Skin Treatments Without Prescription | Acne and Fungus

What this group contains

• Retinoids for acne and disorders of keratinisation
• Antifungals for athlete's foot, jock itch, skin and nail infections
• Pigment treatments for dark patches and marks
• Medicated shampoos for dandruff and seborrhoeic dermatitis

What they share is that they act on a mechanism rather than on appearance. Which is why they take time and consistency, and why nothing much happens in the first week.

Acne: why are antibacterial creams not enough?

Most people start with something that kills bacteria. Bacteria are third in the sequence.

It begins with a blocked pore: the cells lining the opening stop shedding properly and clump into a plug. Only then does oil build up behind it, only then do bacteria multiply, only then does inflammation appear.

Fighting only the bacteria means fighting a consequence. Retinoids intervene at the start of the chain and change the keratinisation itself.

Which is why they work where other things stop — and why they need months rather than weeks.

Getting worse first is the rule, not the exception

With retinoids the first weeks usually look worse: more spots, redness, flaking, tight skin.

That is not damage. Lesions that were already forming deeper down are being brought to the surface earlier.

Anyone who does not know this stops exactly when the treatment is starting to work. Take a photograph at the start and judge after a couple of months.

Sun protection with most of these

Retinoids and pigment treatments both make skin markedly more reactive to sunlight.

That is a double problem. You burn faster, and sunlight triggers pigmentation — frequenly the exact thing being treated.

High factor protection every morning, all year, including dull days. Without it you undo a real portion of months of work.

With pigmentation specifically, this is not an addition to the treatment. It is half of it.

Fungal infections: keep going longer than seems neccessary

This is behind almost every recurrence.

Itching and redness clear well before the fungus does. Stop there and you leave the spores that regrow.

Carry on for roughly two weeks after the skin looks normal.

And do not forget shoes, socks and towels — spores survive in them for months. Treating the skin without dealing with those is treating in circles.

Fewer products means fewer problems

With skin treatment the temptation is always to add something else.

It usually works the other way. Combining retinoids with acids, scrubs and alcohol toners produces irritated skin that looks worse than at the start.

• Gentle cleansing, no scrubbing
• The medicated product in the evening, on completely dry skin
• Moisturiser
• Sunscreen in the morning

That is the whole routine. Everything else is worth setting aside for the duration.

When to get it looked at

• No improvement after a few weeks — the diagnosis may be wrong
• Weeping, painful areas, or any fever
• Moles that are changing or growing
• Wounds that will not heal
• Extensive involvement in someone with diabetes
• Acne that is leaving scars

That last point matters: acne scars are permanent. With a severe case it is better to act early than late.

Ordering without prescription: how it works

Skin treatment runs for months, so it is worth having enough in hand to see a course through.

Pick the product, the strength and the pack size, enter a delivery address and confirm. A couple of minutes, any time of day, no queue and no conversation across a counter.

Everything goes out in plain packaging. No pharmacy name on the outside, nothing indicating what is inside. How long delivery takes depends on where the parcel is going.

On price, the factors are strength and pack size. Larger packs generally work out better per unit.

Prices sit below a UK high street counter for an unglamorous reason: no rent in a good location, no counter staff, no window display. Most of the range is generic as well. That saving goes to you.