Whether you are 16 years old or 36 years old, acne puts a definite damper on your confidence. But when it comes to acne, and treating it, it turns out that some often repeated causes and cures are untrue.  Chocolate may not be good for your thighs, but it’s not to blame for blemishes.

And don’t even think of heading to the beach to clear up acne. A tan may temporarily dry out skin, but that same dehydration will cause acne to flare up with a vengeance when the sun goes down. And toothpaste may be easily accessible, but it’s an old wives tale that it will help cure acne. There are, however, thousands of products on the market that promise to improve blemish-prone skin… and a couple I’ve found that actually do.

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Microdermabrasion at Home 

I’m a little bit obsessed with PMD, a personal microderm device that puts the benefits of professional microdermabrasion treatments in the palm of you hand, literally.

Microdermabrasion is an exfoliation process that uses tiny crystals to buff away dead skin cells on the stratum corneum, the outer most layer of the skin.  The stratum corneum is home to many of your favorite flaws, including fine wrinkles and pimples.  PMD is an at-home microderm, or abrasion, tool that removes dead skin from the outermost layer of skin with several benefits. First, the body rushes to replace the lost skin cells with new, healthy cells causing mild swelling and redness that may last from one to several hours. Second, with the startum corneum broken down, topical creams and serums penetrate the deeper into the skin, finding their way to lower level of the skin where they can potentially be of more benefit.

PMD is incredibly easy to use. The device offers several different “discs” that determine the strength of abrasion; a white disc is included for testing the device, a blue disc for sensitive skin, a green disc for medium strength abrasion and a special order red disc for maximum abrasion. Select your disc of choice, snap it on, plug in the device and the PMD is ready to perform microderm magic at home.  Get it for $179 at personalmicroderm.com.

An Invisible Cure for Acne

Anti-blemish Skinetica is one of the most exciting new anti-acne products I’ve tested. Skinetica claims that typical acne products include host of toxic chemicals. Skinetica, on the other hand, is free of toxins and harsh chemicals, does not bleach or transfer, does not harm the skin and has a physical, rather than chemical, mode of action. And by action, I mean apply-it-once every 12 hours, wear it under makeup, no-one will ever know you have it on, blemish bustin’ action.

If your goal is to clear skin without irritating it, this anti-blemish product could be your new super hero. Skinetica works amazingly quickly on a variety of body parts so for those who are blemish prone in areas other than the face, think chest or back, Skinetica to the rescue. Simply apply Skinetica to cleansed skin with a cotton ball. It’s completely invisible with no coating and remains active for 12 hours without washing off.  Good things come to those who wait so while you can buy Skinetica online — or even request a free sample –  you’ll have to be patient. It takes five to 10 days for packages, shipped from the UK, to arrive stateside. Get it starting at about $17 at Skinetica.co.uk.

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