Using Calamine For Acne, Is It Effective? According To Dermatologists, Here's The Explanation

Calamine illustration for acne (Freepic)

YOGYAKARTA Acne is the most troubling condition and is experienced by almost everyone. Generally, acne starts to appear in the age of puber. However, even in their 30s, many people still experience acne. Not a few people also believe that lotion calamine or kalamine, can help treat acne complaints on the face. So is calamine effective in treating acne?

According to a New York City-based certified dermatologist, Shari Marchbein, MD., lotion calamine is a combination of zinc oxides or ingredients used in diapers and sunscreen creams and contains iron oxides that function to relieve itching. If applied to the skin, a cool sensation will appear and calm the irritated skin.

"Losion calamine has been around for centuries," explained Morgan Rabach, MD., a board-certified dermatologist reported by Byrdie, Monday, November 13. This lotion includes the earliest cream to solve skin problems.

"At that time, we didn't have all the good creams and medicines like now. So people used calamine to deal with all the complaints on the skin," explained Rabach.

Lion calamine, in principle, is not to treat the root causes of acne. It's just that it has the potential to treat the symptoms of stains, such as redness and acne bumps. This lotion, according to Joshua Zeichner, MD, a board-certified dermatologist, may be useful for dealing with acne that is reddened because it is astringen. So, when applying calamine helps dry acne. But actually, as an effective action Zeichner recommends acne treatment with skincare that contains salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide.

Rabach noted that zinc oxide in calamine lotion is anti-inflammatory when applied to inflamed acne and contains pus. But scientifically, this lotion is not effective in dealing with acne. So even if you use calamine, make it just a last resort. Apart from being less effective, lotion calamine also has the potential for certain side effects. Because it can trigger skin irritation and spread into a bigger reaction.

To apply lotion calamine, Zeichner recommends it before going to bed. The reason is, the lotion calamine is striking in color when applied. Sometimes the color is not a tone with skin tone. So so as not to interfere with appearance, use it before bed after facial skin is cleaned.

Although it is not effective to treat acne, lotion calamine deserves to be kept at home. Because, according to Rabach, calamine can help dry itching and moisturizing skin disorders such as insect bites, bee stings, lecherous stings, ivy poisons, poisonsisons, and chickenpox.