The reason that a healthy diet is so foundational to effectively treating your acne is because no matter how many supplements you take, they won’t be able to combat the damage that an unhealthy diet does to your skin. In order to naturally clear up acne in your skin for good, you can use the basis of a healthy diet to ensure that your skin gets the vital nutrients it needs to strengthen and repair itself so that it can resist acne bacteria.

Natural Saw Palmetto Acne Remedies

When it comes to popular natural acne remedies, saw palmetto acne treatment is often recommended on natural health and beauty blogs.  But does it really work? Saw palmetto comes from a palm tree grown in some areas of the United States, and it is often used in the form of an oil extract for therapeutic health benefits. [1]

More specifically, saw palmetto suppresses DHT production in the body, which is a potent hormone produced by testosterone. This means that saw palmetto is often recommended to treat enlarged prostate in men, and it is also thought to be able to regulate excessive hair growth and abnormal blood pressure in women.

For the many people out there that believe that acne is purely hormone-based, they often recommend saw palmetto acne treatment as a means to regulate hormones and minimize breakouts in the skin. However, I must point out that there is absolutely no scientific backing to this theory. The truth is that acne is caused by a known chain of events, all starting with poor dietary habits and resulting in severeal different types of acne.

These poor dietary habits trigger digestive issues that cause toxic overload in the body, which will directly lead to an imbalance of hormones. This hormonal imbalance will create bacterial overgrowth on the skin that causes acne, as well as excess oil production that also causes acne, and it will even weaken the immune system to make it difficult for the skin to heal itself and resist acne.

From this example, it is clear to see how vital it is to attack acne at its source by first of all correcting your diet.

Yes, it may be possible for an option like a saw palmetto acne treatment to regulate some hormones and provide temporary relief to acne, but why would you trust in an acne treatment that does not have scientific proof? What does have scientific backing is the fact that eating a healthy diet will ensure optimal digestion to regulate all processes in your body, including an imbalance of hormones. This will guarantee that your acne is not caused by a hormonal imbalance in the first place, meaning that you may not need a saw palmetto acne supplement after all.

To give you a clearer picture, here is what several acne sufferers from the acne.org forums had to say about using saw palmetto to remedy acne:

I took saw palmetto for a long while as a substitution for spironolactone. I found that it wasn't effective for my acne. Spironolactone worked for me within a week or two.

Saw Palmetto broke me out horribly!

I took beta-sitosterol which is the active ingredient in saw palmetto. My face was clear of oil but the sexual side effects were ridiculous. It definitely does what it is supposed to at least for me. I had no sex drive at all along with other weird stuff.

I took it for a little over a month, didn't notice much with my skin but I did see a drop in my libido and I think I was experiencing some "shrinkage" if you know what I mean, that freaked me out so I quit, everything’s back to normal now though, phew! Try it, look for side effects, quit if you don’t see results, probably won’t kill you.

Perhaps the reason that so many acne sufferers are willing to jump on the saw palmetto acne treatment bandwagon is because we are all looking for a natural and gentle treatment to clear up our skin!

However, what I must emphasize to you is that making healthy changes in your diet to eliminate foods that contain processed chemical ingredients will help you to promote healthy digestion, flush your body of toxins, and keep all hormones in check. This is a completely natural and effective approach to regulating hormones that does not have any side effects, and you will also have the long-term benefit of improving your overall health as you clear up your skin.

Who’s going to argue with that?

Sources:

1. "Saw Palmetto for Women." A Complete Guide to Nutritional Supplements. Web. 13 Jan. 2011. <http://www.nutritional-supplements-health-guide.com/saw-palmetto-for-women.html>.

About the Author: Bethany Ramos is an aesthetician and makeup artist with a special interest in using nutrition to heal and alleviate a number of conditions in the skin. You can find out more skin care and makeup tips by visiting her blog at FacebyBethany.

It's common to have been prescribed birth control pills as a potential remedy by your doctor. For the many women out there suffering from painful and inflamed acne that is difficult to treat, not to mention embarrassing, they are often recommended to try birth control acne treatments as a last resort.

Birth Control Acne Treatment Options

According to Lawrence E. Gibson M.D. of the Mayo Clinic, birth control pills are often prescribed as a birth control acne treatment if acne has not responded to other forms of treatment, like topical products and medication. Three specific types of birth control pills have been approved by the FDA as a potential acne treatment for young women, which are Yaz, Estrosteo, and Ortho Tri-Cyclen. [1]

Acne is a result of excess oil produced in the skin, which will mix with dead skin cells and create an acne lesion. This is further worsened by bacteria that cause an infection in the acne in the skin. Doctors often prescribe birth control pills as a form of acne treatment since they are claimed to reduce oil production to hopefully lessen the risk of acne outbreaks.

Problem solved, right? Wrong!

Several sources online state that birth control acne treatments are an ideal alternative. However, it is important to point out that they don’t come without their share of side effects.

Here are some of the side effects that you can expect from birth control acne treatment:

• Changes in menstruation
• Headaches
• Breast tenderness
• Vomiting/nausea
• Decreased libido
• Depression
• Fetal defects if you are pregnant
• Increased risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, blood clots, and high potassium

This long list of complications is troubling to say the least, especially if you are looking for a long-term acne treatment.

Something works better.

There is an acne treatment available that will reduce excess oil production in the skin by balancing the hormones, and it all starts with understanding the true cause of acne. Yes, it really is that simple…

Here are some first-hand testimonials of the unfortunate side effects of using birth control to treat acne from acne.org forum users:

I would never take bc again. In total I took 5 years of pills (every brand) and 2 years of depo shot. Worse mistake ever....it caused my period to become irregular, spotting, and that's when my chest acne began. My hormones are now so unbalanced. I've been off bc for over 4 years and I'm still having problems.

I took Yasmin briefly, then Yaz, and both were a nightmare for me. My acne cleared up for the first month, then came back strong as ever. The worst part about both pills is that they gave me terrible mood swings. I burst out crying when I lost a game of checkers, cried at sad commercials, and got angry very easily.

For me, yaz did absolutely nothing for my skin, and it gave me crazy bad mood swings. Needless to say, I got off of it after about 7 months of taking it.

Yaz gave me an initial breakout that was bad, cleared my acne for a couple of months, and then WHAM I got acne in places I had never had a problem with before like my jawline and chin. It was mostly nodules and cystic acne, too, so it took forever to go away. I'm still dealing with the residual scars left from Yaz.

Wouldn’t you prefer to enjoy a fresh and healthy diet that will benefit your overall health and vitality without any side effects?

Compared to birth control acne treatments, eating a healthy diet does not have such side effects as vomiting, headaches, depression, and even birth defects.

Instead, a healthy acne diet will stimulate healthy digestion and flush toxins from the body, which will effectively work to balance hormones and reduce excess oil production in the skin. This is exactly what birth control acne treatments claim to do, yet they also leave you at risk for a very long list of side effects to potentially damage your health.

On top of that, you will be committed to taking a birth control pill every single day, which may be difficult for many women to remember to do. By turning to a healthy diet regimen to control your acne, you instead have the capability to establish new and healthy habits in your daily life that will greatly impact the quality and clarity of your skin.

If you’re hoping to minimize oil production and get rid of acne in your complexion, I would urge you not to consider birth control acne treatments, but instead start by avoiding the foods that cause oily skin, treating yourself holistically from the inside out!

Sources:

1. Staff, Mayo Clinic. "Birth Control Pills for Acne? - MayoClinic.com." Mayo Clinic. 22 Sept. 2009. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. .

About the Author: Bethany Ramos is an aesthetician and makeup artist with a special interest in using nutrition to heal and alleviate a number of conditions in the skin. You can find out more skin care and makeup tips by visiting her blog at FacebyBethany.

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.

The answer is clear – the answer is simple – NO. Now go back to that porn site, or if you're more interested, read further.

I've heard the argument that masturbation causes a spike in testosterone which in turn puts your hormones out of wack. This causes an increase in sebum production, resulting in our worst friend. I've also heard people going months without masturbation, or sex(acne sufferers don't get laid anyways, right?)

The fact is, hormones do play a role in acne, but not for the same reason the common acne sufferer might think. If masturbation really caused acne, then every single person, with the exception of your 90 year old grandpa, would have it. Married men across the world would have pimples.

It's easy for people to get desperate and take hold of any concept that circulates the web. One person says your sperm is a great topical for your skin. Another person tells you to stop wacking off - it's bad for your skin. It all sounds good and feasibly true.

Bottom Line: Masturbation does not cause acne!