My Proactiv acne routine isn't working well enough for acne. My acne is pretty bad and painful. Are there acne treatments that are best to get rid of it for good? I heard laser acne treatments may be best.
Proper acne treatments are crucial to treat breakouts
Answer by Mary Lupo, MD
Blue light therapy is a treatment that uses light to kill the acne causing bacteria. Perfect for those allergic to topical and oral antibiotics.
Acne needs to be treated two ways:
- Unclog the pores
- Kill the bacteria that causes the inflammation.
Ideally it should be treated with both modalities. Blue light is just half the answer. Cooltouch is a laser light source that shrinks the oil gland and results in decreased bacteria counts as well.
Patients do best when also using a retinoid ( Retin-A, Differin, Tazorac) because these products act to prevent the clogs in the pores, as well as are anti-inflammatory.
The most complete product to treat acne is still Accutane. If properly prescribed, it decreases bacteria because of its action on the sebaceous glad, unclogs the pores and is anti-inflammatory as well.
Comment on this
unregistered guest
2 Sep 2007
My daughter has had acne for about a month now. She just started college and has a steady boyfriend. We are afraid of using Accutane because of the high risk of getting pregnant. We have decided to try laser therapy. Can you tell me the best type of laser to use for acne?? It seems there are different types offered in our area.
30 posts
25 Sep 2007
Accutane is only recommended for a very specific type of acne - the huge "cystic" acne that is so deep that you can sometimes feel your pusle in it. Gross, but true. (It's called cystic acne because it can cause the worst scaring, including cystic white lumps just under the skin. I had acne as a teenager, and tried everything - Retin-A, antibiotics (Doxycycline), salicylic acid - to keep it under control. Those treatments helped some, but I kept getting the big deep cystic acne on my back and chest. So my parents took me to a Dermatologist (Dr. Brandith Irwin, who later wrote the book Looking You Best Without Plastic Surgery and went on Oprah.) To get rid of the deep acne, she put me on Accutane. For a few weeks, all of my acne was WORSE. (That is typical with Accutane.) Then, eventually, the deep acne started to become less frequent. While I didn't have to worry about the potential side effects of pregnancy as a male, I did have to have my blood tested monthly to see if Accutane would interfere with my liver functions. My liver functions did go up a lot, but not enough to take me off Accutane. Was it worth it? The cystic acne mostly went away, but I continue to get whiteheads and occasional small inflamed acne a decade after taking Accutane. (The only thing I've found to keep the whiteheads under control is daily 2% salicyclic acid, since that dissolves the dead skin cells that block pores.) Accutane is NOT a silver bullet, but if you or your child has the deep cystic acne, anything that gets rid of that and prevents the long-term scarring is worth it. Just be aware of the many side-effects and don't get pregnant!
154 posts
16 Nov 2007
Our reply to the comment about accutane is that it depends on the patient. While we certainly agree that accutane is an effective way to treat acne, many of the patients we treat have already been on accutane and have rejected it because they have bad side effects, are of child bearing years or do not want to be on medication. We agree with Eric that accutane is not a silver bullet and in fact we see laser treatments including photodynamic therapy with ALA, the Blu-Light, the Aramis laser, the Pulse Dye laser and even the Q-switched Nd:Yg laser all to be appropriate options depending on the patient and the severity and type of acne. We use each of these lasers for different functions. The Blu-Light, pulse dye and Nd:Yg are good for getting active acne under control by killing bacteria. The pulse dye also decreases inflammation associated with acne. Finally, the Aramis laser and Photodynamic therapy with ALA (amino levulinic acid) are used to shrink the sebaceous glad with heat energy rather than with the active ingredients in accutane.