they turn red from itchiness. It slows natural healing of scars wounds, and yes, acne. It has been even cited to cause mental problems(yes, I believe in this connection.) All this to stop acne. Yes, you are suffering a lot. But this doesn’t mean you should take something damaging to your body. There are much better options. Try Raw, Crushed Garlic.

The Cure to Acne?

If I drink kefir I can cure my acne. If I eat yogurt I can cure my acne. No, Steven – put your spoon down.

Probiotics are ‘healthy bacteria’ in your gut which provides a multitude of benefits. They help sweep all toxins and dead bacteria into your colon for excretion. They hold lots of real estate in your body so bad bacteria, fungus, candida, etc. can’t take a hold and overgrow. They produce natural antibiotics which kill living bad bacteria. They are essential to human health and healthy skin.

Here’s the down low on this essential immune system defender. To say taking probiotics will cure your acne is wrong. Probiotics can only do so much. If you are consistently consuming unhealthy foods, these toxins will overrun the healthy bacteria. If you take antibiotics prescribed by your dermatologist, all the healthy bacteria will be destroyed.

The key to keeping a good amount of healthy bacteria in your body is simply to eat healthy foods and avoid damaging foods.  Your immune system will produce healthy gut flora on its own and take the proper real estate in your body if your immune system becomes strong enough to do so.

Taking probiotic pills and yogurt does not provide a solution to your problem. This isn’t to say it doesn’t help. Probiotics are a part of my acne cure, but honestly – they are a drop in a bucket compared to the overall picture. Think how it was back in the day when acne was non existent. Sure they ate naturally fermented foods but they surely didn’t have to load up on 1 billion healthy gut flora cells from a probiotic pill.

In the Literal Sense?

It’s a common conception that if your parents had acne as children, then you are more likely to have acne as well. Although this is true, it’s not true for the reasons most most people think. Most people may say, it’s because of genetics – that you carry the genes of your parents. Sorry, Johnny. Your 8^th grade science teacher was wrong.

Saying that genetics is one of the causes of your acne is saying

1. Acne is not your fault.

2. There is only temporary relief and no permanent cure

This is wrong on both fronts. Acne is your fault. You consumed unhealthy foods and you damaged your own body. You probably didn’t know what you were doing, so don’t be so hard on yourself. By committing fully, it will become apparent how permanent your relief will be.

The parent to son/daughter relation with acne is simple. If they have been eating damaging foods, you’ve most likely been eating damaging foods as well. If your parents’ bodies deal with toxins through the form of acne, then it is likely your body will deal with it the same. The same goes for any disease – cancer is a good example. There’s been so many studies ‘proving’ that cancer runs in the family. If only people would realize it’s because of the modern diet, and not because of genetics – we’d all be much healthier.

Throughout your life, you have been accumulating toxins by eating unhealthy foods such as unnatural oils and too much sugar. Your body doesn’t want these toxins damaging your inner organs, so it finds ways to get rid of them. This can include through the bowels (e.g. diarrhea), through the sinuses (e.g. excess mucus, sneezing), and through the skin (e.g. acne, rosacea, seb derm)

Do you find that when you are constipated that your acne can get worse? This is because your body can’t effectively get rid of many toxins through your bowels, so it is trying another route – through your skin!

The Natural Healing Process

When you improve your nutrition, and particularly when you eliminate foods that damage your health, your body won’t need to worry about the toxins you are consuming everyday, but worry about the toxins that have accumulated over years of poor eating habits. You will experience a range of natural healing symptoms such as

• Withdrawal symptoms caused by addiction to foods.
• Cleansing reactions caused by the elimination of waste and toxins.
• Increased symptoms, where previous symptoms and reactions are intensified.
• Retracing symptoms, when every previous illness, symptom, disease, ache, pain, or injury is re-experienced, which means the body is detoxifying and repairing areas that were affected.

Healing reactions are also called the Herxheimer Reaction, which is caused by the rapid killing of candida/fungi and other harmful pathogens, with large quantities of toxins, cell particles, and antigens being released into the bloodstream and the entire body.

Withdrawal Symptoms

Withdrawal Symptoms will be similar to what alcoholics experience when they stop drinking alcohol. Withdrawal symptoms occur because certain foods are highly addictive, just like alcohol, i.e. sugar, grains, and other high carbohydrate foods.

This will cause you to crave those foods because you’ve become “unknowingly” addicted to them. At times it may make you feel as if you are starving, when you actually aren’t.

Cleansing Reactions

Healing symptoms include cleansing, or detoxifying, reactions, which produces “flu-like” symptoms. This is because the body is trying to eliminate waste and toxins that have accumulated. This results in excessive mucus being produced in the sinuses, nose, throat, and lungs. It is not uncommon to experience more symptoms in your skin.

These flu-like symptoms will also include an a head cold, upset stomach, gas, bloating, belching, muscle and joint aches and pains, clumsiness, headaches, migraines, “brain fog,” etc.

Often you may feel like you have been drugged. This is because toxins are mostly chemicals.

Healing Reactions Means Success

To help you “endure” the onslaught of healing symptoms and reaction, keep in mind that any reactions means you are succeeding in ridding your body of toxic minerals, chemicals, bacteria, viruses, and parasites, and that “natural healing” is taking place.

Every drugless healing practitioner is well aware of this healing reaction phenomenon (something that is impressive or extraordinary)

Healing symptoms and reactions usually get worse before they get better, but eventually your good days will increase and your bad days will decrease. One day you will be able to look back and see how far you’ve progressed.

You WILL get to the point where checking the mirror for new acne is the first thing on your mind!

The information in this article was taken and re written from Healing Naturally By Bee