Breaking Out : A Woman's Guide to Coping with Acne at Any Age

Rating:
Summary: Excellent reporting, great information
Review: As a newspaper reporter who covers health and fitness, and someone who's had acne-prone skin for 20 years, I'm impressed with this book. Preston did a lot of research and covers all the bases. It's clearly and concisely written, with a lot of little tidbits of information that help us to make informed decisions about our skin care. For example, many of the benzoyl peroxide products on drugstore shelves are 10 percent strength -- but for most of us, 2.5 percent or 5 percent gives the same acne-fighting benefits without all the dryness and redness and irritation. There's a great appendix in back detailing what products contain which ingredients. Preston has suffered from acne herself, and her writing reflects that. I was left with the impression that she knows exactly how you feel -- which is very comforting. A very helpful and reassuring book.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Book on Acne Yet
Review: I have had enough acne to worry about coping with it for years and when I found this book and started reading it, I knew I wouldn't need any other book about it again! From letting us know that we should put benzoyl peroxide on our faces each night to help prevent breakouts rather than putting it on places which have already broken out to different types of products that are best to use on which type of skin to different types of laser resurfacing and options that are available in order to remove acne scars, this book has it all. In addition, it gives a chapter for helping children with acne, which I know will be beneficial when my daughters get older since most children have acne if their parents do, as this book states.

Rating:
Summary: very informative and educational
Review: I haven't read any other books about treating acne, so I can't compare this to "Clear Skin", "Unblemished", "The Acne Cure", "Acne Rx", or "The Acne Prescription." But I felt like this book did a really good job at showing all the treatment alternatives and letting you make your own decisions (with or without a dermatologist). It doesn't push one method or treatment or any products. And I felt like this book was also extremely helpful in discussing options for acne scars. Some readers may be left overwhelmed or confused by all the information, but I found it very helpful to have different dermatologists' opinions and advice. Sometimes, it's contradictory, but I think that's the point: No one treatment is going to work for everyone. Your skincare regimen has to be adapted according to the severity of your acne, your tolerance for side effects, your patience for results, and any other medical conditions that you are treating.

Rating:
Summary: The book I've been waiting for
Review: I've been trying to find a book that could help me, and I finally found it. I love this book. It's very clearly written, packed with interesting and helpful information. It doesn't give you any one single cure or prescription that may or may not work for you. Instead, it explains ALL the different acne treatments out there - benzoyl peroxide, Accutane, retins, diet, hormones, etc., etc. - you can really understand how they work and how to use them - then make informed decisions for yourself. Also, some of the other books on the market are written by doctors who have their own line of products to promote - not this author, so the book is very balanced and unbiased. Finally, if you're like me and have acne and scarring, there's a long chapter on acne scar tratments a subject that most other books treat very superfically.

Rating:
Summary: Recommend this book anyone you know with acne
Review: I've had acne all my life, now my teenage daughter also has it. ?She knows that this might not be just a phase she's going through. ?Because of her, I've been doing research and am so happy to have found this book. ?It really gives so much information, much more detailed than other books I've checked out. I've learned that there is help for me as well as things that can work for my daughter. ?Really informative and well organized.
Thank you so much.

Rating:
Summary: Medical knowledge and personal anecdote
Review: This book is a no nonsense, plain speaking and extremely comprehensive account of the physical and emotional aspects of acne. It addresses the many different options of preventative and reparative treatment while maintaining the heartfelt narrative of someone who really knows what it is like to suffer with this condition. In reading this book, as an acne sufferer, I found out many things I did not know and after finishing it was armed with new ideas and many new perspectives onold ideas. Ms. Preston is not afraid to come down definitively on the side of products that she has tried and recommended and holds little faith or respect in the many myths and rumours that surround this subject. The book is enjoyable to read, funny and poignant, showing Ms. Preston's talent as a writer and also delivers straightforward medical analysis of the subject with no statistic left unanalyzed and no term unexplained, showing her huge knowledge and experience of the subject. This is an essential text for women who suffer from any sort of acne, not only for the reasons above, but because it strikes such an empowering tone.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Very thorough--very well written--clear practical info on how to handle acne and it's subsequent scarring from a writer who's actually lived through it all herself...
and *finally* someone in the skin industry publicly gives Accutane the credit it deserves-it truly is THEE miracle drug of this century.
Besides the book's utilitarian merits it's actually a fun read--full of personal anecdotes-take it to the beach--well--put a brown paper bag bookcover on it first...