This rarely happens, in fact, I hardly ever really get zits like this any more. I have to be under a lot of stress to get them any more because of my skin care regiment, my diet, and my supplements that I take, as well as, I’m sure, the fact that I am in my mid thirties now and although adult acne can certainly persist for a while I was definitely one of those people who got it the worst when I was a teen and in my early twenties.

Well, I must have had a stressful week, because I started to feel a little lump right on the border of where my lip and my skin meet, on the left side of my face – the upper lip. I actually thought it might be a cold sore at first because of it’s odd location, but I soon figured out by the way it felt and the pressure that was building under the surface, that it was no more than your typical, painful and annoying whitehead and was festering below the surface.

When you get a zit that’s pretty much right on your lip, it’s kind of hard to treat it correctly. This one seemed to be ready to gently extract because it had come to a head and looked really strange there on my lip – my husband even asked if I had a cold sore, and he was shocked because he’d never seen me get one. Even to extract it was very awkward.

I had to sort of grab it from the inside of my mouth and gently squeeze with some tissue and a hot compress, and it still wouldn’t budge so I was stuck with an unsightly whitehead there for a whole day before it came out.

I used a lot of good acne gel on it to encourage it to come to a head, and I also tried the hot compress a few times to get it to come to the surface as well. I even dabbed an acne mask on it at night, which usually works for getting my bad ones to come to a head. It finally worked, and I was able to GENTLY extract the yucky stuff.

However, I was left with a bright red spot that I was afraid would scar. I feared I had extracted it too soon, and you know that means it’s more likely to lead to an acne scar if you do that. But sure enough, it’s been three days later, and I’ve applied my acne scarring stuff to it and it’s pretty much history, red spot and all!

There has long been quite a bit of controversy surrounding sun screen and how much protection it really gives our skin from the sun. There are so many caveats to consider when looking for a sunscreen for your face (which is what we’re most concerned with here, that’s where acne mostly happens of course), that it’s hard to actually know what to look for and what is going to be best for your skin, long term and short term.

For example, one of the things I’m afraid of is all the preservatives and chemicals that can potentially harm the skin over time. For that reason, I recently purchased an all natural sunscreen by Dr. Mercola that provides protection by using only natural minerals.

You can tell by the consistency, which is rather chalky, that he’s not using the massive amounts of toxic cohesive agents and emulsifiers and preservatives that most shelf brands do, and I don’t mind the texture at all, it reminds me that I’m using a really natural product. And yes, I’ve used it on my face, and it was totally fine, didn’t make me break out on iota.

The FDA is now going to regulate what skin product companies can actually call a sun block. These products now have to protect against BOTH UVA and UVB rays to be called a “sun block”. Most products don’t tell you this, but they usually only protect your skin against the sun’s burning rays, which are the UVB rays. This is good of course, but what they don’t tell you is that the UVA rays, which they provide minimal protection against, actually are the ones that cause skin cancer and also cause wrinkles.

Oh, and here’s the kicker. UVB rays, which sun screen blocks quite efficiently now, actually is the type of ray that makes your skin produce the ultra beneficial vitamin D. That’s right, you’re mostly blocking out the very ray that, yes, while it can burn your skin, it also is the one that makes this very important vitamin that more and more is being discovered about every day.

The FDA wants sunscreen makers to be more transparent and explanatory in their labeling. They are also concerned that these SPF numbers are misleading to consumers, in that they lead them to believe the higher the number the more protection they are getting. This is not necessarily always true, and there are many more caveats to the story than just a number that tells you what level you are being protected at by your sunscreen. More to come on this important issue!

If you’ve been trying, successfully or unsuccessfully, to treat your skin for acne and make it clear again, then you know there is almost never just one single cause that goes into this prevalent yet somewhat complicated skin condition.

Often times there are hormonal issues that are behind acne, sometimes it’s hygienic issues and skin care routines, but I’ve found that mostly just can aggravate it or make it a little better but is not usually the root cause, and then of course there are stress and anxiety factors as well. What it really all boils down to though, in it’s essence, is some sort of hormonal imbalance issue.

Hormones can be thrown into imbalance by many, many things. And not only that, these causes can vary from person to person and from tolerance level to tolerance level. Everyone has their own “trigger” for acne, so it really must be treated as individiually as it is diagnosed in the treatment program that is chosen. That being said, there has been some buzz that taking vitamin D supplements has helped some people’s skin clear up.

Vitamin D is actually a vitamin that can be found in a lot of dairy products such as eggs and fortified milk, but it can also be found in cod liver oil and certain types of fish. You can take a Vitamin D supplement, however, numerous studies point to the fact that sunlight is the best source of this vitamin.

This is because your body best synthesizes the vitamin from the sun, and uses it most efficiently when it is garnered this way, rather than taken in oral form. This is not to say that Vitamin D supplements are useless, but you do process this nutrient much more effectively when you get it from sunlight. There has been evidence that Vitamin D plays an important role in your immunity as well as in protection against cancer because it helps prevent cells from turning into cancerous cells.

Some tips you may want to adhere to in order to maximize your natural sun-gotten vitamin D are as follows. Wear sleeveless shirts and shorts, this way you get as much sun exposure on as much of your body as possible. Try to limit your time in the intense sun to no more than fifteen minutes fully exposed and NEVER get burnt. After being exposed to the sun’s ray’s, try not to shower for several hours afterward.

The reason for this is that your skin continues to process and absorb and actually “make” vitamin D on it’s surface after interacting with UV light several hours after you bathe in the sun. For this reason, not bathing or showering for several hours afterward helps your body to maintain more of the good stuff that’s left on the surface of your skin and process and absorb it.

We’ve known for a while that laser therapy may help with acne scarring, and even certain types of laser therapy or light therapy, also can help you with acne itself, such as blue light therapy (ok, this isn’t really a laser therapy, but rather a colored light therapy, or phototherapy for the skin). Now, laser therapy may also work well for those with another skin condition that is as irritating as it is embarrassing – eczema.

What is eczema, first of all? Well, it is a skin condition where the skin becomes inflamed and there may be patches of red, dry itchy skin. Some forms are more difficult to treat, and they involved little nodules that pop up as well as the redness and irritation, and that is the form of eczema that seems to respond well to a certain type of concentrated beam laser therapy on the affected areas of the skin.

The therapy involves a highly concentrated beam of UV light, the same type that you get naturally form the sun’s rays, on the affected area. It can also be used on those with vitiligo, the skin lightening condition that Michael Jackson was thought to have, and psoriasis. Patients who did not respond well or did not respond at all to the typical treatment of topical steroidal creams for inflammation, responded to this type of laser treatment, so it is very promising news for those with hard to treat eczema that they may actually have other options that work.

When you’re battling acne, you hear many remedies, cures, tips and ‘how to’s’. For instance, how many times have you heard ‘Healthy skin starts from the inside out?’ Probably, many times. But while you may be tired of hearing it, it’s true. Working from the inside out is the best acne treatment you can use.