What Acne Treatments Are There?

Acne treatments should be done as soon as the disease appears. It is therefore important to go to the dermatologist in the face of the first symptoms. Find out more about it!

Fortunately, there are many effective acne treatments available today. This disease represents 25% of consultations with the dermatologist. This percentage is higher than pediatric and primary care consultations.

It is a disease that develops due to several factors. This is why we say that it is a multifactorial disease. Currently, we have a vast therapeutic arsenal to control each of the factors that are involved in the development of acne.

However, to know the most suitable option in our case, it is fundamental to know how this disease occurs and what are the triggers involved. In addition, as  the American Academy of Dermatology suggests,  we should also consult a dermatologist.

In any case,  we would like to offer in this article a brief reminder of this skin disease  and the possible treatments that can be prescribed to combat it.

What is acne? How does it manifest itself?

Since this is a disease that is very common in the general population, you have probably heard of it or suffered from it. Acne is a skin problem that initially occurs in the hair follicles. These represent the part of the skin where body hair grows.

As a result of this disease, a kind of plug of fat and dead cells form in the follicles. This often results in the formation of  comedones, blackheads and pimples  which are the main symptoms of this skin disorder.

All of these acne symptoms can appear in different parts of the body. However,  the most common areas are the face, back, chest and shoulders.

On the other hand, in terms of causes, we previously reported that it was a multifactorial disorder. As many factors intervene in its development, we have chosen four main ones:

• Excessive fat production
• Certain bacterial infections such as that produced by Propionibacterium acnes
• Obstruction of the hair follicles due to the accumulation of fat and dead skin cells
• High hormonal activity, especially androgens

On the other hand, there are other factors that promote the appearance of acne and make it worse. For example,  stress can worsen this condition, as  well as certain medications, or even diet.

When and how to treat acne?

Acne treatments should be applied as soon as the disease is diagnosed. Therefore, when the lesions are observed,  it is advisable to go to the dermatologist so that he determines the best option in each case, before more severe symptoms arise.

Indeed, it should be known that each type of lesion has a specific treatment. Therefore, it is fundamental to have a diagnosis from the professional. Likewise,  it may be necessary to carry out additional examinations to determine the origin.

General treatment aims to reduce inflammation and prevent the growth of bacteria. For this reason,  it must be applied to the entire infected area,  and not locally to the lesions caused. Let us now see some are the most used acne treatments.

Different acne treatments

Depending on their purpose,  we can classify acne treatments according to their goals, which may include:

• Decrease the desquamation of epithelial cells
• Fight bacterial infections
• Reduce fat production: the most widely used drug is isotretinoin. It is a product of vitamin A metabolism.  It is the treatment of choice when there is a risk of scarring.

Acne treatments aimed at reducing the scaling of skin cells

Among the most used treatments, we can mention the following 3:

• Tretinoin:  This is a retinoid drug that manages to normalize the obstruction of the follicle. It also has an anti-inflammatory and preventive action for the formation of the famous blackheads
• Salicylic acid:  it is less effective than tretinoin but it also has anti-inflammatory effects
• Adapalene or tazarotene:  these are new treatments whose effectiveness is similar to tretinoin

Medicines used to fight bacterial infections

The bacteria Propionibacterium acnes is very sensitive to many antibiotics. Among the drugs most used for this purpose, we can mention the following:

• Benzoyl peroxide,  mainly associated with erythromycin
• Clindamycin
• Systemic antibiotics: such as doxycycline, minocycline, or cotrimoxazole

In short…

The acne treatments available to us today are very varied. We recommend that you consult your doctor or dermatologist to find out the best way to fight this disease according to your specific case.