Acne Prescription Medicine

Are you considering using acne prescription medicine? Well there are many prescription medicines for acne, so I'd like to help you out by showing you the options available.

I'd like to throw a caveat out there if you'd like to do a prescription acne treatment. Please only get the medicine with a prescription from your doctor. While it may be possible to get the medication online illegally, it isn't in your best interests. You can end up wasting your money or hurting yourself.

There have been many studies that show that Internet-bought prescriptions don't have reliable quantities of the active ingredient. Getting too little is a waste of money, and getting too much can be toxic! Worse yet, you might even end up with the wrong drug and end up wasting money and hurting yourself at the same time.

Here are some of the more popular categories of acne prescription medicines:

Accutane

Also known as Roaccutane and Isotretinoin, this prescription medication which is derived from Vitamin A is the "ultimate" in acne treatments available. The reason it is so effective is because it prevents many of the factors that contribute to acne forming in the first place, although it doesn't really fix the underlying root cause of acne in the first place - which is hormone related.

Accutane shrinks the size of the sebaceous glands, which are responsible for outputting the sebum (oil) that goes through your pores and onto your skin. This reduces the amount of sebum created, which reduces the chances for plugs to develop.

In addition, Accutane also helps your skin cells break away cleanly when they die and shed, which is called kertinization. This reduces the chances of clogged pores as well, since you don't have clumps of dead skin getting stuck in a pore.

Some of these changes Accutane makes on your body can be permanent, which can make it a permanent cure for your acne. This isn't always the case however, and the side effects some people experience with the drug are permanent as well. Accutane is a very serious acne prescription medicine and should be taken as a last resort, due to the harsh side effects and costs involved.

Antibiotics

Antibiotics are an acne prescription medicine that takes a different approach to curing your acne when compared to Accutane. Instead of focusing on the skin itself, antibiotics work on killing the acne causing bacteria and helping reduce inflammation. There are many factors involved in creating acne so treatment options can take different approaches to "break the link in the chain".

The most common group of antibiotics in acne treatment are Tetracyclines. Here are the different kinds, which are ordered from most effective (and risky) to least effective:

Tetracycline - commonly sold as Achromycin V, Panmycin, Robitet Robicaps, Sumycin, Tetracap, and Topicycline.
Doxycycline - commonly sold as Doryx, Monodox, Periostat, Doxy Caps, Doxychel Hyclate, Vibra-Tabs, and Vibramycin.
Minocycline - commonly sold as Minocin, Dynacin, Minocin Oral, Ventrin, and generic Minocycline.

The difference between the brands lies in the inactive ingredients used in the pills. In theory, they could affect how the active ingredient is absorbed by the body, making some better than others. This is debatable though and you doctor will likely just pick the brand for you.

While antibiotics will help reduce your acne, it isn't a permanent fix unless taken until you wouldn't have acne for other reasons. The problem is that prolonged dosages of antibiotics can cause many health problems, and the bacteria can eventually become resistant to it.

Retinoids

Retinoids are a topical treatment that is based off of Vitamin A. Although not as common, it has shown to be an effective treatment for many skin disorders including acne. Retinoids are not as well known or understood, but they apparently work by regulating skin cell growth.

The epidermis is thinned out over several weeks of treatment, which makes acne breakouts harder to occur. You also become more sensitive to the sun, so you have to be more careful while outside. The retinoids actually change the way your skin develops, so it is arguable whether or not this is a good idea in the long run.

Popular brands of retinoids include Retin-A, Differin, and Tazorac.

Hormonal Treatments

Hormonal treatments such as spironolactone or birth control pills attempt to adjust the hormone fluctuations which can cause acne. They particularly have an "anti-androgen" affect, which can help reduce sebum production/sensitivity which reduces the chances for acne.

These treatments are really only available to women. Personally, I don't think trying to manually adjust your hormones is a good idea. Your hormones are in the state they're in for a reason, so if they're out of balance you should look for the underlying root cause and fix that.

A hormone imbalance is a symptom, not a cause. Most of modern medicine aims to mask symptoms, but rarely goes after the root of the problem. In general I think this applies to all acne prescription medicines but to hormonal treatments especially.

Birth Control That Helps Acne - There are birth control pills that help as an acne prescription medicine, but you should want to read more about them before you make a decision as to whether to take them or not.

Spironolactone Side Effects - Read this article to understand what spironolactone is before pursuing treatment. Also, spironolactone side effects should be considered before using spironolactone for acne treatment.

My Experience

While I can't say I've had personal experience with all the prescriptions medications for acne, I had taken tetracycline as a teenager for a short period of time. My parents noticed very terrible cystic acne on my upper back, and decided that something had to be done about it.

The acne was literally large splotches of blue and purple. While I don't particularly like going to antibiotics for cures, I do believe that they are sometimes the best option available. By taking tetracycline, the severity of my cystic acne was reduced to a moderate level and was never as bad as it was before I took the antibiotics.

So my overall experience with acne prescription medicines has been positive, which is why I do not rule them out as a treatment option even though I prefer natural treatments when possible.

Also, A natural supplement that can also be used to treat acne is aloe vera. You can find more of the benefits of aloe vera here.

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