Home remedies for acne come in all flavors of weird.
There's the egg yolk mask, handyman soap scrub, lidocaine
rub and even a urine toner. And like any trial treatment,
homemade treatments may work sheerly because of the
placebo effect. But, does toothpaste posses any properties
that support its usage as an acne treatment?
The first place to begin answering this question is to
consider the ingredients in common toothpastes and what
effect they have on the skin.
Fluoride:
In almost any toothpaste you'll find sodium
monoflurorophosphate, or simply put, some chemical version
of fluoride. Fluoride prevents tooth cavities. But in the
skin, fluoride typically causes more damage that it
corrects. For example, medicals studies have reported that
large does of fluoride could cause systemic poisoning.
Though the amount of fluoride in tooth paste is less than
one percent you may not want predispose yourself to risk.
If toothpaste does help acne prone skin, it's most likely
not due to the fluoride because this chemical can irritate
or burn the skin and sometimes provoke skin allergies.
Glycerin, sorbitol and alumina:
Skimming down the list of toothpaste ingredients, we arrive
at agents with the potential to delete zits like hydrated
silica, sorbitol, alumina and glycerin. Silica and types of
aluminum are used to treat acne via dermabrasive products.
However, in the toothpaste, they are too fine to profoundly
exfoliate the skin. Sorbitol is a flavoring agent while
glycerin just makes the toothpaste feel better in your
mouth.
Moving on, we come to sodium lauryl sulfate, or the
toothpaste bubble maker. You don't need suds to get rid of
zits. Next!
Getting rid of calcium:
Now we encounter sodium pyrophosphate, or some relative of
this chemical resting in our toothpaste. Sodium
pyrophosphate controls tartar deposits on the teeth by
removing calcium and magnesium from saliva. It is with this
calcium evicting phosphate that we may find a potential
acne curative.
Skin levels of calcium directly influence skin cell growth
and differentiation. One of the traits of acne includes
improper shedding of the skin or improper skin cell
separation. And according to research done by Chia-Ling L.
Tu and colleagues, too much calcium in the epidermis skin
causes more hair follicles to grow, makes the skin more
susceptible to outside attacks and increases cell growth.
None of these circumstances help contain acne so taking
away a little calcium from acne prone skin may eliminate a
cluster of zits. So we allot a point to pyrophosphate as a
possible acne taming agent.
Use these ingredients in a better product and they will
help with acne:
Rounding out the toothpaste ingredients are minimal amounts
of titanium dioxide and or baking soda (sodium
bicarbonate). As far as the skin is concerned, these two
agents are wonderful exfoliators, yet in some toothpastes,
their presence may prove too small to positively affect the
skin.
These guys may also absorb excess facial oils which will
definitely help bumpy skin heal faster. As predominant skin
care ingredients, titanium dioxide and baking soda sever as
wonderful dermbrasion agents, so you may want to try them
in this form.
In short. proving whether or not your toothpaste will get
rid of acne would require some costly research and you
would still have to face the ominous doubt cast by the
placebo effect. Toothpaste does contain agents with the
potential to control acne like pyrophosphates that improve
skin cell shedding, and skin exfoliators like titanium
dioxide and baking soda.
The only problem is, toothpaste is formulated to treat and
prevent cavities, not pimples. You really can't fully
benefit from toothpaste's zit fighting agents because they
are not concentrated enough. Instead, use acne therapies
that contain right proportions of bump fighting
ingredients, whether you buy them at the drug store or make
them at home.
Sources:
Tu, Chia-Ling L; Oda, Y; Komuves, L & Bikle D. The role of
the calcium-sensing receptor in epidermal dierentiation.
University of California Postprints; 2004; vol 35, no3, pp
265-273.
----------------------------------------------------
Naweko Nicole Dial San-Joyz pioneered the acne trigger
approach to naturally controlling moderate to cystic acne
in her internationally published book, "Acne Messages".
San-Joyz serves the acne community by developing customized
acne scar dermabrasion treatments for the face and body. If
you want free tips for removing acne scarring, visit
http://www.Noixia.com .
No comments:
Post a Comment