How Doctors Treat Acne

Teenagers and young adults who are suffering with acne don't particularly care what a treatment for acne is called. All they want to know is if it will work! That's understandable. Acne feels a lot like the plague to young people. They feel ugly and the most important thing to them is for the acne to be gone! The bad news is that so far acne cannot be cured, but there is some good news. Treatments for acne have come a long way in the last few years. Acne is no longer something that teenagers and young adults just have to suffer through and hope that they "grow out of it." Doctors now have a whole host of weapons at their disposal to treat acne. All of the medications available for treating acne aren't just topical salves and creams either. There are oral medications like erythromycin, tetracycline, doxycycline, minocycline, clindamycin, ampicillin, cephalosporins, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole that have proven to be very effective. ​

Usually these oral medications are used in conjunction with a topical treatment like benzoyl peroxide, sulfur, resorcinol, salicylic acid, and antibiotics like clindamycin (Cleocin T), erythromycin, tetracycline, tretinoin (Retin-A, Avita), adapalene (Differin), azelaic acid (Azelex), and tazarotene (Tazorac). There are also new laser treatments. One type of laser treatment is called "blue light therapy." Blue light therapy is relatively new and is still being tested but it has been approved for the treatment of acne. Pulsed light and heat energy therapy is another version of laser therapy that is being used to treat acne. The FDA has approved the use of pulsed light therapy to treat acne. The only side effect is redness at the site of treatment. Diode laser treatment is a lesser-known and less frequently used form of laser treatment for acne. Diode laser treatments can be painful unlike other forms of laser treatments for acne.

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