Acnevention™ Acne Treatment's Ingredients:

Acnevention™ was voted "Best Acne Treatment" by an independent review. It is a medicated product, the active ingredient is Salicylic Acid in 1% concentration. There are lots of other products that use Salicylic Acid to treat pimples that don't work very well because of their design. Here is why our pimple treatment not only is effective but BETTER than other products, even those containing Benzoyl Peroxide:

Before we start, it is important to realize that skin is a system and by affecting one part of the system you can change another part of the system. EVERY ingredient has effects, some good and some "bad". A good treatment needs to balance these effects, to avoid side effects which are worse than the blemish.

Some common side effects from "Bad" products are:

1. Premature aging of the skin,
2. Extremely dry and cracking skin
3. Redness
4. irritation
5. Long term moisture imbalances which can make the pimples WORSE in the long run when the skin adjusts to the product and/or when the consumer stops using the product.

Like the song "I know an old lady who swallowed a dog, to catch the bird, the catch the fly. . ." you don't want to start a "bad" chain reaction which you them have to go chasing. Getting the balance "right" is very difficult.

Just like another DAK product, Ac nesil, we wanted to make an acne medicine free from Benzoyl peroxide, because of the problems associated with it like drying, cracking and long term moisture imbalance issues. Now, although Acn esil is a great product (Voted "Best Natural Acne Treatment by About.com), we wanted to make a product that was "medicated" with an FDA approved ingredient. Aside from Benzoyl peroxide which we do not believe is the best choice for treatment, the other topical FDA approved medicated ingredient is Salicylic Acid, which CAN work very well and has less side effects.

There are a lot of acne treatment products that use Salicylic Acid that DON"T work at all, because those products don't mix the salicylic acid with other ingredients that are necessary to make it effective. Here is a breakdown of the Acn evention™ Ingredients and how and why they are used together and why:

1. Salicylic Acid - Kills bacteria and helps reduce the number of cells around the follicles of your skin's oil glands, thus reducing oil. (Important- It does not eliminate oil, but reduces for a more healthy balance)
   
   
2. Glycolic Acid - (an exfolliant needed to make the salicylic acid to work well) developed in the 1980's as a cosmetic "wrinkle remover" (supplanted in 1990's by L-ascorbic acid which is better at wrinkle reduction-another story altogether) is EXCELLENT for its ability as an exfoliate. By removing the outermost layer of dead skin cells from the face the actual "pimple fighting" ingredients have a much better shot at actually reaching the pores or "sebaceous glands" and treating/preventing the zits. If the ingredients just "stay on top" of the skin (and salicylic acid has a tendency to do this without help), it won't do much! (Pretty obvious, right?). FYI Acn esil, being all natural, uses emu oil to deliver the Melaleuca transdermally which works very well, as long as it is delivering oil based ingredients and which salicylic acid and Benzoyl peroxide are NOT. So, you need something in a Salicylic Acid based product to help deliver the ingredients, and Glycolic is one of the best. (Ascorbic Acid can do this too but is much better at wrinkle reduction, that's why we use it in Complex-C). Negative effects of Glycolic (and all the acids)- without an antioxidant, Glycolic Acid (any acid) can cause premature aging of the skin, that's why we use not one but two antioxidants.
   
   
3. Chitosan Ascorbate - Don't get this confused with "Chitosan" (Poly-N-Acetyl Glucosaminoglycan) which is used in weight loss formulas and has a bad rap for being unsafe as such, is an excellent antioxidant and also helps promote the synthesis of collagen, although we are using it here for its antioxidant qualities (important when using Glycolic acid which alone can cause premature aging of the skin).

4. Green Tea Extract- A POTENT antioxidant (again - helps defer premature aging ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT when using the Glycolic acid to remove the top layer of skin as in the above case)
   
   
5. Kola Nut Extract,- natural extract which is beneficial to the skin for soothing and healing, especially in the case of "open" or cystic pimples where the skin needs to heal quickly and without further infection, and without additional scarring. This is SO important!
   
   If you have open comedone blemishes (Not the whiteheads and not rosacea but the kind that is referred to as "cystic"), and you use a Benzoyl peroxide product which will hyper dry the skin, it will crack the lesions and more than likely end up scarring!!! So, the Kola nut extract helps heal the lesions fast without drying.
   
   Back to Kola Nut- Interestingly, this has been used by thousands of years by indigenous tribes of South America- when someone got a cut, they would rub ground up kola nuts INTO the cut. It is one of those "miracle" jungle cures that people refer to when they say " The cure for cancer is probably in the rain forest and they are cutting all the rain forests down!" Kola Nut is an amazing natural "cure" and it works extremely well.
   
   
6. Hyaluronic Acid - one of the most effective moisturizing agents ever discovered by medical science. Remember, we are NOT treating the zits by drying the skin out. This protein is found naturally in the deeper layers of our skin (the dermis). It holds up to 1000 times its weight in water to intensely moisturize without irritation. Awesome stuff.
   
   
7. Hexylene Glycol - gives an emollient feel, or "slip", to a product like a cleanser or lotion, without actually having to add OIL or SOAP. It's important that the application of the product be smooth, as rosacea is easily irritated by rubbing, especially if it gritty or not smooth.
   
   
8. Ubiquinone (CoQ10) -CoQ10 is an exceptional antioxidant. Studies have shown that CoQ10 can effectively counteract damage by free radicals and provide significant protection against UVA-induced depletion of cell membrane. Simply said, CoQ10 will help prevent damage to the collagen and elastin production process and when CoQ10 is applied topically, it can provide extra protection for your skin and produce dramatic anti-wrinkle effects, and in even reduce scarring when the zit heals.

Treating adult acne, acne rosacea, or removing teenage pimples needs to be a complete treatment "process", including eliminating the bacteria, opening the pores, considering the proper moisture balance of the skin, as well as reducing possibility scarring when the blemish heals, to strengthening the skin. We have taken all of these issues into consideration and believe that our product is the best, most well rounded treatment available as it covers all of the bases, not just one or two. Acn evention™ is the best acne medicine!