How Can Your Doctor Help With Your Acne?

While some might find seeing a doctor a good alternative to home-made remedies for different illnesses, others often suffer from inhibitions or are just ashamed to seek medical help in some, to some point, shameful health problems, such as acne. Fortunately, nowadays doctors are better informed and more able to offer help to those in need.

First of all, there are a lot of good psychiatrists one can go to if he/she suffers from psychological distress, even in the cases of acne that is not very severe. Spots can in fact be very upsetting, and you should let your doctor know how you feel, because acne could also leave you with some psychological scars, feeling marginalized and depressed.

On the other hand, there are a lot of treatments doctors can prescribe or recommend against acne. Nevertheless, you should be well-tempered and have realistic expectations from these treatments: expect a 20% improvement in two months, 40 in four months and 80% in eight months. Keep in mind that acne treatments control rather than cure your condition, and if you stop taking your medicine, acne will most likely reappear, so it is possible you will be advised to continue your treatment for several years.

Here are some treatments your doctor could prescribe:

- Tretinoin cream/lotion/gel, very effective against blackheads and white heads; it unblocks the pores by removing dead skin cells; you should apply it in thin layers at bedtime, being partly inactivated by light; the improvement chances go up to 60% in three months;

- Adapalene and tazarotene are cream/gel treatments similar to tretinoin; they fight against blackheads, whiteheads and inflamed spots; their effectiveness is also similar to tretinoin; it should be used once a day before bed;

- Antibiotic creams that contain tetracycline, erythromycin, zinc, benzoyl peroxide are also useful in acne cases; studies have shown that acne bacteria are starting to become resistant to these antibiotics (erythromycin); the most common treatment against moderately severe acne, is antibiotic tablets, usually tetracyclines, but sometimes erythromycin; the weak point is that they have to be taken several times a day in order for the treatment to work, and they can interfere with contraceptive pills and cannot be used by women who are pregnant or breastfeeding;

- Azelaic acid cream works against mild acne; it's effects are anti-inflammatory and anti-blackheads;

- Hormonal treatment is another option women have; there are contraceptive pills that block the action of testosterone;

- Ultraviolet light therapy gives temporary improvements, but your skin ages and wrinkles; acne is likely to reappear;

- Isotretinoin tablets are the best treatment for severe acne; they reduce the sebum production, clear dead skin cells and reduce inflammation; they have side effects, such as reddening and scaling of the skin; it is believed that isotretinoin might cause severe depression;

- Laser treatments are thought to be successful in treating acne, especially the N-Lite laser, either alone or in conjunction with photosensitizing dyes.