TED'S ADVICE SOUGHT REGARDING ACNE THAT RUNS IN THE FAMILY
Dear Ted, I am a recent member of Earth Clinic and have been avidly reading your posts. My main concerns is acne. To a certain extent it runs in both my family and my husband's family. I am 36 years old and I have suffered from this condition since my teens. Tried Roaccutane three times. Successful results were short lived after stopping the medication. I spent a lot of time and money at dermatologists to no avail. I have always followed a very healthy diet, eliminating fried and processed food, trying to stick to organic as much as possible and limiting sugar. Despite all the treatment failures, I still believe that one day I will have a clean and vibrant skin.
With the hope that you have time to reply, my questions to you are as follows:
1-Can i do anything to prevent my children from having acne? Mine started at nine! How can i help them in preventing this plague? Could you recommend a prevention plan and what age should i start it for my sons and daughters?
2- In the case prevention is not an option, how easy is it to eliminate teenage acne (assuming it is aggressive and stubborn) and what treatment plan would you recommend?
3- What treatment plan would you recommend to an adult with severe acne?
I would be so grateful if you could reply and would like to take the opportunity to thank you for all your recommendations.
Acne is complicated it can be caused by sugar, bacteria, fat oxidation, hormonal issues, REDOX where it is not negative enough on ORP, inflammation, wrong kinds of fats, heavy metals from paint exposure, dehydration are just a few things that come to my mind.
Normal sugar for me is 85 to 90 mg/dL. Today's standard is 100-110, but this is actually high sugar because cancer expands starting at that number so I used a different standard, where cancer and diabetes don't occur which is 85 to 90.
Oxidation of oils and nearly all polyunsaturated oils are oxidized even without the heat can clog the area but the reason why we cannot detect the smell of rancid oil is all the vegetables I am aware of will put a fragrance to neutralized the smell. The only oil I know of that generally don't oxidized as easily and can be used in cooking is butter, lard and coconut oil. Something we have used extensively 40 or 50 years ago. I am sure you are aware of it, but you may not be aware that certain oils are anti inflammatory such as salmon fish oil but there is a twist, if you take too much of it it might raise triglyceride level, the oil might be oxidized if there are too old and you can not take it every day, you can take it twice a week as well is GLA, evening primrose oil twice a day. The oils itself is subject to rancid if not enough antioxidants of oil compounds are in it. The only antioxidants of oils I am aware of is BHT so I might take once of twice a week because of that.
The sugar is a tricky issue, for example, doctors measure your blood sugar based on 12 hour blood fasting sugar. However, that is not how we get acne. We get acne because of sugar spikes which occur when we eat, and another way is your sugar does to go down as quickly after you eat. This can be controlled simply by drinking carrot juice freshly squeezed before every meals. For some reason or another it gets the sugar down to normal levels after you eat. The sugar spikes occur we can control by diluting with water such as not exceeding sugar, 3%, or 2% or 1% depending on your sugar tolerance. To measure your sugar tolerance prepare a 1 glass of 3% sugar and measure blood sugar 15 after intakes and should not exceed 110 but ideally 105 mg/dL after consuming it. If exceeds that you got sugar intolerance. Get to the level at which you can get sugar tolerance to normal.
Dehydration is one the issues not discussed in cause of acne and the fact that acne can occur in anytime which your sugar level is at its highest. So it is necessary to hydrate you at those times, especially hot weather or excerise.
Immune compromised or lacking in certain amino acid could also be the cause, such as histidine, lysine, or too much excitotoxins, aspartame, glutamate is another one. Hormone is the most common ones amongst acne when it is high and when sugar, or metals or oxidative in combinations can create ideal combinations even if your consumption are low on each one.
The other problem is accutane and its various variations cause long term acne or hair loss because it damages the liver the only way to get rid of this is probably coffee detox plus a combination of skin detox. A skin detox is to prepare a paste of bentonite clay on the skin and put on skin and fan dry it, then wash it. Repeat this 2 more times. You may have to do it for the entire week to get of it at least.
Ted
Salisbury, Ma.usa
05/25/2011
I think the main ingredient to resolving acne is your diet, 100% of Americans do not eat healthy, it's mostly fast foods and more junk foods, I hear a lot of people say but I don't have time to cook or eat good home cooked meals(?)but the main complaints are why do I or we have acne? by ridding yourself of acne eat fresh greens by the bushles full, eat fresh fruits, veggies, nice brown rice is a great absorbant of any impurities in your body, and white rice is as good a substitute as any. I'm deathly sick because of my poor eating habits. Whatever you do, don't wait for a doctor to fix your problems. Good luck
Chicago, Il
05/27/2011
Hey there Ted,
My name is Thomas. I saw you replied to someone's post about acne so I decided to shoot my shot. My problem isn't regular acne with pus filled pimples. I have like this oil stuck in my skin and I have to squeeze it out (even though I have enough craters in my face like little holes) Do you have any recommendations for this kind of acne? I dont know what to call it. I just went and bought some antioxidants because I know you said "when blackheads are present antioxidants are low". So can you PLEASEEE help me with this skin problem? I've had this problem since I was 8, I'm now 20. I dont want to keep going thru life like this, it's holding me back...
Thanks Ted, Have a great day!
Anacortes, Wa, U.S.A.
05/29/2011
Thomas, You have to take magnesium chloride solution, 10 drops 3 times a day. That reduces calcium buildup in the acne, it will take time--about 1 month usually. The antioxidants help, but if oily face for example, it doesn't help. EDTA may also help if severe enough but that must be disodium edta or tetrasodium edta, 100 mg twice a day. Bromelain 10% at least, 1/4 teaspoon 3 times a day helps digest undigested proteins that can cause blockages of the circulation. If you have dry skin, or scarring, then you need lysine 1/4 teaspoon four times a day at least. It requires that it be powdered lysine or lysine without the calcium phosphate as fillers or other similar additives, as it worsens the condition. It helps if threonine and glutamine are added at least at similar amounts and frequency. There might be zinc and vitamin A deficiency if oily skin.
Ted
12/29/2011
Hello Ted, Since last May, I have tried to follow strictly all the advice above. I also included apple cider vinegar orally and topically and homeopathy. But the results were very shallow. I started zapping with a hulda clark type zapper in the hope that this might have a radical result, but two weeks later, this september, i got to know i am pregnant and had to stop it altogether. In the meantime, i have been conducting lots of research on acne solutions that i have not tried yet, ranging from bob beck electro herbalism devices, Rife machines, infra red light therapy, zhongzhou demodex creams, GAPS diet. I am truly lost. I come from a family with no major history of acne, but strange enough, all my siblings have had severe and resistant acne, non responding to accutane. Our diet is mediterranean, so no junk food, lots of olive oil and vegetables. No obesity, reasonable amount of vitamin D3.
Please Ted, is there anything else you can recommend. Of course I feel miserable that at my age i have to deal with this horrible skin problem, but i am also determined to protect my kids (eldest is 7) from this handicap and ailment, in the hope that they will always have a healthy and vibrant skin. I know that your time is tight and that you are helping people with very serious sicknesses, but believe me, resistant and severe acne can literally break a life. Zillion thx!"
01/16/2011: Ted from Bangkok, Thailand replies: "There is no known cure for accutane poisoning but something did help which was Threonine and lysine, but it takes something like 2 months in one case I have treated, since threonine increases the ability for the glands of skin and intestines to rid of toxins, I don't know yet how to modify genes affecting accutane (that's what they do) in decreasing the sebum glands. In fact it may also affect later generations also if the mother at least took accutane, again my modification of gene expression at the genetic levels. I did some experiment with that through plants so it possible to modify it without waiting for mutations or plant development in succeeding generations (evolution).
What I do know is accutane has a tendency to cause high homocysteine levels, and other gene modifiers, such as trimethylglycine, B12, folic acid, vitamin D, vitamin K2 may effect the reversal of some affects of accutane.
The lysine increased the protection of bacteria from entering the face, resulting in decreased acne. Inflammatory types of acne were decreased if uric acid status and therefore antioxidants were low. So the children should have normal not low uric acid, their requirements for meats are actually higher in this case to raise uric acid levels. You probably know that fish oil also caused decreased acne too, as well as zinc. The selenium status is important too, as it effects glutathione, low glutathione also has the same effect on acne. The selenium must be taken first or at the same time as iodine SSKI is applied to reduce the acne. This will reduce the acne also, along with some zinc, sodium ascorbate, and normal uric acid. Somewhere in our line of ancestors we lost the ability to produce vitamin C as the antioxidant, and to get around that we use uric acid as the antioxidant, provided of course that our pH is optimal (alkaline by today's definition because our foods are 90% acidic). So you need to check the children's homocysteine, uric acid, as well as vitamin K2 m4 is only found in organ meats (especially pancreas, kidneys) and raw butter, maybe pasteurized butter will have too. So the fact that we think we eat healthy, the fact is high vegetarian diets actually have low uric acid antioxidants, vegetarians and supplements have high heavy metals, so no perfect world actually exists, that goes for meat eaters which causes constipation, and other issues just the same. The best form of oils is hemp oil with some fish oils, for acne.
Ted
Western Australia
06/27/2024
hi the problem with acne is people are eating, too much sugar, and the wrong fats. maybe too much protein, and milk products.... and are very, very, dehydrated and do not, clean their bodies. to solve all metabolic problems in the human body, you must eat fresh foods, proteins, sour greens, drink clean water, exercise and get a little sun, fresh air daily. keep a clean house and let clean fresh air, circulate, in your house. also, soupy foods, and bone broths, made at home are important. all this regimen, should be natural to people, because it helps detoxify the body daily. for a long and healthy life...cheers...