Acne Alternative Treatments

Is Green Tea Really Effective At Treating Acne?

Green tea is used by the Chinese as a traditional medicine to treat many ailments including acne and to improve general well-being.

Will taking green tea for acne help my condition? Will it provide an effective alternative home treatment for adult acne, say?

The answer seems to be ‘Yes’.

There are only two herbal remedies that have been shown to be effective in treating acne and green tea is one of them, the other being tea tree oil.

In a recent study by Jennifer Gan-Wong, M.D. a green tea cream was trailed against a 4% benzoyl peroxide solution on people suffering with moderate to severe acne. The results from this research study showed that green tea was just as effective in treating acne as the benzoyl peroxide, but it was much gentler.

Unlike benzoyl peroxide, green tea does not dry out skin, cause itching or allergic reactions and has the added advantages of natural anti-bacterial properties and antioxidants, particularly epigallocatechin gallate which is 200 times more powerful than vitamin E at fighting free radicals.

It also helps to reduce inflammation, hormonal activity and aids in detoxification – which is all good news for acne sufferers.

Using Green Tea As An Acne Alternative Treatment

Green tea extract is an extremely easy to use and versatile herbal home treatment. It can be administered topically, it’s often used in creams such as Zenmed’s Derma Cleanse Gel, it can be taken as a supplement in the form of a pill or it can be incorporated into your diet and drunk as a tea.

This last method is a very popular way of using green tea for acne conditions (Green Tea with Honeysuckle is often known as ‘Pimple Tea’ in many Chinatowns) when drunk after a meal it aids digestion and helps to detoxify your system, getting rid of the toxins that can cause acne. However, don’t drink it with sugar as this will neutralize the worthwhile effects of the tea.

It seems that taking green tea for acne is a win-win situation… It has many beneficial properties which promote good all-round health with little or no known side effects and for the price, green tea is one of those acne alternative treatments that are definitely worth trying.

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