Acne

Are you still suffering from acne despite all the regular anti-pimple remedies you have used so far? Then perhaps the time has come to try CBD ointment. There are indications that facial cream with CBD probably works well against acne. There has even been scientific research into this.

However, before we talk about that, we must first go back to the basics: What exactly is acne?

What is Acne?

The scientific name for this skin condition is acne vulgaris. The cause is that the skin produces too much sebum.

Sebum is a fatty substance that keeps the skin supple. In addition, sebum helps prevent bacteria and fungi from entering your body through the skin.

Useful stuff, sebum, but it is less pleasant if too much is secreted by the sebaceous glands in the hair follicles. This causes an accumulation of sebum and dead skin cells. The result is irritated skin, blackheads and pimples.

Causes of acne

But why does your body make too much sebum? That's not the point, is it?

That's right. An overproduction of sebum is usually because the hormones are not in balance. This can have several causes, such as:

· Puberty: During puberty, hormonal changes take place in the body, causing a girl to turn into a woman and a boy into a man. During this process, the hormone balance is considerably out of balance. Therefore, acne is common among teenagers.

· The pill: There are medications that affect hormone balance. The best known is without a doubt the contraceptive pill. This pill contains hormones that prevent an egg from being released. And without an egg, fertilization cannot take place. That's great, but the pill does change your hormone balance. For that reason, acne is a common side effect of the pill. At the same time, some women notice that they suffer less from acne because of the pill. So it can work both ways.

· Period: During the menstrual cycle, a change in hormone balance takes place at different times. At one moment, the hormone balance changes in such a way that there is a risk of acne. This is the moment just before the start of menstruation.

Pregnancy: Your hormone balance also changes when you become pregnant. This can cause you to get acne.

· Heredity: The way your body looks is largely determined by your genes. This also applies to hormone balance. That is why it may be that acne is simply in your genes.

There are also things that can make acne worse. Examples are cosmetics that clog the skin, damp weather and stress.

Finally, there are many myths surrounding acne. We'll get to those right away. Acne is not caused by: fatty food, poor hygiene, vitamin deficiency, sweating and contamination (acne is not contagious).

Old acne treatments

For mild acne there are lotions and creams with benzoyl peroxide or retinoids. These substances exfoliate the skin. This makes it easier for the sebum to get out. This sounds like a horse remedy to us, but it works well for some people.

For more severe acne, you can try a cream with antibiotics. If this doesn't work either or if the acne is really bad, your doctor can prescribe a course of isotretinoin. This drug inhibits the abundant sebum production. In this sense, isotretinoin addresses the direct cause of acne.

However, this drug has a number of possible side effects that can be very annoying: dry lips, dry skin, dry mucous membranes, less eye fluid, increase in cholesterol, sensitivity to sunlight, hair loss, impaired liver function, weight pain, muscle pain, psychological problems, depression and suicidal tendencies.

In other words, existing resources are far from ideal. Often they are only half effective or the side effects are so severe that the medicine seems to be worse than the disease.

However, there is hope, because there is a new promising remedy: CBD ointment and CBD cream.

How does CBD skin ointment work?

CBD skin ointment contains cannabidiol. The abbreviation for cannabidiol is CBD. Hence the name CBD ointment.

CBD is a cannabinoid. A cannabinoid is a substance from the cannabis plant that acts on a body system with the complicated name endocannabinoid system. For convenience, we abbreviate this to ECS.

The ECS primarily consists of the receptors CB1 and CB2. The body makes substances that attach to these receptors. These substances are called endocannabinoids. The prefix endo- means 'self'.

The adhesion triggers a biochemical reaction that affects other body systems such as the immune system, the nervous system and the skin. The skin also contains CB2 receptors.

The cannabis plant now also contains substances that can attach to CB1 and CB2 receptors. These are the cannabinoids mentioned earlier. In addition to CBD, these include THC, CBG, CBN and CBC. The effect of CBD skin ointment is based on this.

Now you may be wondering whether an ointment with another cannabinoid could also work. For example, could THC ointment or CBG ointment help against acne?

The honest answer is that we don't know. Only for the cannabinoid CBD, scientists have investigated whether this substance could help in the treatment of acne.

Laboratory research CBD against acne

Several research teams in Belgium, Germany, England, Hungary, Italy and Japan investigated the effects of CBD on acne. This was done in a laboratory setting with preparations of sebocytes and human skin. Sebocytes are cells of the sebaceous gland. The science teams jointly published their results in 2014 in a extensive scientific article† In the summary we read:

“The endocannabinoid system (ECS) regulates multiple physiological processes, including the growth and specialization of skin cells. We examined the effects of cannabis's major non-mind-altering cannabinoid (ie CBD) on sebaceous gland function in humans.

We have found that CBD acts as a very effective inhibitor of sebum production. Administration of CBD to cultured human cells from the sebaceous gland and human skin preparations inhibited the fat-creating action of several compounds, including arachidonic acid and a combination of linoleic acid and testosterone.

In addition, CBD suppresses cell renewal in the sebaceous gland via activation of the transient receptor potential vanilloid-4 (TRPV4) ion channels. Activation of TRPV4 interfered with the prolipogenic ERK1/2 MAPK pathway and resulted in the down-regulation of nuclear receptor-interacting protein-1 (NRIP1), which affects glucose and lipid metabolism, thereby inhibiting sebocyte lipogenesis.

CBD also exerted complex anti-inflammatory actions linked to A2a adenosine receptor-dependent upregulation of tribbles homolog 3 (TRIB3) and inhibition of NF-KB signaling.”

And finally, the researchers conclude:

Collectively, our findings suggest that CBD, due to its combined lipostatic, antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory effects, has potential as a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of acne vulgaris.

Quite a complicated medical language, but the bottom line is: scientists have shown that CBD works well against acne in a laboratory setting.

Please note: The effect of CBD on acne has not yet been extensively tested on test subjects. For this reason, CBD is not yet a recognized medical remedy for acne. However, this does not have to stop you from trying CBD cream against acne. In any case, it can't hurt.

Other CBD products for acne?

Acne is a skin condition. It is therefore obvious that CBD cream is the most effective CBD product for the treatment of acne. So why should you try CBD oil, CBD capsules or any other CBD product?

Well, a good reason may be that CBD doesn't just work against acne. For example, CBD oil and CBD capsules can also strengthen the immune system.

However, when CBD is taken orally, so little of the CBD present goes to the sebaceous glands that the anti-acne effect becomes very small. For that reason, CBD ointment remains the best CBD product for the treatment of acne.

More information

Would you like to know more about CBD cream or one of our other CBD products? We are happy to help you with all your questions.