The only good news when you have acne is that there are many products on the market and acne medication is easy to find. When seeking an over the counter acne medication it’s best to remember most need time to work. Usually about three months of steady use is what it takes to see any improvement. Some prescriptions from doctors might contain cortisone in small amounts and this will work faster in most cases, but is more expensive. A few shots of cortisone in combination with a steady course of acne medication can see results in a few weeks instead of a few months.
Acne medication works by killing the bacteria that can cause some acne, reduces the swelling of the acne site, normalizing the acne site to stop the shedding of dead cells which can clog pores.
Acne medication comes in gels, cream and lotions. The more successful ones contain benzoyl peroxide. Various concentrations of benzoyl peroxide solution are needed for different skin types and different ages. Younger acne sufferers can sometimes do better with a concentration of 2.0% or less. Finding the right combination of ingredients for your acne medication can be a means of trial and error. Too much can cause drying and flaking while too little can no effect on the acne problem.
There are also applied antibiotics that have some success as acne medicine. These are externally applied erythromycin, clindamycin, stievamychin, or tectracycline which can be taken oral as well kill the bacteria living in the blocked follicles. These medicines work just the same as oral antibiotics, but without the upset stomach or drug interactions possible with oral medications.
Oral antibiotics are still a good and widely accepted acne medication. It’s simple and usually safe take and works quickly.
There is of course an acne medicine treatment that don’t seem to be medicine at all such as acne laser treatment. Laser treatments burn away the folic sac in which the hair grows, also burns way the sebaceous gland which produces the gland clogging oil, and induces oxygen in the bacteria which halts bacterial growth. Finding the right treatment is the key to winning the battle against acne.