This is amazing, I have stumbled upon the cure for my "acne" and quite by accident. I've been struggling with what I would describe as an infection on my face for many many months. It all seemed to start after I had my tonsils out last year. I think I caught something at the hospital because within days I had a strange red mark growing on my face in an area that could've been covered by a ventilating mask or some other medical device. It didn't seem like much at first and in my experience these things had always gone away when given a little time. I am not one to rush out and get lots of medicines at the drug store or go see a Dr. for every little red mark or sniffle plus my tonsil recovery was a much greater concern.
The first mark went away but another appeared on the opposite side of my face and it became a growing concern. Still given time that too went away leaving only minor subdermal discolorations that in time I expect will fade. For the next several months though my skin was very sensitive and reddened, I kept getting pimples which left ugly red discolorations. By May I had finally broke down and went to the Dr. to get some treatment. My primary care gave me some antibiotics which had some soothing effect but when they ran out I still had the infection. Then I went to a dermatologist who turned out to be a real asshole. He gave me some anitbiotics and topical lotion. At first it seemed to help but I still had the infection by the end of August so things were not looking to hopeful.
The redness and irritaion combined with the side effects of the antibiotics and the unpleasantness of constantly putting on the topical lotion was significantly affecting my comfort, appearance (oh, the horror!), and well-being.
When it was apparent that the medicines were not doing the trick I tried to make note of my diet and see if I had worse days after eating at the golden arches or after eating mayonaise or chips. Nothing seemed to make the irritation change at all until about a week ago I was surprised to feel my face was getting dry and itchy rather than inflammed and painful. It was that feeling of healing and I recognized it like an old friend. I thought about what I had done differently, and I hadin fact eaten an unusual meal the night before. I had made a ton of garlic bread, and I use lots of garlic when I make it because I like garlic. I like it so much that on a couple occasions last year when restaraunts gave me "garlic bread" with indetectible amounts of garlic on it I sent it back and told them there was something wrong with it that I expect garlic bread to have garlic on it. What is with places calling themselves italian restaraunts serving buttered toast without any trace of garlic on it? trying to save money by skimping on garlic? Trying not to offend the sensitive American palate? I used to make it with fresh garlic but lately I by the jars of minced garlic which saves a bunch of time and mess. So in the afternoon on day after I ate the garlic bread I noticed that my face was feeling less irritated and it was a bit drier than it had been in a long long time. I immediately knew that less "stuff" was growing in my skin.
Just to test the theory that it was in fact the garlic I made garlic bread again and again (everyone in my family likes it too so none goes to waste). My wife bought me some garlic supplements too so I started taking those as well. It really was working! It started working so well that I barely needed any topical lotion at all. The inflammation and irritation went down and all the redness is going away. I am ecstatic because I am once again seeing the skin tone that I used to know.
I did some research on garlic and found that it does have some unique and incredible biological effects. It has been used worldwide to fight bacterial infections including those that have become resistant to antibiotics
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11238826?ordinalpos=19&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
Here are some fluffy links without technical references:
http://naturalhealthremedies.org/what-are-the-health-benefits-of-garlic/
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/1655/health-benefits-garlic-unravelled
and a place to find somewhat more technical ones if you are so inclined:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&DbFrom=pubmed&Cmd=Link&LinkName=pubmed_pubmed&LinkReadableName=Related%20Articles&IdsFromResult=7557803&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed
I read some posts on message boards of acne related websites too. People have used it topically with success but that is a bit too agressive a treatment for me. Apparently it can really burn your skin.
I am still taking the antibiotic since that can only help but I can say that based on first hand experience garlic can really really help clear up acne/facial infection, and it is yummy too!
So I was looking for a nice picture of garlic using google images and I saw one on a blog called faithandgender and being a sucker for anything referring to gender I checked it out. I found much of what I read about the blog and the author somewhat intriguing. If you think you might be interested in Faith and Gender check it out.
Me, well I was raised Catholic but haven't practiced any religion since junior high school. Religions are nice old political and social clubs for mass mind control but I don't see any of them as being relevant today. I can just as easily make up my own mind about what is important and good in this world by interacting with people I meet or by things I see and read.
Take care,
Rachel
Original source: http://rachelmead.wordpress.com/?p=197
