This is going to be my first book review here. Till now I have only done posts about face masks and diet. So today I thought I would venture a bit farther and review a book on acne. The book I am going to review will be “The Acne Cure – The Non Prescription Plan That Shows Dramatic Results In Little As 24 Hours” by Dr. Terry Dubrow.
The book finally arrived in January of 2004. As soon as I opened the package I read the book in one sitting. It promised to cure even the toughest cases of acne. The treatment looked easy enough. It even promised results in 24 hours.
There was a line which, even though I do not have the book with me today, I remember very clearly. It said, and I imagined the doctor saying it in a very sweet and reassuring voice “You will never have to suffer from acne again”. It was sweet music to my ears. No one else had ever said that to me.
The book is well written and Dr. Terry Dubrow has done a great job. It is easy to follow and there are recommendations for the all products suggested.
Dr. Dubrow explains that his treatment attacks all the stages of acne.
- Dead skin cells stick around and block pores
- Excess oil build up in the blocked pore
- Bacteria thrive in the build up
- Excess inflammation that spreads the acne
The treatment was in 3 parts.
1. Morning and Night
You use a face wash containing 2% salicylic acid. You take a little bit of the face wash and apply it all over your face. You leave this on for 2-3 minutes before washing it off.
Which stage of acne it takes care of : This step removes the dead skin cells that stick around on your face. You let the salicylic acid sit around for 2 minutes so your skin does not dry out too much.
2. Morning Only
You apply a product containing 8-10 % percent glycolic acid. Leave it on for 5 minutes and wash it off. You then apply your normal moisturiser which preferably contains SPF.
Which stage of acne it takes care of : Glycolic acid removes the plugs that have been formed by the dead skin cell buildup.
3. Night Only
After washing with the face wash containing salicylic acid, you run an ice cube over your face and apply a benzoyl peroxide cream, which you would have kept in the refrigerator to keep cool. You then lie down with a cold ice pack covering your face. After 10 minutes, you wipe off the excess BP and leave the rest on for the night.
Which stage of acne it takes care of : The cold pack opens the pores to let the benzoyl peroxide enter your pores and kill the bacteria, the cold reduces inflammation and the spread of it and it soothes your face.
The book also recommended supplements for acne. I am not sure what they are right now but they were about 10 of them. I did take about 5 of them for a while.
THE VERDICT
So, the only question in your mind probably is “Does ‘The Acne Cure’ work?”.
Well, yes it does.
In 24 hours? Not for me at least. It took almost a week for me to see results. But I’m guessing if you have mild acne you may see results in 24 hours.
The only problem, well the only big problem is, the minute you stop this treatment the acne comes back. There is a maintenance program which I did but it could not keep up with my aggressive form of acne.
I would have to do this everyday for the rest of my life in order to have clear skin. If I miss even one day I would get acne back again. I would see new acne everyday but treatment would take care of them. I really can’t see myself doing this everyday for the rest of my life.
The treatment treats the acne really well. However it does not treat the root cause of acne, that is why my acne came back the minute I stopped it.
Also the product recommendations are for people living in the USA. They will ship to UK and Europe but if you live elsewhere expect to pay a lot if they do ship to where you live. The supplements were too expensive to keep up with. Even 5 of them were way too expensive.
This is not a sustainable option for most people especially if your acne is severe. If you have mild acne you could probably get away with it. In the end though you will still have sensitive skin from using BP.
Pros
- Gets rid of acne as promised
- If you have mild acne the maintenance program will keep it away
Cons
- Does not work if your acne is moderate to severe
- Dries out the skin and makes it sensitive and red due to BP
- Have to do it everyday for the rest of your life
- Cannot use anything else like serum at night as the BP is on
- The products are not freely available outside of USA and Europe
- Kind of a restrictive treatment
I sold the book in the end. It was absolutely no help to me. I wanted my acne gone and not have to do something everyday to prevent more acne.
Today I do not have to use anything on my skin if I do not want to. My acne is taken care of. I can literally get up in the morning and walk out of my home without having the stress of doing a couple of things without which I will get acne.
I have a child today and by the time he goes to sleep, which he does after repeated requests. On some nights it takes dire warnings! I do not have the energy to apply BP and lie down with a cold pack. All I want is to sleep. A couple of drops of rose hip oil and coconut oil is my night time skin care. This takes a minute if not less.
As I said this works only if you have the patience, time and resources to do this. I wanted a cure that suited me and I got one with changing my diet. And I am really happy with it as it lead me down a path of health and well-being.
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Amanda says
May 24, 2018 at 6:46 amLove this article! You are providing the best info about acne treatment. I really like this article so much. Thanks and keep sharing.