What type of acne medicines are there available today?

If you happen to be one of the many people who suffers from acne you will be looking at a number of different ways for treating it.  One such way is to use an acne medicine and in this article we will look at some of the prescription treatments which are available on the market today.

There are in fact a wide variety of prescription acne treatments which are available either through your dermatologist or doctor and they include both topical and oral acne medications which are then subdivided down as follows:-

Topical Antimicrobials
Topical Retinoids
Oral Antibiotics
Oral Contraceptives

One such topical antimicrobial medication is Clindamycin and is the most widely used and is used to treat mild to severe cases of acne as it helps to minimize and eliminate the papules and pustules that are associated with acne.

Then there is Tretinoin which is a topical retinoid medication and is a derivative of Vitamin A and can be used in treating mild to severe inflammatory acne by unclogging the pores of the skin and so prevents both whiteheads and blackheads from forming.  Unfortunately a side effect of topical retinoids is they cause irritation to the skin as well as increased sun sensitivity.  So it is important that you use sun and follow any advice given to you by your doctor when using topical retinoids.

Oral antibiotics are often used to treat the more severe cases of acne and sometimes for moderate cases and like topical antimicrobials they are there to help reduce the P. acne bacteria as well as decreasing the inflammation caused by the acne.  However when using antibiotics it is important that you use as directed by your doctor in order to avoid the risk of the bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotic drugs.

Oral contraceptives are more often used as an effective treatment for women and they can be used as a long term acne treatment.  These work by suppressing a persons overactive sebaceous glands which are responsible for the oily skin secretions which will leading to clogging of the skins pores and then to acne.  However there are some potential health risks associated with taking oral contraceptives for acne that can be life threatening and these include blood clots, stroke or heart attacks.  Such health risks will be further increased if you are a smoker as well.

So it is advisable that when deciding to take any acne medicine that you should talk to your doctor first and they will be able to diagnose and suggest the right course of treatment for you.