We spend billions trying to find cures for all these different diseases but I never hear anything about acne. It really pisses me off. Acne should be the priority for the medical community. While the condition itself isn't fatal, it effects almost every single teenager and many adults. That is hundreds of millions of people around the world.
I think that's exactly why they don't take it seriously. It's a non life threatening medical condition that generates billions of dollars in prescriptions, cosmetics, over the counter products, facial procedures, etc. They give us "band-aids" instead of permanent solutions because they want our money. Pharma probably banks so hard off of acne. J&J, too (they own Neutrogena). I am 32 and have been a straight JUNKIE to prescriptions, facials, makeup, lasers, you name it, since my teens.
I made a comment about this to my current derm and I immediately felt a rush of tension in the room. She didn't respond back, but now she only prescribes me/recommends generics. I also suggested correlation between acne and diet and she told me there are no studies to support this and to not "waste my time" trying to control my acne with diet...
Well, I have always thought about it that people with Cancer and other deadly diseases have a chance to overcome their illness I don't mean to say that we suffer more I'm talking from a psychological perspective they are hurting physically and psychologically because they know that their lives are in danger and they might actually die but acne is a different story it destroyes lives and makes some of us commit suicide and It's Impossible not to think about it when I tend to avoid looking at any reflective surface because I'll will see my imperfections on which i spent thousands yet the sufferance still exists and continues to grow !!
I think that's exactly why they don't take it seriously. It's a non life threatening medical condition that generates billions of dollars in prescriptions, cosmetics, over the counter products, facial procedures, etc. They give us "band-aids" instead of permanent solutions because they want our money. Pharma probably banks so hard off of acne. J&J, too (they own Neutrogena). I am 32 and have been a straight JUNKIE to prescriptions, facials, makeup, lasers, you name it, since my teens.
I made a comment about this to my current derm and I immediately felt a rush of tension in the room. She didn't respond back, but now she only prescribes me/recommends generics. I also suggested correlation between acne and diet and she told me there are no studies to support this and to not "waste my time" trying to control my acne with diet...
Well, no one likes to be told they're charlatans. They want to believe in what they're doing as much as you do. It's a whole scientific paradigm. What worries me is that researchers have given up... because there really is no single cure-all for everyone. Some of the antibitoic pills and creams, trentinoins, rx strength sulfur/zinc and BP do work-- for some people. Fixing your diet is a waste of time to the Western world because we're just industrial antibiotic/antiseptic/antimicrobial experts. If that approach alone has a nominal success rate, they feel justified in discounting diet and nutrition. Since they're not holistic experts and their snake oil is so much better than non-rx snake oil, they can't even go there when they fail to improve our skin. I'm sure it's just as frustrating when it doesn't work for them as it is for you.
I'd say Eastern medicine approach worked just as well for me as anything else I've tried. Hearing "Well, if you're not improved 75%-100%, then you didn't follow the diet, or the lifestyle (ie makeup, smoking, coffee) or are under stress/depression/insomnia that needs to be treated separately," was a relief. Because this rings true for me. I won't quit makeup and my emotional issues haven't gone away completely, so I can't point fingers are the useless acne formula, and so I can tolerate the %5 remaining acne I have.
(If a Western dermatologist gives me one tube of goo and a couple bottles of pills and they don't work, I can just say "this shit don't work, son!" And if a different doctor is my psychiatrist and he gives me a bottle of pills that gives me acne, I have to choose a derm OR a shrink, acne OR insanity!!!)
At least with my Eastern medicine experience, I got a whole hell of a lot of valuable information about pH, immunity, antioxidants, and the endocrine system that a fast-food style service American derm/GP would never have told me lol. American dr's just go, "Here, stupid, take this. It's going to make your skin red and flaky, but it will likely kill your pimple pus."
The Western docs don't even tell you that 10-15 yrs down the road, your liver will be toxic, your stomach will be free of necessary good bacteria, and your hormones will be screwed up from the very treatments they gave to help you. Why no one seems to be funding the cure for acne might be because killing the p. acnes bacteria means damaging tissue, normal flora population, and normal oil production- it's just that virulent and increasingly resistant, like the flu. (And sometimes other bacteria/microbes manifest as acne, so there's that.) And the flu CAN kill!! You can't fight a war without some casualties, like I said on another thread. Gentle treatment may not be enough, and extreme treatment has side effects. It doesn't look like there's a comfortable medium because our skin-physiology are all so different.
Perhaps the cure does already exist for all of us, we just may never find the one without diligence and $$$ and the right practicioner.
I think that's exactly why they don't take it seriously. It's a non life threatening medical condition that generates billions of dollars in prescriptions, cosmetics, over the counter products, facial procedures, etc. They give us "band-aids" instead of permanent solutions because they want our money. Pharma probably banks so hard off of acne. J&J, too (they own Neutrogena). I am 32 and have been a straight JUNKIE to prescriptions, facials, makeup, lasers, you name it, since my teens.
I made a comment about this to my current derm and I immediately felt a rush of tension in the room. She didn't respond back, but now she only prescribes me/recommends generics. I also suggested correlation between acne and diet and she told me there are no studies to support this and to not "waste my time" trying to control my acne with diet...
Well, no one likes to be told they're charlatans. They want to believe in what they're doing as much as you do. It's a whole scientific paradigm. What worries me is that researchers have given up... because there really is no single cure-all for everyone. Some of the antibitoic pills and creams, trentinoins, rx strength sulfur/zinc and BP do work-- for some people. Fixing your diet is a waste of time to the Western world because we're just industrial antibiotic/antiseptic/antimicrobial experts. If that approach alone has a nominal success rate, they feel justified in discounting diet and nutrition. Since they're not holistic experts and their snake oil is so much better than non-rx snake oil, they can't even go there when they fail to improve our skin. I'm sure it's just as frustrating when it doesn't work for them as it is for you.
I'd say Eastern medicine approach worked just as well for me as anything else I've tried. Hearing "Well, if you're not improved 75%-100%, then you didn't follow the diet, or the lifestyle (ie makeup, smoking, coffee) or are under stress/depression/insomnia that needs to be treated separately," was a relief. Because this rings true for me. I won't quit makeup and my emotional issues haven't gone away completely, so I can't point fingers are the useless acne formula, and so I can tolerate the %5 remaining acne I have.
(If a Western dermatologist gives me one tube of goo and a couple bottles of pills and they don't work, I can just say "this shit don't work, son!" And if a different doctor is my psychiatrist and he gives me a bottle of pills that gives me acne, I have to choose a derm OR a shrink, acne OR insanity!!!)
At least with my Eastern medicine experience, I got a whole hell of a lot of valuable information about pH, immunity, antioxidants, and the endocrine system that a fast-food style service American derm/GP would never have told me lol. American dr's just go, "Here, stupid, take this. It's going to make your skin red and flaky, but it will likely kill your pimple pus."
The Western docs don't even tell you that 10-15 yrs down the road, your liver will be toxic, your stomach will be free of necessary good bacteria, and your hormones will be screwed up from the very treatments they gave to help you. Why no one seems to be funding the cure for acne might be because killing the p. acnes bacteria means damaging tissue, normal flora population, and normal oil production- it's just that virulent and increasingly resistant, like the flu. And the flu CAN kill!! You can't fight a war without some casualties, like I said on another thread. Gentle treatment may not be enough, and extreme treatment has side effects. It doesn't look like there's a comfortable medium because our skin-physiology are all so different.
Perhaps the cure does already exist for all of us, we just may never find the one without diligence and $$$ and the right practicioner.
Generalizing is one of the most common mistakes we do over the course of our lifetime and i agree that there's no magical treatment for all of us as far as acne is concerned but seriously when it comes to scars and what acne actually does to the face and how it damages it I have legetimate concerns.
For instance one of the many devices I tried is "Erbium yag laser" which stimulates the collagen in order to fix what acne caused and it actually leaves your upper skin layers intact whilst affecting the bottom layers. I did a couple of this procedure but my greedy and ignorant dermatologist actually told me to go out in sunlight and just take the course of my normal day then my scars got exponentially worse so that was enough reason for me to hate dermatologists and anybody in the medical community of acne and I have many other stories I don't wanna bother you with similar to the previous story where I've every right to think low of them.
is there ny info on how many ppl hv done suicide bcs of acne and scars?? also which yr was the worst?
It's only logical that some of us around our vast globe eventually take their lives because they can't take it anymore, I had to read some articles about it before starting my accutane course not voluntarily just out of curiosity I was worried that I might do it because I was quite depressed back then and it's commonly known that It encourages those who are depressed and raises the risk of commiting suicide and is actually linked to some of them.
well thts absolutely nt wht i asked at all bt okay.......
I know that you meant statistical info which includes actual numbers but that's not what I searched for I was just worried about myself because of the drug I was going to take and its connection to increasing suicidal thoughts.
u see people getting lung cancer from smoking, or eating junk and eat bad eventually get heart attack, and people think its horrible.
but no1 finds it horrible when a teenager gets his life ruined because of acne, and there was nothing he did to get it. he ends up with mental problems , social problems, and scars all over thier face.
I don't think the medical community should stop funding research into finding cures for other diseases. There is enough money to work on more than one thing. I just want some progress on our issues. The last time I heard of a new acne study was almost 3 years ago about a possible vaccine. Absolutely nothing since then. It is frustrating.
the ebola will get a cure sooner than acne!!
srsly ppl how long r u gona tolerate this shit n let be wasted by all those shit products, supplements, ingredients and whatnot and other devastating, may i add expensive useless shit?
also reading all those threads, infos, research etc is whack as hell?? it is a doctors job!!! i fuking literally wasted YRS on trying to become somekinda personal doctor for myself???? wtf! while i had to get real education btw?? etc (this stuf is nt my thing or talent AT ALLL??).. im soon a bum. besides all that fuking acne crap info turned out to b USELESS AF
wake up? all those products need to go down!! THEY NEED TO GIVE CURE ALREADY!!!!
I agree that more could be done, but I don't discount what is already being researched/investigated. Just from my own derm, who specializes only in acne, I've learned that there are so many individual factors and variables that it's very unlikely that there will be a "cure-all" vaccine/method. Even now we see that different therapies work for different people. Bacteria, horomones, allergies, genetics, etc all influence acne and skin conditions, it's easy to be critical of researchers but there are so many variables/protocols that need to be done in order to begin research, not to mention what it takes to start experimenting with human subjects. Hopefully something more universal will come out soon, recell tech looks super promising at least for curing up scars/PIH etc. I would be fine with fighting acne, as long as I knew the scars could easily be healed/erased!
the ebola will get a cure sooner than acne!!
srsly ppl how long r u gona tolerate this shit n let be wasted by all those shit products, supplements, ingredients and whatnot and other devastating, may i add expensive useless shit?
also reading all those threads, infos, research etc is whack as hell?? it is a doctors job!!! i fuking literally wasted YRS on trying to become somekinda personal doctor for myself???? wtf! while i had to get real education btw?? etc (this stuf is nt my thing or talent AT ALLL??).. im soon a bum. besides all that fuking acne crap info turned out to b USELESS AF
wake up? all those products need to go down!! THEY NEED TO GIVE CURE ALREADY!!!!
this
They need a cure yes. Is it the doctors job? No not every doctor is interested in lab science and researched based work as a career. Some do publish, but others do not.
I encourage anyone to acquire the same medical textbooks that nurses or doctors use for their education and to read it. Specifically on diagnosis and treatment of skin disorders such as acne and then sit back and realize why 1 single cure for acne is not possible. HIV will likely have a relative cure faster than acne. Acne is not life threatening. So, for one the priority is not in acne's favor to find a cure. Two, acne is so much more diverse than the common cold or a single disease like ebola. What causes your acne doesn't cause mine. What you eat has no affect on your acne, but does mine. What antibiotics, treatments, creams, work for your and a 100 people do not work for the next 1000 people.
How can you create a treatment regimen or cure for that matter when results vary per person so greatly.
After antibiotics, vitamin regimens, exercise, diet, injections, creams for years... the one product that actually helped my cyst, inflammatory acne to which i discovered by accident and research of my own is this
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Bump-Patrol-Original-Formula-Aftershave-Razor-Bump-Treatment/10448571
However, before having stumbled upon it i spent probably 6 months or more of time researching articles buying thousands worth in cosmetics from my research in order to help myself. The product link i list has simple, cheap ingredients with the most important being an alcohol base-which goes against all research I did. Stating alcohol based products dry out the skin, create more oiliness in response, cause inflammation, therefore making the problem worse. So i believed for the longest time. Yet, in this case helps me remain 95% clear. I haven't had the acne that i had in high school for 1 year now thanks to this $7 bottle.
So, going back to this discussion. You seen then why what we know really still isn't that much. As they say the more you know the less you understand. It isn't a simple task. What is out there for treatments is what covers board areas of acne, but it isn't the cure for everyone.