Anyone that suffers with acne (Zits) may feel as if they spend most of their time searching for remedies; although it undoubtedly causes distress, a number of topical remedies are available. The number of people afflicted around the world is huge so science research is making advances; this is good news with the range of effective skin care treatments improving all the time. The acne skin care products available fall into these:

- Preventative: Creams, lotions etc. to help cleanse and tone the skin - Drugstore or Internet: Treatments that do not require a prescription - Prescription only: Requires visit to doctor

The preventative products are formulated to treat the skin in an effort to prevent acne from arising like skin cleansers and makeup removers. Many people use products similar to this every day as part of their skin care regime irrespective of whether or not they have the condition.

There are acne skin care products that are more specialized in there approach; devised primarily to limit the amount of oil or sebum forming in the pores. Excess oil needs to be stopped from clogging the pores as this oil make it easier for bacteria to grow, exacerbating the condition.

General skin care treatments also include special exfoliation products like skin peels. This type of peel helps reduce the chance of oil clogging up the pores as well as removing other skin impurities; this can reduce the bacterium growth on your skin.

The growth of the skin care market has allowed even more specialized acne skin care products to be available without the need to visit the doctor. Most of these creams etc. are based on benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid, both of which are the enemies of bacteria (and hence acne); they work by removing the excess oil from the skin and halt the growth of acne.

You should start with a product that has lower concentration of benzoyl peroxide (e.g. 5%) and see how your skin responds. Alpha-hydroxy-acid based moisturizers are also popular as a skin care regime. Because we all have different types of skin, more than one type of acne skin care product may need to be tried. This is quite normal, however, if it is proving to be a problem then consult with your doctor, or skin care specialist.

In more serious cases your skin care specialist may decide that a small surgical procedure can be used to remove the oil and infection from your pores. You are warned never to attempt this yourself as it could lead to serious skin problems.

Your doctor could prescribe a hormone-based treatment to treat your skin problem; studies show that hormone based skin care treatments often prove effective. Positive research means that a sufferer does not have to put up with this condition anymore.