
Originally Posted by
goldenFloyd
What causes acne
acne is a function of 3 things working in tandem:
1) p. acnes bacteria
2) internal sebum (grease) production
3) inflammation
Basically, hormone fluctuations increase the amount of sebum production (grease production) which interacts with the p. acnes bacteria that is in ones pores. The pores become clogged, the bacteria fester, and induces an inflammation response by the body... on the surface, this is manifested by nasty red bumps, etc. etc. This will be most pronounced during times of hormone fluctuation - i.e. at the beginning of a cycle and when coming off of a cycle. Also, the type of substances that cause acne differ for everyone - GH and high anabolic / low androgenic substances like anavar are usually less of a culprit than test and tren, for example. Some sensitive individuals also cite the differences in esters as having different effects in their acne reactions (i.e. the less gradual the increase in blood serum hormone levels, the more severe the reaction). This sounds intuitive, but I am not sure if it is applicable in your situation of enth vs. cyp.
Treating Acne
Acne is treated by specifically addressing the 3 above factors.
2) Retinoids like accutane, to my knowledge, primarily work by giving you a huge dose of concentrated vitamin A - basically "rebuilding" your skin and "turning off" your grease production, dramatically reducing incidence of clogged pores. I am not sure if it works on inflammation, but I am fairly certain it is not an anti-biotic.
The problem with Accutane (and I've been on it twice) is that it dries you out, ****s with your liver, and can have strange side effects on nighttime vision (some people say mental effect to, though I discount it based on the legislative history). The problem with anti-biotics is that they are not highly directed and work on your entire system to reduce good and bad bacteria. The problem with topical solutions is that they do not accomodate for internal causes of acne.
Dishsoap, incidentally, works on 2 of the above factors - it is typically anti-bacterial and it "gets the grease out" - many have been formulated to have a specific anti-grease effect in addition to being anti-bacterial . It should actually work well...