We're living an age where society has slowly started to accept skin conditions like acne. Acne-positivity, a powerful movement that started on social media, is most certainly on the rise, but that's not to say blemish-fighting treatments are considered null and void. Fun fact: The acne industry collects a whopping $2 billion a year from the estimated 80 percent of people who struggle with the condition, and there are innovative new technologies and treatments being developed every day.
But before K-beauty pimple patches, at-home blue-light therapy devices, and the countless in-office procedures available for patients nowadays, acne was treated in a variety of different ways, some of which have been discarded over time, and others that still prove popular to this day.
For instance, a treatment called cryoslush was used in 1910 to literally freeze off zits and is now helpful in preventing acne scars in those with severe cystic breakouts. Another remedy that was popular both then and now is the use of benzoyl peroxide, which was used in the form of an ointment in the 1930s and since has become a fixture in a plethora of acne-fighting products. One treatment we didn't see stick around? Drinking a mixture of Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast and water, which — believe it or not — was used as an inside-out solution in the '30s. (Yikes.)
It's safe to say we've come a long way in terms of our approach to treating the skin condition, which as mentioned above, now includes groundbreaking devices you can use at home, cortisone shots that can heal a pimple overnight, and isotretinoin (the generic version of the drug commonly known as Accutane). And those are just a few of seemingly infinite acne solutions we have access to today.
Interested in learning more about how acne treatments have evolved? Tune in to the video, which tells the story of how far we've come over the last 100 years.
For more acne treatments:
Now, see how much skin care has evolved in 100 years:
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