Just So Girly

Choosing the Best Acne Medication

When the acne symptoms become obvious, people are recommended to look after medical advice. Depending on the severity of the symptoms, the doctors are able to choose the best acne medication. As acne is characterized by an excess of oil and by dead skin cells, the acne medication is supposed to reverse these problems.

The acne medication is conditioned by the severity of this health problem. There are four main types of medicines that are used in the treatment of acne: antibiotics, isotretinoin, oral contraceptives and topical medication. The topical treatments are commonly based on lotions that decrease the oil production and cause the disappearance of dead skin cells. In addition, these lotions also kill bacteria. The active substances that are included in the composition of these lotions are: salicylic acid, sulfur, benzoyl peroxide, resorcinol and lactic acid. People must know that topical treatments are recommended to the persons who suffer from a less sever form of acne. Other topical treatments are based on tretinoin and adapalene, which represent two substances that are developed from vitamin A. Most of such lotions are over-the-counter medicines. This means that they may be obtained from the pharmacy without a medical prescription. They are named this way because people use whatever dosage that proves to be effective. In addition, the overdose risk is very low for the over-the-counter lotions.

The second type of acne medication is represented by antibiotics. In some less serious cases, these medicines are used as topical treatment, while in other cases antibiotics represent an effective way to treat moderate forms of acne. It has been concluded that antibiotics represent an efficient acne treatment since they are able to destroy bacteria and to reduce the inflammation. In most of the cases, when the treatment is based on antibiotics, it has a long duration. When the effectiveness of the antibiotics is in doubt, people are advised to use them along with topical treatments.

Isotretinoin is a type of acne medication that is used in the most serious cases, when cysts are already formed. However, the condition of the patients who follow a treatment based on isotretinoin must be observer periodically. This substance is a very efficient acne medication, but it also has some dangerous side effects. Pregnant women are recommended not to take isotretinoin, because it can provoke birth defects. Furthermore, this acne medication determines the amount of cholesterol in blood to get higher. The levels of triglycerides and liver enzymes have also been reported to increase when using such an acne medication.

Oral contraceptives represent the fourth possible option. The ones that are based on norgestimate and ethinyl estradol seem to improve the acne symptoms. However, women are recommended to look for medical advice before proceeding to such a treatment. The side effects are very serious, in this case, too.