Acne Treatments - Benzoyl Peroxide | Dr Sam Bunting

- Hey guys, welcome back to the channel. Today I'm kicking off a little series on my favorite acne treatments. Acne is still the commonest thing you guys ask about. So I thought I would share with you the key preparations I reached for time and time again, in the clinic to help my patients solve their acne. First up is good old fashioned benzoyl peroxide. Now what is benzoyl peroxide? Well it's an organic peroxide, which acts as an oxidizing agent that leads to three key benefits. 





Number one it nukes the bacteria and has an antiseptic effect on skin. It also helps get rid of yeast as well. Number two it has a keratolytic effect through its mild irritancy, which means it helps unclog those pores, allowing penetration further into the pore to have its antibacterial effect. Number three it's anti inflammatory, meaning those red angry spots get taken down and neutralized. So what are the downsides? Well firstly, it can be irritating as I said before, and in a few, it can actually cause a true allergy, noticeably, redness and swelling around the eyes. It's also tendency to bleach clothing. So keep it away from your favorite black t-shirt and colored towels. The good news is it can be used during pregnancy and it comes in different formats depending on your skin types. So for the very oily, it comes in a gel format, but it also comes in creams and in a wash off product, which means you can use it for short contact If your skin is particularly sensitive. I tend to recommend using it in the morning as an anti-inflammatory step and it can be used under moisturizer or indeed over if your skin is particularly sensitive and prone to dryness. In the UK it's branded under the name Acnesite and available in a 5% gel format. In the US I know it's much more broadly available and I generally recommend a percentage of 2.5 to 5%, that tends to be sufficient any higher, and you'll just run into more irritancy without necessarily any extra benefit. One particularly appealing aspect is that when it's combined with antibiotics, whether topical or oral, it reduces the incidence of bacterial resistance, which is excellent news. Bottom line, I wouldn't be without it personally, and I'd use it regularly in my practice. So it's a goodie. So that was a short and snappy overview on benzoyl peroxide. Join me next week for more of my favorite acne treatments. Remember to subscribe and like the video, if you find it useful, bye for now.

0 Response to "Acne Treatments - Benzoyl Peroxide | Dr Sam Bunting"

Post a Comment