How do doctors determine if topical treatments such as benzoyl peroxide, tretinoin and salicylic acid wash are effective for mild to moderate acne? (photo)

Doctor's Answers 1

Topical medications are the mainstay in the treatment of mild to moderate acne. Such agents work to control acne in different ways which have been well discussed in the acne forum that you may wish to refer to.

Either a past history of response/non-response, tolerability or a therapeutic trial of 6-12 weeks will allow the doctor to determine which works and which do not or cause too many unwanted side-effects.

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Thanks for the detailed summary. There’s no problem at all with seeing a GP to treat your acne – the treatment algorithm for acne is pretty standard. My pet peeve is only with clinics who overcharge based on having some sort of special super secret ingredient “miracle acne creams”, because the reality is that all effective topical creams contain well-known ingredients, and packaging it under their own brand shouldn’t give them the right to charge more, or “lock-in” patients to only using their creams.

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Human

How to get rid of an inflamed acne that is not responding to creams? (photo)

HiFrom the description given as well as from the photo provided it would seem that the initial inflamed acne has become a nodular cystic acne ,Such form of acne tends to be more resistant to topical treatment alone . As the acne lesion is isolated to the nose only I usually would not recommend oral medication. However if these lesions are more widespread a course of oral antibiotics would usually be beneficial. In your case since it is isolated and persistent I would recommend two options 1. Intralesional injection of cortisone / steroid .

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Dr K K Chew

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