Why my Acne is Getting Worse After my First Isolaz Treatment

The initial Isolaz treatments can cause Acne to worsen temporarily. Inactive bacteria will often surface after the first and second treatment making it seem as if your skin is breaking out more. The Isolaz will then treat the surface breakouts as well as pull the inactive acne to the surface; a process that will usually resolves itself after the third and fourth treatments. That is why we recommend a series of 6 treatments 1 week apart. Once a series of 6 have been completed acne can remain dormant for up to 15 months. Acne, however, is a condition for which there is no cure. It is important to keep up with treatments once the acne starts to resurface.

Hi, thank you for your question. It can happen that the initial Isolaz treatment causes a brief acne flare.  This is because it is bringing lesions to the surface which were going to develop later. Best results for Isolaz are always seen after a series of treatments.  Please seek a certified health care provider for more information.

This is extremely common and we always warn our patients that frequently after the first or second Isolaz treatment, acne may be worse. This may be due to agreesive treatment of the superficial glands which then force the deeper infected glands to surface. Normally the deeper glands harbor significant bacterial load which reseed the surface glands constantly and as the surface infection is being cleared, the deep infection becomes more superficial. We normally recommend weekly treatment for a minimum of 6 weeks at which time we are able to appreciate a dramatic improvement. There is no cure for acne and additional treatments are required as needed for maintenance or improvement of results.

 

As is the case with many other acne treatments, acne can definitely get a little worse following the first or second treatment with Isolaz.  However, we have found that our patients start to really improve around treatment 2 or 3 and benefit from doing a series of about 4 to 8 treatments with treatments ideally spaced a week apart. One reason why I think patients get a little worse initially is because the treatment is bringing things to the surface that were eventually going to come out.  Additionally, if you stopped other acne treatments prior to starting Isolaz, that will contribute to the initial worsening of the acne until the benefits of the Isolaz start to kick in.  Hang in there though because Isolaz is effective.  Make sure to have the treatments done in the office of a board-certified dermatologist and that you have regular acne follow-up visits with the dermatologist during the period when you are receiving Isolaz treatments.

1.  If you discontinued your oral antibiotics prior to having an Isolaze treatment, you may be having a flare because you stopped your antibiotics. 

2.  It is possible to flare post-Isolaz, however most-patients just see their acne improve.  If you do experience a flare, it does not mean the Isolaz is not working, instead it is working well, and you should expect improvement and less flaring with subsequent treatments.

3.  Most patients clear with 3-4 treatments spaced 2 weeks apart.  The number of treatments can range from 2-6 and you should continue your topicals to optimize and maintain your results.