Acne Medication

Posted by John

July 7, 2010

This is just a quick post about the various sorts of acne medication there is out there to help the acne sufferer. We will go through the main acne medications, give a brief outline of what they do and what the pros and cons are of each acne medication.

Topical Acne Treatment

These topical acne treatment products tend to be based around Benzoyl Peroxide and Salicylic Acid (or at least the best acne treatments are). Benzoyl peroxide is used to remove excess Sebum (or grease) that gets trapped beneath the skin pore and kill bacteria that can make acne worse. Salicylic Acid helps to unblock the pores and remove dead skin cells meaning that blockages beneath the pore are less likely to occur. If these treatments are combined in low concentrations than they are still kind to the skin but work really well at doing the 4 things that an acne treatment needs to do.

Pros. Safe treatment with few side effects. Cheaper than alternatives and easily available
Cons. May not be able to clear really stubborn acne. Benzoyl peroxide in high concentrations can irritate the skin.

Prescription Acne Medication

There are two main prescription acne medication options that we can discuss. One is Acne Antibiotics and the other is Accutane

ACNE ANTIBIOTICS

These are normally taken as oral acne medication and prescribed for severe inflammatory acne (or cystic acne). They help the body’s immune system to fight acne from deep within the skin. If someone has severe acne there is a lot of excess sebum being produced that is getting trapped deep in the hair follicle. This creates an ideal place for bacteria to multiply and that leads to white blood cells being released into the hair follicle to attack them. This process causes more swelling and harsher acne symptoms. Antibiotics can help stop this inflammation.

Pros. Effective at reducing large painful acne symptoms so an acne treatment can then take care of the external problem
Cons. Lowers the bodies natural immune system and if not taken with discipline than can make the situation worse.

ACCUTANE

Accutane is a powerful drug taken in the form of acne medication pills. It works to reduce or completely stop the production of sebum by the sebaceous gland in the hair follicle. If there is no sebum production than there can be no acne symptoms.

Pros. Can be very effective at clearing acne
Cons. Huge and dangerous side effects can occur with some cases even leading to death. It has been removed from the market in the US. That is why we at AcneTreatmentAdvice.org wouldn’t never recommend using this treatment.

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