Acne cure?

Antibiotics are pants for anyhting other than dealing with infection of your spots.

You should make an appointement with your GP and discuss vitamin A preparations. For mild to moderate acne, they might try you on a topical retinol preps, and for more serious (providing you are not female, or if you are that you have no plans to start a family), then they might consider systemic (oral) retinol preps...

Reply 11

I'm sorry, but I would disagree. Certain antibiotics are ineffective for some people, we all have different immune systems and so we all respond to medication in different ways. I believe that topical creams, in particulary the ones that you can buy over the counter are quite useless, they tend to dry out the skin rather than treat the acne. Antibiotics control the activity of the sebaceous glands, the sebaceous glands produce sebum, the skins response to the sebum is what causes acne. It isn't true that acne is caused by diet or hygiene, however, obviously a good diet and hygiene is useful.

I would suggest speaking to your Doctor again, it may take a while to find an antibiotic that is suitable for you. You may also consider some of the following:
1.) Erythromycin
2.) Minocycline
3.) Doxycycline
4.) Clindamycin

The above can have quite severe side effects, and commitment to these antibiotics is vital. Realistically you won't see any significant improvent for at least six months.

I hope this helps :smile:

Reply 12

Anonymous #4

Hey,

I had quite bad acne for a few years, so I can really understand what you're going through, dude. And I know this isn't the most reassuring thing to hear, but the best healer is indeed time. I tried everything, from antibiotics to face creams, even to herbal tea remedies, but nothing really seemed to change that much.

Whoever mentioned sun-bathing is right, that really helped mine to clear, even though they did often come back, the sun really does do it all good - it dries them out. I had acne for a few years but don't have it at all now, though I still get a few spots now and again, like the next person. I use Clean and Clear facial scrub every day just to keep it clean.

By all means try the antibiotics and creams, they may help, but be most comforted by the fact that one day in the not too distant future they will just suddenly start to disappear! Promise!

Reply 13

Mr_Deeds

I'm sorry, but I would disagree. Certain antibiotics are ineffective for some people, we all have different immune systems and so we all respond to medication in different ways. I believe that topical creams, in particulary the ones that you can buy over the counter are quite useless, they tend to dry out the skin rather than treat the acne. Antibiotics control the activity of the sebaceous glands, the sebaceous glands produce sebum, the skins response to the sebum is what causes acne. It isn't true that acne is caused by diet or hygiene, however, obviously a good diet and hygiene is useful.

I would suggest speaking to your Doctor again, it may take a while to find an antibiotic that is suitable for you. You may also consider some of the following:
1.) Erythromycin
2.) Minocycline
3.) Doxycycline
4.) Clindamycin

The above can have quite severe side effects, and commitment to these antibiotics is vital. Realistically you won't see any significant improvent for at least six months.

I hope this helps :smile:

Antibiotics will treat the symptoms, but rarely the cause (other than the infecting agent), plus long term maintenance on antibiotics is not a good thing!!!

They certainly do not control the activity of sebaceous glands, they principly act to try to control the usual cause - a normal skin commensural called Propionibacterium acnes. Some also have an effect on the fatty acid composition of sebum, and may have an effect on white blood cells, therefore dampening down the immune response…

The other thing to remember, especially for the girls, is that most will cause thrush, and most make the contraceptive pill less effective…

Vitamin A preps (such as Accutane and Tretinion, and if you're bad Acitretin) work because they target DNA transcription in your cells - its use reduces the size and the activity of the pilosebaceous glands, and makes the sloughed off cells less sticky do they don't become caught up in the spot production cycle, and P.acnes cannot collonise as easily.

Reply 14

Correct me if I'm wrong, but acne occurs when the androgen hormones cause sebaceous glands to grow and produce sebum, which is the oily substance which causes greasy skin and severe spots. So when I say controlling the sebaceous glands I intened to avoid complex medical terms. Some of the antibiotics that I have mentioned above, as well as steroids (although I wouldn't recommend these) control the activity of the androgen hormones. I would also agree that vitamins are vital in the contol of acne, but the controlling of diet has little effect on this skin disease. vitamin A is useful as is vitamin E, being an antioxidant, vitamin E protects cell membrane from damage, and reduces acne scarring. I think that the acne in this case is severe and so I would disagree with what you have to say about antibiotics. Topical creams have poor penetration power, and so in this case, as in most cases antibiotics are the only way to control, and if possible, cure the acne. Of course, maintenance on antibiotics is not a good thing, but as with the antibiotics I have mentioned in my previous post, regular blood tests (every 3-6 months) are a necessity, and these ensure that any damage caused (however unlikely) can be avoided and reversed! I think the key thing to remember is commitment, you won't see any improvement until at least six months using any of the above named antiobiotics.

Reply 15

an anti-androgen will reduce levels of testosterone and therefore dihydrotestosterone, and thus is postulated to (by no means a definite known) reduce proliferation of pilosebaceous glands... Something like cyproterone. This is why some women will find that their acne clears when they go on the pill... Spironolactone (a potassium sparing diuertic) is also being ivestigated for it's anti-androgen activity...

Antibiotics are not inherently anti-androgen... they are given to fight the bacteria and reduce erruptions...

The issue with antibiotics for acne, is that before long all P.acnes will be totally resistant to all antibiotics - it's already a massive probelm, which is why more and more people are unresponsive to them...

Edit:Good links for treatment modes of action
http://www.dermnetnz.org/acne/acne-antibiotics.html
http://www.talkacne.com/webpages/info.htm

Reply 16

Mustard-man

18

Well if all fails, ONLY then, you should go on roaccutane. Roaccutane is a last resort. It has a success rate of over 80% on the first treatment, which is 4-5 months.

I'm on roaccutane and it's been brilliant so far, here's my log in case you are interested.

For me antibiotics were crap, although oxytetracycline worked for around a month, but then the effects faded (broad spectrum antibiotic means bacteria gain resistance easily).

Edit: "Acne Cannot Be Cured but it can Be Resolved"

Reply 17

Yes, hence why I said avoid steroids, simply because they are renowned for decreasing testosterone levels. The antibiotics that I have mentioned, do not bring about this response, they merely treat the bacterial infection by inhibiting the protein production in the bacteria which prevents them from living. I think that unltimately you're best advised to speak to your Doctor about this, you have said that you have used antibiotics in the past, and that they have been unsuccessful, but it may take a while until you find an antibiotic that is suitable for you. Don't expect immediate results, it isn't rare for antibiotics to take longer than six months until they even have the slightest impact on your acne.

Reply 18

I've just checked in the BNF and my pharmacology books, and no antibiotics are not anti-androgenic...

1.) Erythromycin - mode of action: Erythromycin prevents bacteria from growing, by interfering with their protein synthesis. Erythromycin binds to the 23s rRNA molecule in the 50S of the bacterial ribosome, blocking the exit of the growing peptide chain thus inhibiting the translocation of peptides.

2.) Minocycline - mode of action: Tetracyclines inhibits cell growth by inhibiting translation. It binds to the 16S part of the 30S ribosomal subunit and prevents the amino-acyl tRNA from binding to the A site of the ribosome. The binding is reversible in nature.

3.) Doxycycline - mode of action: another tetracycline...

4.) Clindamycin -- mode of action: Clindamycin has a bacteriostatic effect. Clindamycin interferes with bacterial protein synthesis, in a similar way as erythromycin and chloramphenicol, by binding to the 50S subunit of the bacterial ribosome. This causes antagonism if administered simultaneously and possible cross-resistance.

Reply 19