Role of Tea Tree Oil in Controlling Acne

January 16, 2023 Imphal By Bhogen Goswami:

Acne is an undesirable skin condition that can create a lot of mental and physical disturbances in everyday life. It can happen to people of varying ages, especially teenagers in the majority.

Generally, acne can occur in areas of your body such as foreheads, face, chest, shoulders, and upper part of the back. Though it has no life-threatening risks, its outbreak can create a lot of disturbances like pain, psychological problems, and sometimes can even leave spots and scars permanently.

Choosing the right home remedies like tea tree oil application and medication after consulting a dermatologist can effectively prevent acne.

What is Tea Tree Oil?

Tea tree oil is a type of essential oil with an odor of fresh camphor, made from the leaves of Melaleuca alternifolia tea plant, which also makes it known as melaleuca oil. Its color varies from colorless to light yellow.

Tea tree oil is traditionally utilized in the treatment of various skin and hair problems like acne, insect bite, bacterial or fungal infections on the skin, herpes, lice, dandruff, etc. However, it is never advisable to ingest it orally and in children rather than external applications.

How Far can Tea Tree Oil Cure Acne?

What are the Causes of Acne?

So far, no specific reason behind the outbreak of acne has been identified. However, certain factors can promote its outbreak. Here are some of the common mechanisms that help in increasing the intensity of acne occurrence.

• Hormonal changes in the body during puberty, and pregnancy, etc.
• Using oil-based cosmetic products
• Frequent application of face cleansing scrubs
• Giving pressure on the appearing pimples either by squeezing or picking
• Taking medications that includes drugs like anabolic steroids and corticosteroids

Tea Tree Oil in the treatment of Acne

The effectiveness of tea tree oil in the treatment of acne is found supportive by various studies and experiments. However, well-confirmed evidence was not found that its application as a viable option.

According to the 2006 review on medicinal properties of tea tree by American Society for Microbiology < https://cmr.asm.org/content/19/1/50 >, it was found that tea tree oil possesses anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. It indicates that the product may aid in the treatment of acne.

Another study conducted in the year 2015 on the ‘Complementary therapies for acne Vulgaris’, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4486007/ > also found a few signs that the application of tea tree oil can be beneficial in the treatment of acne. However, it couldn’t prove to be that much effective to be the best solution.

Surprisingly, a 2017 experiment through 12 weeks of tree tea oil application on faces of people having acne could find its significance < https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27000386 >. A noteworthy improvement could be seen on the faces of the participants.

How to Use Tree Tea Oil for Acne?

If the skincare products for acne available in the market fail to make a difference on your face, choosing tea tree oil for the treatment would be a viable option. Here are some of the ways how you can use tree tea oil on your skin:

1. Wash your face with warm water (you can use a light cleanser for it)
2. On cleanly washed section of your hand, put a few drops of tree tea oil
3. Leave it for a while and examine if irritation happens
4. If your skin finds it acceptable with no irritation proceed with the next step
5. Take a cotton bud and put a drop or two of tree tea oil into it
6. Let the bud dap on the pimples appearing on your face
7. Leave it overnight
8. Rinse them off with warm water in the next morning
9. Repeat this method twice daily

Following this remedy can give you significant improvement, healing the acne. However, make sure that you get the right and pure product.

Other Benefits of Tree Tea Oil

Apart from its acne healing properties, tree tea oil is also known for its various other utilities. Here are a few of them:

• Shampoos containing tree tea oil have the potential of reducing dandruff concentration on hairs
• People having athlete’s foot can also reduce the symptoms by an application cream having tea tree oil composition
• If you have lice on your hair, applying lavender in collaboration with tea tree oil can prevent the lice eggs. However, this combination is not suitable for boys before puberty.
• One can also make natural hand sanitizer with tea tree oil
• It can also be used in making a multi-purpose cleanser spray by making a solution with water and apple cider vinegar

Precautions and Side Effects

Tea tree oil available in the health and departmental stores for external use is safe for application on the skin. However, it may cause skin irritation and swelling if the customer has sensitive or unsuitable skin to the product.

At the same time, it is always advisable to handle it with caution and safeties. Here are some of the noteworthy points that you should take into consideration while using tea tree oil.

Side Effects

• For boys in the pre-puberty phase, the combined application of tea tree oil and lavender oil may not be safe as it can give hormonal disorders
• In some cases, it can also create skin dryness, burning sensation, stinging, and itching.

Precautions

• Though the external application is safe, oral ingestion of undiluted tea tree oil or any other essential oil may result in harmful consequences, including coma
• Pregnant women should also be cautious while using tea tree oil and never tend to take it orally through applying on the skin is harmless
• Based on the type of your skin problem, choose the right dosage

Dosage of Tree Tea Oil

Dosage can vary based on the type of ailment.

• 5% of tea tree oil each day is advisable as a dosage by most experts for acne problems.
• For nail fungus, the dual application of 100% tree tea oil per day is recommended. The total duration of the course will be up to 6 months
• For ‘tinea pedis’ or athlete’s foot’, daily application of tea tree solution with 25-50% is advisable for a month.
• If you are having eyelashes infestation by a mite, which is also known as ‘ocular demodicosis’, scrubbing the infected parts (eyelids) with 50% tea tree oil in combination with tea tree shampoo are advisable. One can follow this procedure twice a day for 1 month.

The Gist of It

Though scientific proof has not been made to prove it as one end solution to control acne, its anti-inflammation and anti-bacterial properties have been serving as a traditional remedy for ages. As long as you get the best quality tea tree oil, you can utilize the best out for your acne treatment.