New Acne Treatments - The Acne Drugs, Creams and Therapies that Could be Coming to a Shelf Near You

My first encounter with acne medicine, if you will, happened when I was twelve. My grandma just spotted a huge, swollen bubble of a zit on my cheek. Ached by the sight of my gruesome facial growth, grandma gestured me over to her medicine cabinet and pleaded, "Put some turpentine on that soar to suck that poison out". And follow that backwoods prescription I did.

Certainly, turpentine is not an FDA approved acne drug, but by the next morning, that swollen nodule had somehow flattened into healed skin.

Not all zit tales end in such swift bliss.

Many people tormented by pimples find no reprieve with trusted pustule terminators like benzoyl peroxide or antibiotics. And so researchers toil away in labs and challenge the stamina of pimple prone skin with yet another acne preventative. However, this summer, the entourage of novel acne therapies could make blemishes retreat from the skin.

Reduced dosage isotretinoin

For starters, doctors may soon prescribe the acne drug typically reserved for the most severe cases of cystic or nodular acne, isotretinoin, for mild to moderate cases of acne. This past June, a study published in the Expert Review of Dermatology found that an intermittent, low-dose regimen of isotretinoin could mitigate potentially caustic side effects of isotretinoin, like liver damage and extreme skin dryness, while still effectively treating acne.

Bio-identical acne preventing agents

While isotretinoin effects acne control by reducing facial oil secretion and bacterial counts, a recently patented bio-product called phytosphingosine (PS) may combat pimples by mitigating pain inducing inflammation.

Phytosphingosine (PS) is a fat that exists in upper layers of the skin called the the stratum corneum. According to a report in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science, a skin-identical version of phytosphingosine exhibited antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties in the skin. Researchers suspect that this novel anti-acne fat may soon complement topical pimple treatments.

Less menacing contraceptives

If such fat laden topical acne creams prove insufficient to tame blossoming blemishes, woman can bolster their skin care regime with contraceptives. And with the arrival of a new hormonal agent called drospirenone, women may enjoy less pimples and a more pleasant period.

Doctors may prescribe an oral contraceptive blend of spirolactone and ethinyl estradiol to female acne patients over age 35.

Like spironolactone, drospirenone helps control acne by reducing androgenic hormonal activity like excess facial oil production. Yet when drospirenone displaces spirolactone in such contraceptives, women experience better acne control and less menstrual weight gain and pain, while enjoying the same level efficacious birth control.

While I don't foresee pine derivative like turpentine stealing the acne controlling spot light from isotretinoin, phytosphingosine, or birth control pills, I do predict that in a generation from now, the multifaceted causes and contributors to acne lesions will continue to baffle scientists and continue to crowd our cabinets with test-worthy acne antidotes. In the mean time, "Thank you grandma."

Common Side Effects of Hormonal Contraception

Hormonal contraception is the most commonly used reversible means of birth control in the US and much of the developed world. Since the initial oral contraceptive pills were introduced 1960 the dose of estrogen in the most common combined estrogen and progestin oral contraceptives had decreased by about 2/3 and serious side effects are far less common. Still side effects can occur and this article will discuss the common side effects and their management.

This article is not meant to be comprehensive, or to address the rare more serious hormonal contraceptive complications like deep vein thrombosis, stroke and risk of breast cancer.

    Acne is more common with progestion only hormonal contraception like depo-provera and the mini-pill, and is less common with some of the newer low dose combination oral contraceptives.
    Amenorrhea is more common and expected with the Mirina IUD, depoprovera, and continuous use OCPs or continuous use Nuvaring.
    Breakthrough bleeding is more common with continuous use OCPs, the mini-pill, and Implanon. It is less common but still fairly common with the lowest dose estrogen combination OCPs.
    Weight Gain: possibly with depo-provera, not shown to be an issue with other types of hormonal contraception.
    Decreased sex drive: Only seen with very low dose estrogen OCPs (15 mcg of estrogen daily)
    Increased vaginal discharge: common with Nuvaring, not with outer types.
    Headache: can be seen with all of the hormonal contraceptives and is more common in women over age 35.
    Oily skin: common with progestin only types like depo-provera and the mini-pill, maybe with Implanon.

Most women who do not have a major contraindication to hormonal contraception use can find a type that will meet their needs and give effective and well tolerated contraception.