Daily Health and Medicine News

Skin Care News and Acne Treatments

Teen acne: What causes the skin disorder and options for treatment

If you’re a teen, chances are you’ve got a pimple or two on your face.

And while having zits is the pits, you’re not the only one to go through the expected rite of passage into adulthood.

According to the Nemours Clinic website, KidsHealth.org, nearly eight in 10 teens have acne, and so do many adults.

Typically developing during hormonal changes related to puberty, acne is one of the most common skin disorders that nearly everyone experiences at some point in their life.

But for teens, the appearance of tiny bumps on their faces, backs, necks and sometimes chests, is a horrifying ordeal regardless of its societal acceptance.

The good news is that the old adage – this too shall pass – really rings true, and most teens outgrow the inevitable.

“Acne is a disease of the follicles or pores,” said Mayo Clinic Florida dermatologist Juan Carlos Martinez. “Follicles in the skin contain oil glands that make a certain amount of sebum for our skin. Adolescence is a time when oil glands wake up. These glands get revved up in response to normal hormonal changes, which can result in clogged pores, bacterial growth and local inflammation – hallmarks of acne.”

If you think avoiding certain foods and eliminating stress and other factors from your life will give you acne-free teenage years, it won’t.

“While there are no great data to prove that stress leads to acne, stress doesn’t make anything better,” said Martinez. “If a teen’s parents had bad acne, there’s a higher chance that they will, too. Even though there aren’t data incriminating any one specific food, there are suggestions in the literature that diets with high glycemic index may lead to more frequent acne breakouts and that a low glycemic index diet may help improve acne to some extent. Furthermore, some makeup can promote acne if it blocks pores, but using a good cleanser and caring for your skin can help keep acne under control.”

There are three main types of acne, and according to Martinez, people can have a combination of all three.

“Comedonal acne results from overproduction of oil and dead skin clogging the pores, which lead to blackheads,” he said. “These clogged pores then can become breeding ground for bacteria, which the body may react to leading to red bumps or whiteheads known as inflammatory acne.”

The most severe type of acne, Martinez said, is nodulocystic, with inflamed, large, deep lumps on the face, chest and back. “This type of acne has the highest risk of leading to permanent scarring and should be treated by a dermatologist with systemic medication to reduce that risk,” he said.

Depending on the severity of the acne, several courses of treatment may be prescribed over a period of years. Martinez said most physicians will use a combination of topical gels or creams and also may prescribe oral antibiotics to treat acne if it worsens. Some over-the-counter products may work, too. Martinez advises parents and teens to discuss potential side effects of all medications with their prescribing physician.

Martinez’s advice to teens with acne: “Make sure you follow your physician’s advice for therapy. Stick to your routine, and do it regularly for best results.”

His best advice to parents: “Don’t minimize your teen’s acne. Cosmetic appearances are very important during adolescent years. Help them by making sure they follow through with their daily regimen.”

Skin Care Tips For Men

Men are advised to use Aloe vera based cream before shaving. Shaving makes men’s skin dry and harsh. To keep the skin smooth even after shaving, it advised to apply Aloe vera cream on the beard. This allows a smooth shave and saves the skin from being dry.

Is your skin prone to pimples? That’s because you don’t clean your face thoroughly after a battle with traffic and pollution. You need to cleanse, tome and moisturise your skin. Use a 15 SPF sunscreen before going out to the sun and after coming back cleanse your face with a mild cleanser.

Face cleaning, is a must for men. As their skin is more oily, dirt tend to stick to the skin and the dry skin tend to block the pores. There are several ways of face cleaning but steam face cleaning is the best. It opens up the pores of your skin letting it get cleansed completely.

Talking of cleansing, men should use soap free cleanser. This is help your skin retain the moisture.

Most men suffer from blackheads. It is necessary to get rid of the blackheads because they might later grow up to be painful. To get rid of blackheads and to prevent them from happening again, men need to use face packs. Natural face packs of honey and lemon works wonders. Both are natural bleach and thus takes off the tan as well as the blackheads.

Girls don’t like dry and rough lips. Keep your lips moist using lip balms. If your lips have gone blackish due to smoking, then apply some lemon juice on it along with with salt. Keep it for some time and scrub it off. Your natural lip colour will soon return.

Innovation in Body Care

When it comes to caring for the skin, its the ongoing pursuit of product innovation and breakthrough technology that keeps consumers thirsting for the ultimate in moisturization and nutrition properties. That’s why Fruits & Passion has made body care a priority in 2010–adding two new products packed with concentrated plant oils and active natural ingredients to its best-selling Nourishing Collection.

Nourishing Dry Oil for Body and Hair and Nourishing Body Scrub are designed to complement the full line of body-care offerings. As with every product in the collection, these two additions have been developed with all-natural oil and butter bases containing more concentrated active ingredients than most skin-care products available on the market today.

In formulating these new products, Fruits & Passion drew inspiration from the strict adherence of the Nourishing Collection’s sustainable development criteria of authenticity and ethical harvesting. The company made a special point of including a high percentage of natural-source ingredients and avoiding irritants such as silicone, paraben, sulphate, mineral oil and colouring. The result? Both Nourishing Dry Oil for Body and Hair and Body Scrub are healthy and effective with more nourishing and longer lasting benefits delivered to the skin.

Nourishing Dry Oil for Body and Hair: 32 percent plant oils* and costs $14 for 5 ounces. This nourishing, silicone-free oil is formulated with fatty acids derived from plant oils* to replenish the skin. It goes on smoothly, quickly penetrating the skin and hair follicle to hydrate, soothe and soften. Nourishing Dry Oil is a liquid yet nonoily formula, leaving a silky film that will not stain on contact with clothing (so there is no waiting for product to absorb
before dressing). Its texture makes this versatile oil great to use on hair for a restorative, nourishing effect.

Nourishing Body Scrub: 90 percent natural-source ingredients and costs $22 for 6.1 ounces. Breakout technology combining the nourishing properties of formulated plant oils* (35 percent) with the power of mechanical exfoliation through a rich and creamy combination of salt particles, bamboo and coconut powder, this “super scrub” leaves skin feeling clean, soft and silky smooth. Infused with natural extracts to ensure extra gentle, nonirritating, soothing properties and formulated without paraben, silicone, sulphate, mineral oil or coloring.

Asthma Studies Today

Asthma rises as children return to school

Last September the number of children aged 16 and under admitted for asthma across England was 58 per cent higher than the average monthly figure over the year as a whole.

The previous September the corresponding figure was 102 per cent, according to the NHS Information Centre.

The spikes were driven by admissions of children aged five and under.

The figures matched the experiences of many parents, according to Asthma UK, a charity.

Erica Evans, head nurse at Asthma UK, said: “There are a number of possible factors involved, including the spreading of colds and viruses, the potential stresses that a new school term can bring and children not taking their regular preventer medicine over the summer holidays.

“We also know that a quarter of children with asthma miss six or more days from school a year as a result of the condition, which can have a significant knock on effect on school work.”

She said parents of children with asthma should make sure they have a “tailored plan” to help themselves and teachers cope with an attack; find out how the school or nursery manages asthma; and ensure their child has a review with a GP or specialist nurse every six or 12 months.

telegraph.co.uk

Prenatal smoke tied to poorer asthma-drug response

(Reuters Health) – Studies have shown that children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy may have an increased risk of developing asthma. Now new research suggests they may also get less benefit from the inhaled steroid medications used to prevent asthma attacks.

In a study of more than 1,000 kids between five and 12 years old with mild-to-moderate asthma, researchers found that those who had been exposed to smoke in the womb had less of a response to the inhaled corticosteroid budesonide (Pulmicort) than children with no prenatal exposure to smoking.

Overall, both groups of children improved with the medication. However, children with prenatal smoke exposure had 26 percent less of an improvement in their “airway responsiveness.”

Airway responsiveness refers to a “twitchiness” in the airways that, in people with asthma, can be triggered by small amounts of a normally benign irritant, like pollen or pet dander.

Inhaled steroids are the mainstay of therapy for persistent asthma, helping to prevent attacks of coughing, wheezing and breathlessness. One of the ways doctors measure whether a patient is responding to inhaled steroids is by testing airway responsiveness.

In this study, children with prenatal exposure to maternal smoking had less of an improvement in airway responsiveness after starting budesonide — and some had no improvement at all, said Dr. Benjamin A. Raby of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, one of the researchers on the study.

The full implications of the difference are not clear. The researchers did not have information on whether children exposed to prenatal smoking actually had higher rates of asthma attacks or hospital visits than other children, despite treatment with inhaled steroids.

But the findings do raise that possibility, Raby told Reuters Health.

He stressed, however, that no one is suggesting children with prenatal tobacco exposure should forgo inhaled steroids. “Inhaled steroids are the first-line therapy for persistent asthma, regardless of whether children had in-utero exposure to smoking or not,” Raby said.

Instead, he explained, the findings offer a potential explanation for why a child with prenatal exposure to smoking may not be responding as well as hoped to inhaled steroids. These children may need a second type of medication — such as oral drugs known as leukotriene modifiers — added to their treatment in order to control their asthma, Raby said.

The study, which was led by Dr. Robyn T. Cohen of Drexel University in Philadelphia, is published in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology.

The data come from a clinical trial in which 1,041 children with persistent asthma were randomly assigned to use budesonide, another type of inhaled asthma medication called nedocromil or a placebo over four years.

Of those children, 150 had been exposed to smoking in the womb, and 39 of them were given budesonide.

The study is the first to link prenatal smoke exposure with a reduced response to inhaled steroids, which, along with the small number of children exposed, means that further research is needed to replicate the findings, according to Raby.

It is also impossible to definitively say that prenatal tobacco exposure is the lone culprit, the researcher noted. He and his colleagues did account for children’s current exposure to secondhand smoke at home, but teasing out the impact of prenatal exposure by itself is difficult.

The researchers do think it is biologically plausible that prenatal tobacco exposure could affect children’s later response to asthma medication.

Lab research suggests that prenatal exposure to smoke can influence the development of the lung structure or the smooth muscles of the airways, which could affect the body’s later response to asthma medications.

Child asthma admissions soar in September

The number of children being admitted to hospital for asthma soared by 58% above the average monthly rate in September of last year, according to figures published today by the NHS Information Centre.

The figures show that in September 2009, asthma admissions were 6,900, more than half of which (3,670) were for children aged 16 and under and 30% of which (2,090) were for children aged five and under.

A sharp rise in admissions of children aged five and under caused the September peak in England within the 16 and under age group.

The figures are part of a special topic from Provisional Monthly HES for Admitted Patient Care, which is published monthly to provide up-to-date information and describe recent trends.

Between May 2009 and April 2010, the provisional monthly average for all asthma admissions was just 5,660, while the provisional monthly average for the 16 and under age group was 2,320 (accounting for 41% of all admissions).

This means that hospital admissions for asthma among children aged 16 and under were 58% higher in September 2009 than the monthly average for the year.

The same pattern occurred in September 2008 when there was a 102% increase compared to the monthly average for between May 2008 and April 2009.

Between May 2008 and April 2009 the provisional monthly average for all asthma admissions was 5,920, while the provisional monthly average for the 16 and under age group was 2,380 (accounting for 40% of all admissions).

But in September 2008 there were 8,370 admissions for asthma; of these 4,820 (58%) were for children aged 16 and under and 2,780 (33%) were for children aged five and under.

The September pattern was not repeated in those aged 17 and over, with admissions for older age groups mostly peaking in October or December. Admissions for the condition generally reduce as age increases.

NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: “Although provisional, these figures provide a useful insight at a national level into the admissions passing through our hospital doors in England, and also into possible shifts in trend during the different seasons.

“These figures appear to highlight September as a hotspot for asthma admissions among our very young children, which may prompt possible investigation as to why this may be.”