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Perhaps one of the most over prescribed and under researched medication administered by doctors and dermatologists are topical steroids. Their uses are common but wide in scope, and a few of these will be diseases and disorders like eczema, acne, dermatitis, rashes, and psoriasis. However, does this necessarily guarantee they are safe?

Many times people will consider them safe just because they are prescribed by a wide cohort of doctors, medical professionals, and dermatologists alike. The reason they are so willing to write prescriptions for these medications are because they can potentially change the state of skin conditions.

Topical steroids are effective due largely to the speed in which they are absorbed into one's skin cells. The next step they perform is to prevent the onslaught of inflammation-causing chemicals within the skin that usually are unleashed when it reacts to irritation or allergens.

What the effect is if left untreated is that the blood vessels are widened by these inflammation causing chemicals. This leads to swelling and redness. Relief is provided with topical steroids to the effects such as irritation and inflammation is reduced all due to the prevention of this release from within the skin. The problem lies in that topical steroids regularly elicit far more damaging side effects than the original condition they are treating.

HOW IS IT THAT TOPICAL TREATMENTS ARE NOT THE BEST NATURAL AND EFFECTIVE ACNE TREATMENT TO ELIMINATE ACNE INFLAMMATION

The negative consequences of choosing topical steroids can be numerous. They can be both internal and external. Here are some of the things that can happen to you:

- Adrenal gland suppression - Crushing's Syndrome - Fluid retention - Raised blood pressure - Diabetes - Increased aggression - Anaphylactic shock - Birth defects - Blood clotting - Cancer - Cardiovascular disease - Depression - Gynecomastia - Hair loss - Kidney and liver problems - Prostate enlargement and testicular atrophy

With regards to the skin, the side effects are equally as telling. Some of these consequences will entail:

- Skin thinning (atrophy) and stretch marks (striae) - Tearing and bruising of the skin - Perioral dermatitis (rash around the mouth) - Enlarged blood vessels (telangiectasia) - A higher susceptibility to infections of the skin - Hiding infection including tinea incognito - Persistent allergies to the steroid cream

As shown above, this list of consequences can bring about a problem greater than the one you had originally set out to eliminate with the initial usage of the topical steroids. The good news is there exists natural acne treatments that are effective for a wide range of skin conditions. These don't come with any side effects, and therefore are much more recommended than topical steroids just for that fact.