It took thousands of years of evolution to create the cells and organs that make up our bodies today. Every organ in your body was created for a reason and every cell that constitutes the organs, blood, etc. play a very specific role. The cells that constitute your skin have a specific role, too. Simply put, your skin is a protective barrier to both release and absorb. It releases sebum to keep your skin supple and moist. It releases heat (in the form of sweat) to keep your body cool.  It absorbs sunlight to produce Vitamin D , a very important hormone with a multitude of it’s own functions. [1]

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