Prescription Drugs for Acne Treatment

Most people start acne cure with home remedies for acne. These work for many people, helping them to have beautiful and acne-free skin.

But those for whom these do not turn out to be effective, another alternative is to try over the counter acne medication. Over the counter acne remedies can also help many but again, for a certain percentage, these too may not help. Those thus left out might have to see a dermatologist, who may prescribe any of the following acne medication.

It is now very easy to banish acne because there some special acne cure lotions that can be purchased online that can help you to get rid of acne.

Accutane

Accutane, also known as Isotretinoin, is a time tested acne medication for a wide range of acne problems. It has been proven to be effective even in some severe cases of acne, including cystic acne. Similar to some over the counter acne medicines, this too works by killing the acne-causing bacterium, and preventing the clogging of skin pores, and reducing sebum production.

This acne medication, however, can have some side effects like headache, diarrhea etc. It may also cause excessive skin dryness. When used by pregnant women, it has been found to affect the fetus negatively, resulting in birth defects. As such, pregnant women are strictly banned from taking it. Even in the case of others, the effect of the medication has to be regularly monitored by a physician.

Accutane is a retinoid which is a derivative of Vitamin A and is available as a pill. To see results, this acne remedy has to be used for four to five months, twice a day.

Oral Antibiotics

Since acne is caused by the bacterium ‘propionibacterium acnes,’ antibiotics are used to kill the bacteria. Tetracycline or doxycycline or minocycline are the commonly used antibiotic acne medicines and have been found to work well on inflammatory acne. The results are though, not instant, and it may be several months before there is some perceivable difference. Starting dose can be 5 to 10 grams, but the dosage gets consistently reduced.

One side effect found in this set of antibiotics is increased skin sensitivity in the user. Another antibiotic acne medicine, erythromycin, also works by killing the acne-causing bacterium ‘propionibacterium acnes.’ The side effect in this case is gastrointestinal irritation.

Local application

Some retinoids, which are vitamin A containing creams, are used for local application to kill the acne-causing bacterium ‘propionibacterium acnes,’ and for unclogging skin pores. Certain retinoids are available as over the counter acne medicines also. The difference with prescription drugs is that in these they are used in larger doses. Even as prescription drugs, they are used as acne cure only for milder forms of acne like acne vulgaris.

Acne cure is available in one form or other. One way or other you are sure to find the acne medication that is suitable to solve your acne problem.