Acne medications can be topical or systemic.
Topical medications should be applied to the skin where they are taken as systemic medications. The main goal of medications is to eliminate acne from the roots by healing the factors that lead to the formation of acne.
These are some of the medicines used to treat acne.
Oral antibiotics are often used to cure acne. It is usually administered to people who suffer from acne consistently.Â
However, the bacteria that cause acne may soon become impermeable to antibiotics and thus refuse to treat acne. Doctors will then usually prescribe a different round of antibiotics to help the cause. The most common types of antibiotics used are erythromycin and tertracycline and their derivatives.Â
However, erythromycin causes discomfort in the gastrointestinal tract and tetracycline and its derivatives are not suitable for pregnant women and children under the age of eight. The components of these antibiotics cure the pustule or swelling by drying it internally.Â
Topical retinoids are another set of medications used to treat acne. They are derived from vitamin A and may prevent pores from closing. In doing so, they don’t really allow acne to form.Â
They include gels or creams such as adapalene, tazarotene and tretinoin. Topical retinoids may cause rashes and other irritations. They can cause sunburn because your skin will become more vulnerable to UV rays when using this product.Â
You would need to use sunscreen if these creams are applied. It is important to contact your skin specialist before opting for these medications.Â
Corticosteroid injections are given to acne patients only when the acne has swollen to the point of bursting. Thus the swelling decreases and the acne dries at a faster rate.Â
For cystic acne and severe cases of acne, isoretinoin is used. This is only for extreme cases and to cure intricate acne problems.Â
Oral contraceptives are effective medications to cure acne, but they also have their limitations. They are not intended for women who smoke, women over the age of 35, or women who suffer from problems related to blood clotting.Â
Oral contraceptives decrease excess secretion from the glands and thus regulate hormones to control acne.Â
Tropical antimicrobials are used to treat moderate acne problems. These drugs attack bacterial colonies.Â
These medications can be taken individually or in combination with others that treat certain causes of acne formation. They include azelaic acid, benzoyl peroxide, clindamycin, erythromycin and sodium sulfatamide. Where azelaic acid and clindamycin decrease bacterial growth, benzoyl peroxide kills bacteria to treat acne
A mixture of erythromycin with benzoyl peroxide is extremely effective in the treatment of acne. However, these drugs have certain adverse effects.Â
