Millions of acne sufferers of mild to moderate acne have found that when they use tea tree oil, acne infections quickly go away. This oil distilled from a bush found in Australian coastal swamps has been used for over 100 years not only to treat acne, but also to treat athlete’s foot, ear infections, and Candida. It’s cheaper and easier to use than other acne products, and it does not cause side effects. But does tea tree oil work as well as prescription medications?
Tea Tree Oil vs. Acne Medications
There are certain kinds of acne for which natural products simply are not enough. If you have cystic acne, the kind of acne in which the skin grows over areas eaten away by infection, tea tree oil really won’t help. At least for a short time, you really need the potent prescription drugs that open up your skin without lancing the cysts.
But if you are primarily concerned about pimples on top of your skin, the tea tree oil isn’t just as good as medication, it’s better. Like the chemical agent benzoyl peroxide (BP), tea tree oil kills acne bacteria. It is a little slower to start the disinfection process, taking three days instead two for BP. Tea tree oil, however, has several advantages over BP:
• Tea tree oil does not dry out your skin. BP dries out the skin and leaves tiny, invisible flakes of skin that can clog pores. When you use benzoyl peroxide, sometimes you just trade pimples for blackheads that come about three weeks later.
• Tea tree oil gets the red out. BP kills bacteria but it does not stop inflammation. Tea tree oil both kills bacteria and fights inflammation. The tea tree oil takes a little longer to get going, but you will look better faster with tea tree oil than with benzoyl peroxide.
• BP just fights acne bacteria. Tea tree oil fights the staph bacteria that cause pimples with ugly yellow centers. Tea tree oil also fights fungal infections and some viruses.
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Using Tea Tree Oil “Straight”
Tea tree oil, acne-fighter, comes as a pure oil, in creams, in soaps, and in lotions and ointments. If you go to an herb shop, you may see a display of tiny vials of pure tea tree oil. Pure tea tree oil is yellowish to nearly clear and has a distinct medicinal odor.
You can apply “straight” tea tree oil directly to acne-infected skin with a clean cotton swab. You need to cleanse your face first, and to use each cotton swab just once. This means you will need several cotton swabs to treat your face. You do not want to reinfect your skin by transferring acne bacteria from one part of your face to the other.
If you use a body wash, adding a vial of tea tree oil to the bottle of body wash will help fight acne on your chest and back. Many specialty shops sell shampoos and body wash with tea tree oil already added in. The reason you don’t want to add just a few drops of tea tree oil to any other skin care or bath product is that you need at least a 5% strength to get rid of essentially all the disease-causing bacteria in your skin. Lower concentrations of tea tree oil can leave the most dangerous bacteria behind, killing their competitors and allowing them to slowly multiply to cause an even harder-to-treat infection.
Using Tea Tree Oil Creams and Lotions
With creams and lotions made with at least 5% tea tree oil, acne treatment is a snap. Apply tea tree oil creams and lotions to recently washed, dry skin with clean fingertips, underneath your makeup in the morning (if you use makeup), and on makeup-free skin before going to bed. You should see results in just three days.
It is hard to go wrong with tea tree oil, but about 1 in 100 people is allergic to it. The very first time you use tea tree oil, test just a drop of the product on your forearm. Don’t wash your, and see if there is any irritation or inflammation 12 hours later. If your skin is clear, then you can use tea tree oil products.
Tea tree oil is not poisonous, but it’s not a good thing for infants and children to be drinking, either. There are no known cases of poisoning by tea tree oil, but drinking the product can cause drowsiness and loss of energy, especially in children and early teens. You should also keep tea tree oil away from your pets, except to treat skin infections.
Some people use both tea tree oil, acne infection fighter, and lavender, pain reliever, in natural treatment of acne. It is usually a good idea to use the products at different times of the day for maximum effect.