Just thought id share my experience with aloe vera.
They are absolutely freaking brilliant!
A couple of days ago a couple of cystic acne pimples (those big painful lumps that seem to be under your skin) popped up on my face, probably due to exam stress
. I started using benzoyl peroxide + moisturizer but it didn't help immediately so i was getting impatient. I decided to spam the pimples with BP without moisturizer, hoping the pimples will somehow dry up.
Big mistake. Not only did the pimples not dry up, there started to be a brown reddish patch around the pimple, probably because the bp was too drying. The skin around there became thin, dry and painful
. By then the pimple was quite big already and since i couldn't stand the pain i decided to pop it, even though i knew it would leave a large scar which will only lighten after many days.
While the popping process felt satisfying
, the aftermath was horrible. Because the skin around the pimple was thin and dry cause of my careless use of BP, the whole patch turned brown, reddish, dry and scarred. Usually if i didn't use BP and just popped it the area will just be a smaller red lump.
Just when i was about to accept my fate of having to go around with a rotten looking patch on my face for at least a couple of weeks, my mum suggested me to try applying aloe vera. Apparently she grows some herself and when they are "ripe", cuts them up and put them in the freezer, probably to bao yang her face also. Since i had nothing to lose i took one piece and rubbed it on my scar.
It must have been both the action of the cold and the aloe vera for my scar lightened quite a bit a few hours after application. I continued to apply it twice a day with frozen aloe vera and just after about 3 days of application, the scar had lightened significantly and its barely noticeable from far now!
That seriously took me aback since usually scars left by popping those cystic pimples usually take at least a week to lighten significantly. I did some reading online and apparently aloe veras can act as a disinfectant and promote skin regeneration which is probably why it is so useful in treating acne scars. The cold probably helped a bit too.
I'm not sure where to get aloe vera commercially. Apparently there are products with aloe vera extracts in them or something but i'm not sure how effective they will be vs an actual piece of aloe vera pulp. Anyway i highly recommend them for a natural way to treat acne scars.
Ill continue to use it and see if it can help reduce my blackheads.
