Does Photodynamic Therapy Really Work for Acne and How Long Does It Last?

Photodynamic therapy can be a great treatment for treatment resistant acne or as an addition to an acne treatment plan.  The most important thing to remember is that the treatment is considered cosmetic and will most likely not be covered by your insurance.  The other thing to keep in mind is that there are several light sources that are effective and the treatment can be done with or without levulan (levulanic acid).  It is hard to predict how long the treatment will last, as this can depend on several things including the type and severity of the acne, the location of the acne, the use of levulan, and the light source used to perform the treament.  We have many patients who are very satisfied with this treatment for their acne.

Photodynamic therapy is a great treatment for acne.  Not only does it clear up severe cases, even cystic cases of acne but it also makes the skin surface look so much more even, shrink the appearance of pores and help make the skin look much healthier.  My protocol in my office is to recommend 3-4 treatments approximately 3-4 weeks apart and then evaluate at 1 month and 3 months.  The results are better at 3 months after a series of treatments than after 1 month so you do need some patience.  Expect to continue to need at least one treatment every 3 months (this can be quite variable and sometimes it is only every 6 months).  Unfortunately, the only truly permanent treatment for acne is the medication isotretinoin (Accutane), which does seem to have a long term effectiveness rate of 60-70%.  I am frankly surprised at how many people do NOT choose to do PDT before isotretinoin.  The main reason is that it isn't covered by insurance so it will cost over $1000 for the 3 treatments.  It isn't approved by the FDA for this usage so it is "off-label" although there are some studies, including mine, in the medical literature that show that it is effective.  Make sure though if you do get PDT for acne that the practitioner is using pulsed dye laser or intense pulsed light (IPL) to activate it and not blue light.  Blue light has been shown to work but it doesn't have as much of a long term result becuase the light doesn't penetrate deeply enough to change the actual oil gland.