1. They Are Harmful For Your Skin Most over the counter products that you find in the market today contain many harmful chemicals that will affect your skin badly, such as increasing your skin irritation, making your skin itchy and dry, and aggravating your acne more. So, no matter how great the advertisement of those products, you will still get the fact that they can only make your acne worse, especially if you have sensitive skin. 2. They Don't Treat Your Acne To The Root Cause Most of those cures for acne come in the form of cream, lotion, or cleanser that can only be applied topically. However, acne is not just a cosmetic problem. The appearance of your acne is just a result of a bigger problem that happens inside your body. You can't completely cure your acne only by applying topical treatment in the outer layer of your skin. The root cause of acne lies within your body, and in order to eliminate your acne, you need to start from inside your body. 3. They Are Only Treating The Symptom Acne is just a symptom, not the real problem. Therefore, you can't treat the symptom and expect to be able to permanently cure your acne. Those over the counter cures for acne are only treating the symptom of your acne. That's why their effect is temporary, if at all. You might be able to reduce the appearance of your acne, but you can't eliminate it completely by using those products. 4. They Are Treating The Wrong Problem Some acne products are made for the purpose of eliminating bacteria that causes acne. Again, this is just an effect of the bigger cause within your body. Acne is not caused by bacteria. In fact, acne appears in your skin because of pinched-off sebum canal. And what makes your sebum canal to become pinched-off? Certainly not the bacteria! The bigger cause of your acne problem lies within your body. 5. You Keep Making Your Acne Worse With any acne treatment, you need to accompany it with good treatment toward your skin, such as by maintaining a healthy diet, having enough rest, avoiding stress, etc. By only relying on the effect of those over the counter cures for acne, you can't see the real improvement in your skin. That's because you're the one who keeps making your acne worse. Source