Acne Medicine For Treating Acne

There are various acne medicines used to treat acne, ranging from topical creams to oral ones.

Some are over the counter, while others require a prescription from your doctor or dermatologist.

What may surprise you is that there are acne treatment products that work that are now available and that do not need a presciption.

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So have a look at these acne treatment that gives results, and try them out for yourself and see the results.

Let's have a look at how acne medicines are categorised:

1. Topical Acne Medications:

These are treatments applied topically to the skin and include:

Benzoic acid

Benzoic acid helps to treat acne by decreasing the thickness of the oil secretion by our sebaceous glands, as well as an antibacterial effect on the skin bacteria that causes acne.

There seems to be little or no resistance developed to this antibacterial effect, which makes this medication an advantage over topical antibiotics, where resistance often develops.

Topical retinoids (eg Retin-A Micro or tretinoin gel)

Retin-A Micro or tretinoin gel is a topical retinoid that works by affecting the ways the skin cell layers mature, although the exact mechanism of action is not fully known.

The layers of skin turn over faster, and there seems to be less clogging of pores caused by the surface keratin layer of the skin as the skin regenerates.

Topical antibiotics

These acne medicines fight against the bacteria that can cause or contribute to facial and back acne, and are applied to the skin once or twice a day.

Over time, there is the potential for resistance with the use of topical antibiotics developing and hence not working anymore. However for many people, they are still an effective treatment option.

2. Oral Acne Medications:

Oral medications are also used in acne and tend to be used in the more severe cases including acne with significant inflammation, infection, cystic acne and scarrign acne.

Oral antibiotics

These work against the bacteria that can cause acne. They can sometimes take a while to see the effect. Oral antibiotics generally have more potention for side effects when compared to their topical versions.

Again, resistance can develop to oral antibiotics which means that the medication may have to be changed.

Oral retinoids (eg Accutane or Roaccutane)

This acne drug is effective for acne and dramatically reduces the oil secretion by the skin and other organs. Accutane is often used for severe acne where other treatments have failed to work.

However it has side effects, some of which are common and not serious, but other side effects that are rarer but very serious. Hence it's not used in mild acne, but reserved for severe or scarring types of acne.

So there you go.

You now know more about the various topical and oral antibiotics that are used for acne. As mentioned, for many of them, resistance and side effects can be a problem. As many of them are prescribed, you'll need to see your own doctor for advice about them.

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