Herbs for Acne

Madeline says:

Detailed explanation and rationale:
Ice how-to:
Wrap an ice cube in a thin cloth towel or paper towel so the ice doesn’t directly touch your skin. Some recommend freezing a bunch of water-filled little paper Dixie cups in the freezer. The thin paper cups make it convenient to hold and apply ice to the lesions. That’s a great idea from Laura, the esthetician that Willow569 goes to.

Hold the ice to the lesion for one minute or so on, five minutes or so off. Repeat as often as necessary throughout the first 24 hours, but not to the point that your skin turns pale or feels uncomfortable. The ice will reduce the swelling and the pain and the redness. The ice may also limit the development of post inflammatory hyper-pigmentation, PIH, or ‘red marks’.

Anti-Inflammatory how-to:
Ibuprofen and naproxen sodium are anti-inflammatories. Inflammation is redness, swelling, pain. One or the other medication will help reduce the inflammation of any type of infection and may also help with pain. Use only as directed on the package, pick one or the other, and don’t use for longer than directed. Of course, don’t use one if you’re allergic to it!

Topical antibiotic cream/ointment and band aid how-to:
(Neosporin, Polysporin, Bacitracin, etc. I use Polysporin more often.)
Apply a dab of antibiotic cream/ointment to a small band aid (this prevents contamination of the tube provided the bandaid is sterile and you’ve not touched the pad part with your fingers or anything else).

Put the band aid on the lesion. Leave on overnight. You don’t have to do this step, but it provides an extra measure of infection-control and just feels better, too.

The antibiotic cream/ointment may help prevent indented scarring.

I’m not sure whether it wil work for cysts that are already there for weeks. The above steps are for freshly form and painful acne cysts. If it doesn’t work, I suggest you head down to a dermatologist clinic to get cortisone shots which will help greatly.